Shadows of Justice

[Cold Shadow]

The white-plumed, anthropomorphic duck, Detective Maui Mallard, sat at his desk within the Epcot City Police Department. The surface of his desk was littered with piles of police reports, as well as a few empty Styrofoam cups of coffee, staplers, and other assorted trinkets which concealed so much of his desk as to make its surface completely obscured. He had an intent expression on his face as he shuffled the papers in his hands, the piles on his desk growing so high that when he leaned forward a bit all that could be seen of him was the top of his blue baseball cap.

Paperwork was never his forte, and in addition to the massive amounts of reports constantly coming in he was also browsing though cold case files. The ECPD was so overworked on cases that no one in his department had the time or energy to investigate cold cases... cases in which guilty parties wound up getting away Scott-free. The notion irritated Maui, and so he was pulling double (and sometimes triple) shifts in an effort to try and shed new light on these forgotten atrocities.

He leaned back in his office chair and sighed, sliding his fingers beneath the rim of his hat and pushing it up his head some as he scratched his temple. Beneath his red, floral-patterned Hawaiian shirt were his holstered pistol as well as his badge, neither of which visible unless he was so inclined to present them. Outwardly he would appear to most as just a typical citizen of Epcot City.

The ECPD desperately needed more officers on the force, but the people outraged at the thought of demanding more tax-payer's money to fund them. And why shouldn't they? From the viewpoint of the laymen it seemed as if the ECPD was almost entirely worthless; supervillains ran rampant, and the media made it seem as though the police were powerless to stop them. And to an extent, they were. They simply didn't have the resources or manpower to handle such criminals. But truthfully, the department was working themselves ragged as they desperately tried to maintain law and order in a city slowly slipping into self-destruction, and Maui Mallard happened to be one such detective at the forefront of trying to turn the tides. Of course, what no one but Maui himself knew was that where he was powerless in some instances due to government law, the vigilante (a term common within the humble walls of the police department) known as Cold Shadow could get to criminals where legal red tape blocked off Maui Mallard. And few would even begin to suspect that the law-abiding officer of justice, Maui Mallard, and the seemingly rogue ninja taking the law into his own hands, Cold Shadow, were in fact one in the same.

[Chief O'Hara]

Inside Epcot City Police Department's station, Maui's desk was surrounded by the busy, constant shuffling of policemen working. Throughout the station, the ceaseless humming of ringing phones could go unnoticed by sensory adaptation. All day long the phones rang, and all day long promises by the police were made, but many of them ended up broken because they couldn't apprehend the supervillains.

The incessant symphony of ringing telephones was interrupted by a heated argument between two portly dogs. Casey, the fatter of the two, attempted to calm his superior but he failed miserably. "Chief, don't worry! Things'll turn up!" The portly dog who sported a bowler hat and always chomped on a cigar, was disappointed to see his superior's reaction.

Mr. O'Hara, the chief of Epcot City's police, wagged his gloved finger at the rotund detective and shook his head. "Ye said that last week, and that didn't happen. Things won't turn up, Casey, unless we work for it!"

The two continued to walk, and they were soon close to Detective Maui Mallard's desk. In fact, they had stopped right next to the desk as the argument reached its peak. "Don't be a sourpuss, boss."

That comment would prove to be a big mistake; Chief O'Hara stopped in his tracks, spun to the loudmouthed detective and jabbed an accusing finger three times on his chest, which made the cigar-smoker flinch. "A fine detective ye are, Casey!!" erupted O'Hara. "'An ironclad case,' yer always tellin' me, or, 'It's in the bag!' Bah! Crime is up fifteen percent since th' past month, and 'It'll turn up' are just pretty words, Casey! Are ye just gonna stand here an' talk about a better Epcot City, or are ye gonna do something about it?!"

"Yes, sir! Right away sir!" exclaimed the startled, embarrassed detective, before running away as fast as his chubby legs would allow. If he had a tail, it would be between his legs right now.

The outburst caught the attention of several officers in the precinct house, but it only took seconds for the staring policemen to return to their duties. Now free from a smug, overconfident man, Chief O'Hara sighed and rested against Maui's desk. He closed his eyes and shook his heavy head. "Ahh, if this keeps up much longer..." The rest of the sentence was muttered and not clearly heard.

[Cold Shadow]

Still propped back in his chair the detective watched the exchange between his colleague and boss. It wasn't anything new to the mallard; arguments such as these were commonplace these days. Everyone was exhausted, frustrated, and on edge. But despite the empty reassurances of the other detective, Maui wasn't quite so optimistic; in fact, he could only see things growing worse at the clip they were headed. This never dissuaded him, however. If anything it encouraged him to work even harder.

He absent-mindedly picked up one of the Styrofoam cups, but the contents had long since been emptied, and after glancing at the dried ring of coffee at the base of the cup he nonchalantly tossed it into a nearby, overflowing garbage can, where it merely bounced off of pre-existing garbage and settled on the floor beside the waste basket. The act was pretty pointless, anyway, