Saturday, February 21, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter VIII)
Alarms were beeping all around the two of them as they ran across the main floor of the plaza. Bars had dropped over all the outer glass doors and walls, and any inner doors leading to any display rooms were likewise locked down. In front of them was an open-ceiling room completely contained within the large spacious plaza; it housed the main displays of the jewel show.
"Whip'!" Nougat shouted as they came to the entrance to the display room, "what the hell's gotten into you?!"
"Yeah, so I set off the alarm," Cream shouted back as he rattled at the cage in front of the inner door, "what''ll happen, the police'll come?" Nougat stopped running and shook his head. It was then when Cream started shouting into the room, calling for Basil and Connie to come out.
"Great, he's lost it . . ." Nougat muttered to himself.

It was then when Cream spotted the top of Connie's head poking above one of the display cases inside.
"You cover this side, I'm gonna run around to the other exit and cut them off," he said before starting to run around to Nougat towards the other side of the room. Nougat grabbed him before he could get away, though, and yanked him back hard.
"Alright, we've been almost killed way worse than this before," Nougat said, his face about a foot away from the younger man's, "what the hell is up your ass today?!" Cream pushed at his partner's grasping arm.
"Not now! They're gonna get away!" Nougat pushed back, being sure to grasp on Cream's wounded wrist - Cream grunted as he did so.
"No, now!" Nougat spat hard through his teeth. "Your body's been goin' about a hundred times faster than your brain all evening, and that's gonna get one of us killed. I wanna know why!" With that, he released the wrapped arm and Cream pulled back - and swung forward, hitting Nougat in the cheek.

"Fine!" Cream shouted as he shook his trembling hand a little. "I hate this day, okay? I hate it with a deep, tireless passion! I mean sure, there's 'Mel and all, but we all know that was but a variable bright spot in an otherwise crappy day! And it's not like almost getting killed helps that!" Nougat stood silent for a couple of seconds.
"You done?" Cream nodded, emotions running high through his brow as he did so. "Good."

With that, Nougat slapped him hard across the temple, knocking him towards the wall.
"Alright," he said, "you stay here, cover this end, and think about what I've said a bit. I'll go around to the other side."
"Noug'!" Cream shouted to his now-leaving partner, "Get back here!" Nougat was already around the corner.

Cream was completely furious at that point, and looked at the high walls of the open-top room - he judged them to be about a dozen feet high, give or take. Rational thought being one of his lesser virtues at the moment, he took some steps back, charged at the wall, and leaped, kicking off the middle of it as he went up. He got a hand along the top of the wall and started to pull himself up, though he almost lost it when the obviously temporary walls started to wobble a little. He still managed to get over it, though, and drew his pistol on the two people still inside.
"Don't even think about moving!" Cream shouted at Basil and Connie, who stopped their efforts in stacking the display cases into a sort of makeshift stair over the wall. "Hey! Stop talking!"

"Now!" Basil said, signalling Connie to run to her left while he ran to his right. They both pulled their guns - Cream and Nougat's guns - and began shooting at Cream, who dove behind a counter. Connie continued to shoot haphazardly at the counter while Basil pressed his back into the wall, lacing his hands together into a stepping point. He looked at his girlfriend and said "Connie, come on!" She fired two more shots, emptying her gun, and leaped onto and over the wall with Basil's help. He himself ran towards what they had built out of the cases and pulled himself over the wall as well.

On the other side of the wall, Connie had pretty much jumped right into Nougat, who was waiting with his gun drawn.
"Why do you two have to be here?!" she pleaded as she stared down the barrel of the pistol, backing herself into the wall.
"Well, you know Whip' and I," Nougat said with a bit of a smile, "when the two of us are together, we always leave a bit of a bad taste with people." He crept forward slowly, bringing the gap between them from five meters to about three.
"Taste this!" Basil shouted as he began shooting. Nougat instinctively dove to the side, returning fire; neither man hit his target, and Basil had run out of ammunition as well. It didn't matter to him, though, as he grabbed Connie and ran towards a fire exit leading to the upper levels. Basil was glad that he had the time to take apart the panels in the doors earlier in the night before the two party-crashers arrived, and thus had an able means of escape from the plaza even if all the ground-level security systems kicked in.

They were already inside the door before Nougat could shout for them to stop . . .


(Ooh! New record! It's about 10 minutes to 2am! Haha! Yeah, I might have to do this again tomorrow . . . . . I've got another lion / dragon / kung-fu thing to do tomorrow evening [boo!] . . . later!)
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Friday, February 20, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter VII)
(Alright, here we go. As it turns out, my little jotted down outlines in my school planner ended after the last chapter. I'm on full-impov mode now (ahh! kowaii!!!). With luck this won't take 'til 5am . . . though if it does, it'll be fair, since that's what I did last night with blasted Civ3 . . . alright, on with the story!)


"You notice we're always getting rides to these things?" Nougat said to Cream as they rode in the back of the police cruiser.
"Hey, you were the one that didn't want to drive anymore," Cream returned.
"And don't think I'm not enjoying this," Nougat said with a toothy smile. Cream shoved him a little while his left arm was up from putting a kevlar vest on over his shirt.
"Oh hey," he said to the officer riding in the passenger seat, "thanks again for the vest. I'll try to get it back to ya in one piece." The cop nodded and looked back over his shoulder.
"And my gun?" Cream palmed the pistol hostered at his side.
"Yeah, that's comin' back too, don't worry . . ."
"One way or another, yeah," Nougat added. when both Cream and the cop looked at him, he shrugged. "Hey, we have a knack for gettin' shot. I'm sure someone'll be able to get it back to ya even if it isn't Whip'." Cream lowered his brows.
"Oh, gee, thanks Noug'."
"It's what I'm here for, ya know . . ." Cream shoved him again when his arm was back up putting his suit jacket on over the flak vest; after hitting the older man, Cream slowly slid his arm into his sleeve, being careful of his makeshift bandage job on his wrist. The officer that was driving parked the car.
"Alright, I'm stopped behind the City Centre. Keep your radios on, and call us in if you need anything. I think I should be able to talk a couple more cars into the area if you need it." Nougat responded,
"Can do, though I doubt it'll have to come to that." The two of them waited patiently as the officers opened the doors for them to get out. "Oh hey," Nougat added as the one officer started to get into the driver's seat, "you mind if I steal your gun & vest too?"

"Hey, hurry up old man!" Cream shouted in as quiet a whisper as he could to his lagging-behind partner, who was still throwing his jacket on over his vest.
"Easy," he said, finally catching up to Cream against the outer wall of the centre, "you know I'm not about to put a vest on over my clothes."
"Come on, how attentive a shooter could he be?" Nougat took a turn to shove Cream.
"oh gee, like I'm gonna go out there and pretty much invite him to shoot me in the head, right?"
"Hey, it'd save me the troub' . . ."
"Ah, shaddup . . . hey, do your job!"

The plaza was a large glass structure that towered high over the ground. Outside, the ground floor and the two above it were blocked by long curtains of various colours. Above that, though, the clear glass ceiling was visible along with all the scaffolding beneath it. Neither man had actually seen the exhibit yet, and thus didn't know what to expect inside; of course, that was currently the least of the problems.
"'kay . . ." Cream said quietly once they were both in front of the front doors, " . . . how do we get in?"

"Looks like your less-noble skills are gonna be lost here, Whip'," Nougat said as they looked at the magnetically sealed door.
"Think they're in here?" Cream asked. Nougat pointed across the street.
"That car seems to ring a bell," he said, thinking back to the description the Fections had given them of Basil's car. Satistied, Cream looked back to the door and jiggled the handle and forth, feeling how it was held shut. It was completely pointless, and both men knew it, but Cream continued to do it. "So . . . you have an idea yet?" Cream continued jostling with the locked door. "Come on man, this isn't useful for any of us . . ." Cream started banging at the door. "Whip', don't do this, we'll think of . . ." Nougat was cut off fiercely by Cream's actions. "Holy crap, man!" Cream fired two more rounds through the glass of the door, shattering it spectacularly. Nougat stood stunned as Cream leaped through the broken door, alarms ringing all around him. "Dude what the hell are you . . ." Again, Nougat was interrupted by nearby events: metal bars were being dropped from between the above curtains to block off any entrance or exit through the front doors. Nougat dove through the broken door just before the bars touched down.
"Quite screwin' around!" Cream shouted back as he ran. "They know we're here now!"


(Yeah, I kept this one short . . . . . it's almost 1am my time, so I think you can understand that, right? Yeah . . . . . um . . . I'll try to think harder for tomorrow. later!)
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Thursday, February 19, 2004

   Well, I'm a jerk!
Ladies and gentlemen, you have just been beat out by a video game!

I bought Civ 3 today . . . didn't stop playing it 'til about 11:45pm. Needless to say, there's no new chapter . . . . . um . . . . . if you guys feel the need to do so, you may kick me at your own discretion . . .

While in this story-lull for the moment, I'll just say that I started watching Gunslinger Girl, which is a damn cool anime. So yeah, that, Full Metal Alchemist, and Naruto have kept me pretty busy as well . . . and now I have a new game to play (now that I've finished Knights of the Old Republic as well . . .) . . so yeah, free kicks to all who want to take one. I'd deserve it.

Though, it's probably for the best, ya know . . . I really didn't have anything planned at all . . . . .
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Wednesday, February 18, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter VI)
With only the sound of the waves under the pier and the breath from their faces, Cream and Nougat made their way to the nearest payphone near the waterfront. They had long since been bereft of their identification, money, and sidearms; Cream had also lost his cel phone, either the ocean or to their assailants. Though Nougat was no worse for wear, Cream still had a heavy pain in his head and a piece of his shirt wrapped around his recently-cut wrist. Despite that, his resolve was only more set in catching Basil and Connie.

"Hello, operator?" Nougat said into the phone, "can you get me the police? It's an emergency . . ." Cream had long since sat down on the cold sidewalk as he waited for Nougat to get them a ride back to civilization. The quiet waterfront was somewhat haunting to him, especially when compared to the utter throbbing in his temple. He was running the past events through his head: they were almost drowned. Before that, he was hit in the head twice; once when he was standing, and once again when he was on the ground. As he thought about the previous events, the image of something shiny flashed in his mind. He was ready to discount it as a simple precursor to blacking out, though he still felt certain that the flash came before the second blow . . . in any case, he wasn't up to pondering much more. All he could do was sit and listen . . .

"Yeah, someone get a car down here . . ."
"What do you mean everyone's busy? Well, send something, okay? This is an emergency!"
"They've got our guns, our badges, everything . . . hey, shut up . . . . ."
"I don't know where the hell they could be now . . ."

At that moment something shot through his head and he bolted to his feet. He snatched the receiver from Nougat's hand and immediately spoke into it,
"Get Sakai!" Nougat was still in a bit of a shock, trying to piece together what was happening before him.
"Whip', what's up?" he asked as Cream raised a finger for silence . . .
"Sakai? Hey, it's Whip'. Yeah, I'm peachy . . ." Nougat couldn't tell if it was possibly a concussion or something, but there was definitely something in his partner's eyes - a sense of purpose, perhaps. "Alright, now I know I let you plant a GPS tracer in my phone because I can still remember your whining for me to let you . . . . ." Suddenly Nougat understood completely.

"Alright, thanks Sakai!" Cream said somewhat cheerfully. He looked to Nougat. "You still wanna talk to anyone?"
"I'm good," Nougat said back, "our ride should be here in about 20 minutes." Cream frowned a little at that, and hung up the phone.
"Well, my phone is stationary on the corner of Main and Willow," Cream said.
"Main and Willow," Nougat thought, "that's back downtown, right?" Cream nodded. "Maybe it was from after we were at the hotel?"
"No, couldn't be - the hotel is about five blocks away from there in the wrong direction." The two of them spent a little more time throwing ideas back and forth between themselves as the evening got later and later.
"Alright . . . so we've got a friggin' strong neat-freak nerd Bonnie & Clyde wannabe going around downtown on Valentine's Day . . . why?" Both of them thought hard - about all the events of the day . . . . . Cream was first to gasp.
"Holy crap!" Nougat jumped.
"What?!"

"Okay, so before she knocked the hell outta me, I saw something flash," Cream started explaining.
"Maybe it was just you getting concussed?" Nougat suggested.
"It was before she hit me, trust me on this . . . no, she had something around her ankle or something."
"What, a shackle?"
" . . . . . try harder, Noug'." Noug' thought harder.
"I dunno, an anklet? Some kind of jewelry?"
"Yeah! Something like that!"
"So? Chicks like jewelry . . ."
"Yeah, they do . . . but that thing was shiny! I mean, her parents' house was nice, but it wasn't that nice . . . . ."
" . . . I'm not followin'."
"Think about it, man! What is two blocks away from Main and Willow?"
"Why don't you just tell . . ."
"Just think, old man!" Nougat sighed and thought a bit.
"Okay . . . the Plaza next to the City Centre."
"Which is currently housing . . ." Nougat thought for about three seconds longer before everything clicked.
"Holy crap! The jewel show!"

Both of them were getting really excited by this point.
"Okay," Nougat said, "so that explains most of those electrical schematics at his place."
"Yeah," Cream agreed, "if he's gonna crack through 'Mel's people's work, he'd need everything he could get."
"Yeah, and now they've got guns too," Nougat said, bringing the reality of the situation back to bear.
"Clearly, we can't put too much into that thought - we gotta stop them!" Nougat shot an eye back.
"Yeah? You thought that all by yours . ."
"Dude, I'm hurt and I wanna die right now, what if I trade you my punch for your cutting me for your shutting up now?"
" . . . done . . . . . . oh hey, our ride's here." Sure enough, a squad car was in front of them, headlights in their eyes.

"Hurt time?" Nougat asked.
"Ohh, it's gonna hurt so good . . ." Cream replied . . . . .


Man, I was gonna write in that anklet thing during the ACTUAL time it happened! This REALLY complicated things! Seriously!!! Let this be a lesson to you people: don't forget your plans when you plan ahead!!!
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Tuesday, February 17, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter V)
"Whip'," Nougat called to his groaning partner, "Whip', you awake yet?" Cream mumbled a little more and tried to sit up - it ended when he hit his head. Finally opening his eyes to effective darkness, he asked,
"Where the hell are we?"
"What, you don't recognise the inside of my trunk?" Nougat said back. There was a slight pause as the dazed Cream soaked everything in.
" . . . what?!" Cream squirmed a little to try to get himself into a more useful position; it was then when he learned his arms were tied behind his back. "O . . . kay . . . . . so, what now, then?" Nougat replied,
"Well, unless you can think of a way to get our hands free . . ." Cream moved his hands a little more - and felt more hands. " . . oh yeah, our hands are tied together too. Clever insanely big, neat-freak nerd bastard who is definitely no longer a kidnapper, ain't he?" Cream just sighed.
"Seems we've gotten ourselves into another sticky situation, eh?"
"Dude, are you even trying anymore with those?"
"Not really . . ."

As his already throbbing head was banging against the indented space for where the tire was, Cream came to understand their positions in the car: he was on his side facing inwards to the back of the carseats, while Nougat was facing out with the front of his body essentially pressed along the curvature of the trunk latch - they were more or less back-to-back.
"Noug'," Cream said, hearing the engine quiet down at a stop, "your car's new enough to have a pull-cord to open the trunk, right?"
Yeah," Nougat said back, "and if I were able to reach it I would, but . . ."
"I know, I know, hands . . ."

The car hit a small bump, causing the two of them to groan a little more. Cream asked,
"What are we tied up with, anyway?" Nougat brushed his fingers around their wrists as best we could.
"Plastic," he said, "I think they're zap-straps or something." Cream thought a little more.
"Hey, see if you can reach my keychain," he said, remembering the small penknife attached to it.
"Jacket pocket or pants?" Nougat asked.
"Uh . . . pants." Nougat groaned some more.
"Of course it would be the harder one to g . . ."
"Just try, damnit!"
"Slide up a bit, then!"

Cream's body was more or less unwilling to bend any further as he tried to give Nougat a better chance to get to his knife. It was about then when the car stopped moving and two doors opened - one closed.
"What the hell?" Cream thought out loud. He then noticed that Nougat's hands had stopped moving. "Hey, we're still in a bit of a predicament, remember?" Nougat let out a 'hmph' of sorts.
"Just hang on, what are five seconds gonna . . ." At that moment the engine was gunned and the car started accelerating quickly.
"Why the hell did you even try to say that?!" Cream shouted as they suddenly felt no ground underneath the car . . .

All around them was the sound of a heavy splash. The car had stopped its quick descent and was now suspended, albeit with a slight bounce.
"He drove us into the ocean!" Cream shouted, "what an asshole!"
"Yeah, that's what he is . . ." Nougat said, the sarcasm dripping with every word, "now bend, damnit! We need that knife!" Cream let out a bit of a yell as he arched his back up as hard as he could. Nougat in turn pulled both their hands down with equal fervour. Finally, Nougat was able to get his hand into Cream's pocket, though it was still a tight fit and the keychain was rather unwilling to come free.

The front of the car started to dip down, and water began to seep into the trunk from around the backseats. Finally, Nougat was able to tear the keychain out from Cream's pocket . . . and gasped when he almost dropped it.
"Noug'!" Cream shouted somewhat frantically, "You drop that knife and I swear to God I'll kill you!" Nougat shouted back.
"I drop this knife, you won't have to kill me!"
"Just cut, man! Cut!" Nougat carefully felt along the small knife with both hands and pulled the blade out. He then slowly felt around for where the zap-straps were on their wrists. Nougat lamented quickly,
"Man, this isn't gonna be a pretty job . . ." Cream said back,
"Look man, if you need to cut me you just cut me, and I'll punch you for it later, okay?" That being said, Nougat flipped the knife up as best he could and slid the back of the blade up Cream's wrist.
"Whip," Nougat said, "pull your wrists towards me and help this knife out!" Cream was quick to comply. Though he felt the tip of the blade press into his arm, Cream ignored it and continued to pull. He gave out another yell . . . and his hands lurched away from himself. They were finally free of their bonds.

Nougat immediately pulled his hands back in front of himself and felt around for the pull-cord to release the latch on the trunk. He found it and pulled hard - he heard the latch click open. He cried out in triumph and pushed up . . . and kept pushing . . . . . the trunk door would not move.
"Damnit, the pressure's too high!" he shouted back to Cream. "We need to wait for the trunk to fill with water first."
"God damn laws of physics!" Cream shouted as hard as he could.

The trunk was starting to fill quicker now that the car was completely surrounded by sea water. The two of them were now sitting, partly reclined, elbows under bodies, keeping their heads as high as they could. The next minute felt like an hour as the water reached their ears.
"Alright, hold!" Nougat said before breathing deeply - Cream did the same. Finally, the door slowly pushed open, and the two of them swam to the surface as quickly as they could. Thankfully for them, the car had not sunk as deep as they had thought. They both burst out into the clear ocean air and exhaled violently. As they treaded the water, catching their breaths, they found that it was now evening, and the sun had long since gone down.

They swam to the pier and got out of the water. Cream collapsed on it, staring at the sky, panting - Nougat just sat, arms propped behind him.
"Whip'," he said. Cream turned his head over to the side. "I am seriously in the mood to hurt somebody . . ."
"Yeah, I'll . . . join you in a sec . . ." Cream said in between breaths. "Just . . . let me . . . lie here . . . for a sec . . . . . but yeah . . . someone's gonna hurt . . ."
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Monday, February 16, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter IV)
"Whip, I gotta tell ya," Nougat said as he pulled into a stall of the visitor's parking lot, "I am getting seriously tired of driving around everywhere . . ." Cream chuckled quietly to himself again.
"Aw, come on old man . . . beats hitchhikin' doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but at least I can nap in the car while we hitchhike," Nougat said.
"Aww, you poor . . ."
"If you value your tongue you won't finish that sentence." Cream just smiled ear to ear - Nougat stuck out his tongue. They both got out of the car.

They came into the lobby and up to the front desk.
"Excuse me," Cream said to the woman behind the desk, "I was wondering if you could help us." The clerk replied,
"You two looking for a room?" Nougat perked up.
"Ahh, no no, that's not it . . ." Cream looked at his partner.
"Defensive little bastard, ain't ya?" he said, another grin slowly forming on his face.
"Get back to work!" Nougat ordered, swatting at Cream's head lightly.

"We're looking for a Mr. Kruid who checked in to this hotel a few days ago," Cream told the woman as he showed his badge. She didn't ask any questions and just pulled up names on the computer in front of her.
"Why yes, Mr. Kruid did check in a few days ago . . . in fact, they still have yet to check out today."
"What room?!" Nougat asked excitedly. Cream shot another look at his rather eccentric partner. "What? The sooner we bag this guy the sooner I can stop driving around."
"I thought you were bored, Noug'," Cream returned.
" . . . . . let's just get this guy, okay?"

The two of them were in the elevator, heading up to the third floor of the hotel.
"I'm still pretty stoked that the woman gave us a key to the room," Nougat said, "saves us the trouble for when things undoubtedly get complicated." Cream agreed as the elevator reached the floor. "Alright, let's go rock some ass . . ."

The two of them took positions on the side of the door.
"Mr. Kruid," Nougat said sternly, "it's the police, are you there?" Nougat put his ear to the door and listened; there was a great deal of movement along the floor.
"Hello?" a quiet, female voice responded from the other side of the door. Cream and Nougat looked at each other wide-eyed.
"Connie?" Nougat asked, "Connie is that you?"
"Yes, that's me," she responded. Nougat continued.
"Connie, open the door, your parents sent us to find you."
"Uhm," Connie said, stuttering over her words, "I . . . I don't think I can do that . . ." Cream pulled out the keycard they were given and slid it through the slot.
"Well, this is undoubtedly gonna get complicated," he said as he opened the door . . .

Connie was inside, looking no worse for wear. She did look especially startled, though.
"Well, seems your kidnapper's been a rather kind one," Nougat said.
"You okay?" Cream asked.
"Uhm, yeah . . . yes, I'm fine . . . but Basil could be back any second, and . . ." Nougat reassured her.
"Oh, don't you worry about him, we'll take care of . . ."

Nougat never had a chance to finish his sentence before a leather belt was looped over his head and cinched back hard. Cream hurt the grunt and looked over; the linen closet was wide open, and there was a surprisingly large man choking Nougat from behind. Nougat ran backwards and crushed the man against the far wall. Cream ran over to help give some slack in the belt, and pulled at the man's arms as hard as he could. His help was cut short by something heavy impacting against the back of his head. As he fell clutching his head, he felt a hard kick hit him under his chin before losing all effective consciousness.

Nougat looked in pure shock as Connie got back up, readying the short length of metal pipe in her hands.
"Miss, I'm severely disappointed in ya," Nougat said quietly before she swung the pipe at his stomach. Though he blocked most of it with one hand, the belt in turn had less blocking it, and the man pulled it tighter - within the next few moments, Nougat dropped to his knees and to his side . . . . .
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   Hmm . . . business . . . . .
So yeah, tonight was surprisingly busy . . . . . I'll try to write it up by this afternoon, though, okay? I had some business to attend to . . . . .
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Sunday, February 15, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter III)
"I'm seein' it but I don't believe it . . ." Cream said as the two of them pulled up to the address on the monitor. "This is the house of the badass boyfriend?!" The small house was nestled in the center of a very quiet and peaceful suburb, glowing in the light afternoon sun. The lawn was cut short, the paint was clean and unchipped; externally, it looked about as good as any house could be.
"Think this guy lives with his parents, maybe?" Nougat suggested.
"No, the file says he lives alone . . . . . geez Noug', I still can't believe this is the same guy with this same record!"
"Well ya know, what looks good on the outside isn't necessarily good for you . . . you of all people should know that." Cream grinned.
"As do you, I guess?"
"Better believe it . . . alright, let's go."

Cream tore out the printed warrant and the two of them walked up the walkway to the front door.
"Noug', check it out . . ." Cream motioned to the pavement. "It's been power-washed recently too . . ." Nougat shrugged.
"Okay . . . so we have an aggressive, neat-freak potential-kidnapper?"
"I'm lookin' forward to meeting this guy," Cream thought out loud.

"Mr. Kruid," Nougat said clearly as he knocked on the door, "we have a warrant to search the premises." No answer.
"Noug', he ain't home," Cream said to him. "Check it out, empty car port. Nougat looked at his partner, eyebrow raised.
"Car port?" Cream shrugged.
"Well . . . no door, so . . . . . hey, details, okay? Car's not here!" Nougat chuckled one last time at Cream's expense.
"Alright, alright . . . so we're allowed to enter his house, right?"
"Like that's ever stopped you before . . ."
"Oh yeah . . . heh . . ."

The two of them started searching along the sides of the house to find any point of entry - an open window, door, or anything. Unfortunately for them, the man had locked up his home very well. His frustrations slowly getting the better of him, Nougat headed around to the back door. Cream was able to figure out his intentions just in time - he had already backed up a couple of steps . . .
"Noug'! Hey!" Cream shouted quickly, "No breaking stuff!" Nougat struggled to regain his balance, as his abortive kick had him in an odd position.
"What? You got a better idea, Whip'?" Cream stepped towards the door.
"Obviously . . . . ." Cream took out his keychain - attached to which were a series of small picks. Though Nougat berated him for carrying thieves' tools, Cream quickly had the door open and the two of them entered the house . . . they were met with a high alarm tone . . .

"Ah crap! Of course he's alarmed!" Cream exclaimed. Nougat started laughing. "Dude, bad time! Bad time!"
"I know I know I know!" Nougat said, trying to ease his laughter. "Ah screw it, let's just hurry up!" Cream agreed.

With the alarm still sounding, they entered the kitchen.
"Okay, I still don't believe it," Cream said as he looked around the completely spotless house - the air even smelled nice to him. Nougat walked through the kitchen and into the next hallway.
"Neat-freak, confirmed . . ." he mumbled as he walked through the house. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like Kruid had been a rather well-off man, with many home luxuries adorning his rooms. "What did this guy do again?" Cream jogged his memory.
"Uh . . . crud, I forget . . . I think it was something to do with . . ."
"Something to do with electronics?" Nougat interrupted. Cream clicked.
"Yeah, something like that . . . not a lucky guess, was it?"
"Nope," Nougat said, "check out his office. Cream poked his head into the room as well. All along the walls were schematics, blueprints, and other tech-related articles cut out from magazines and the like. In the middle of the room was a large desk with a PC and dozens of various CDs. "Okay. . . . . so he's an aggressive neat-freak nerd who may or may not be a kidnapper. Great."

"You think he bought all this expensive stuff?" Nougat wondered out loud.
"Hey, we've got intelligence!" Cream realised, "let's find out!" He pulled out his cel phone and called the department.
"Hey, Sakai," he said to the officer on the other end, "I need you to get a credit card record for a Basil Kruid on 137 5th Avenue . . ." Nougat looked along the bookshelves, taking note of all the technical journals and such that the man had kept. ". . . oh, an alarm went off at that address? Um . . . I'll explain that one later . . . . ." Cream motioned for him to come back out with him - Nougat quickly tidied up anything he may have touched and they both headed back out the back door. Cream closed the door behind them as the single, clear tone of the house alarm was still sounding. " . . . oh, interesting . . . alright, thanks Sakai!"

"What did Sakai find out?" Nougat asked as they walked back to the car. Cream englightened him.
"Last place the guy used his credit card was a hotel downtown, and that was just a few days ago!" Nougat's face brightened up.
"Okay, let's haul ass!" Just as they opened the doors to the car, a squad car pulled up, lights flashing. When the officers of that car came out, one asked,
"This is the house, right?" Cream and Nougat both looked at each other, slightly startled.
"Yeah," Nougat replied quickly, "But, uh, I think he got away through the back or something."
"Yeah," Cream added. "So can you two handle this one, you think? We've gotta get to some other stuff right now.
"Sure, can do sirs," the officer answered. As the new officers headed towards the house, Nougat gunned the car and made a quick getaway, all the while laughing hard as Cream shouted for him to shut up . . . . .
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Saturday, February 14, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter II)
"Man, how do we always end up working on kidnappings or kidnapping-related stuff?" Nougat asked as he steered the car around a corner into the small neighbourhood.
"I dunno. Fate? Bad luck?" Cream offered. "Sheer coincidence?"
"Maybe . . ." Nougat pulled over to the curb in front of the intended house and stopped the car. " . . . or maybe we're just suckers?"
"Yeah, maybe . . ."

"So hey," Nougat said as they walked towards the house, "you know I already tease you for being as feathery and girly, right? So what was up with that whole thing in the office?"
"What, you mean with 'Mel?" Cream said. "To be fair, I don't think I need to explain a thing to you, mister 'faith in fate' . . ." Cream and Nougat stepped up onto the small stoop; Nougat rang the doorbell.
"Dork," he said quickly under his breath.
"Ham," Cream returned.

A man greeted them from the other side of the door. He was relatively young, with a short-sleeved collared shirt and jeans.
"Mr. Fection?" Nougat asked. The man replied in the positive. "You called about something about your daughter?"
"Yes," Mr. Fection said, "please come in . . ." He led the two into the living room and called his wife who was upstairs. Mrs. Fection came downstairs and met the two inspectors. She was also quite young, though with an ever so slight hint of grey along the sides of her hairline. She asked the visitors to take a seat in the living room.

"Yes, we're afraid that Connie may be in trouble right now with her boyfriend," Mrs. Fection said while Cream and Nougat sat attentively. "For the past month or two we've had a feeling that he's been getting himself into some really dangerous things." Mr. Fection added,
"She was coming home at terrible hours in the night, and a lot of times their yelling would wake us up." He clasped his hands together as he continued. "That, along with all sorts of other things - his aggression was the worst of it, I found - well, I just had to stop it."
"Stop it?" Cream asked.
"Yes," Mr. Fection answered, "one night after dropping Connie back at home, I came out of the house and told him to never come near her again."
"Let me guess," Nougat said, "he didn't take that all too well . . ."
"Not unless you call a sucker-punch taking it well, then no, I wouldn't say so." Mrs. Fection put a hand on her husband's arm.
"He hit you?" Cream asked.
"Yeah, he did. Needless to say, I got a restraining order put out on him directly afterwards." Nougat spoke again.
"But it wasn't enough?"
"Not by a long shot . . ."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Cream said as they all walked back towards the front door, "it was about three weeks ago when you put out the restraining order, though you could still hear him driving through the neighbourhood late at night . . ."
"Yes," Mrs. Fection said, "there was no mistaking that boy's car."
"Alright," Cream said as he continued, "at the same time, he still calls Connie on her personal line . . ." Again, he got nods of agreement. "And now for the past couple days or so, Connie hasn't come home?"
"We can only fear the worst right now," Mr. Fection said.
"Try not to worry too much, you two," Nougat said, "we'll find your daughter . . ."

Nougat started up the car as Cream called in a trace for the phone number on the phone bill the Fections had given him.
"Kids are idiots sometimes," Nougat muttered.
"Aw, come on Noug," Cream replied, "we're not all bad . . ."
"Hey, who ever taught you to talk back to your elders?" Nougat questioned back, bringing a smile to the younger man's face.
"Aw, you poor old, gloomy, sticky old man . . . . ." the call came back to them on the small monitor in the car. "And we have an address . . ."
"Alright," Nougat said as he stepped harder on the gas pedal, "let's go become heroes again . . ."
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Thursday, February 12, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Second Coating (Chapter I)
"Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!" 'Mel proclaimed as she proudly stepped into the precinct, and as always, her presence was met warmly by everyone. Today was definitely no exception, as she passed by all the desks dispensing candies to all the officers and secretaries from a large bag she had brought with her. "So hey," she said to the man at the front desk, "are those two idiots in?" The man grinned; he knew exactly whom she was talking about.
"Yeah, those two idiots are in. You want me to buzz them and tell 'em you're coming?" 'Mel put her finger to her chin for a moment.
"Nah, I'll just ambush 'em. Thanks."

"Oh, no way in hell!" Cream shouted as he kicked at Nougat, shaking him. "You are not winning this one!"
"Don't touch me, you ass! You're goin' down on this one!" Nougat shouted back as he released. He let fly, feeling that all was aimed just right . . . . . he was then let disappointed when the paper ball was blown too far to the right of the garbage can. "Dude!" he said, looking at Cream, "turn the fan back down to low!"
"I didn't touch the fan, man. You just suck at this game." Nougat kicked at Cream's chair, rolling him slightly towards the far wall.

Neither of them could really remember who invented the concept of wastepaper basketball with an electric fan blowing to the side of it. Nevertheless, it had taken up much of their free time after the last of the Pis were rounded up the months prior. Aside from the odd case and the recent bank robbery, the two partners had actually had very little to do as of late and it was starting to wear at them.

Their spirits livened when 'Mel popped her head around the door.
"'Mel!" they both cried out, perking up instantly. 'Mel cocked her head, smiled, and stepped into the spacious enough office. She was quick to notice that she was kicking paper balls around with every step, though . . .
"A little bored, are we?" She asked with her eyebrow arched. Cream was first to respond.
"You have no idea." 'Mel tried hard not to laugh too hard.
"Aww, poor kids . . . well here, these should cheer you up!" she said as she pulled out two large teddy bears from her bag. She gave the tan-coloured one to Nougat. "To my two all-time favourite rescuers . . ." She gave the white one to Cream. " . . . who are stuck working on this comercially whorable day . . ."

The two of them delighted heavily as they accepted these gifts. Nougat just started laughing at the slight absurdity of grown men with teddy bears; Cream just handled his bear a little, bouncing it side to side.
"Oh, this reminds me," Cream said, "I thought you might be coming by today, so . . ." He wheeled himself back around to his desk and pulled out a box of chocolates with a white rose tied to it by a ribbon. "So yeah, happy Valentine's Day, I guess." 'Mel grinned as she took the box.
"Now how did you know I was gonna come by?" she said.
"Oh, that would be women's intuition," Nougat interrupted quickly before Cream could reply. He shot his younger partner a mischievous grin as he wheeled himself towards his own desk. "Me, however, just had simple faith in fate . . ." Nougat then produced his own box of chocolates; a red rose adorned the outside of it.

"Well well," 'Mel said as she accepted the second box, "bored stiff and yet you're still willing to try to be charming." Cream and Nougat just gave various looks of whatever emotions seemed proper for the time. "But yeah, I bet the girls at the office'll love these!" The two of them nodded and mumbled in agreement, sounding a little dejected . . .

"So how is the company comin' along anyway?" Nougat asked. By now, both of them had wheeled themselves back towards 'Mel.
"Well," she said, "now that things have settled down a bit, things are lookin' really good! Our shareholders voted to adopt our latest plan to expand the company to take in some more private investors, get some more interns in, and all that. Plus, We've broken the current monopoly that Ruth's has had on . . ." 'Mel stopped herself and looked at the two men sitting before her: they were both looking directly at her, nodding as she spoke . . . she knew better, though . . . . . " . . . essentially, all the numbers are going up, so I'm happy."
"Ahh," Nougat said, leaning back.
"But of course," Cream said, nodding his head a little, "it's so simple . . ." 'Mel just looked at the paper-covered floor and shook her head.

"Oh, other cool news!" 'Mel jumped to attention a little. "You know that jewel show that came into town? They contracted us to do all the electronics work for their security system!"
"Oh cool!" Nougat said. "Congrats, 'Mel."
"Yeah, definitely," Cream added, "it should be a pretty good boom to ya."
"You guys have no idea," 'Mel said, "I mean, when the CEO of a company gets kidnapped by large syndicates and stuff, people kinda don't want to work with ya, ya know? So yeah, this is a big boom for us!"

Their conversation was cut short by the phone ringing. Cream wheeled himself back to his desk.
"Yeah, we're here . . . . . why as a matter of fact, yes, we have been bored to tears lately . . ."
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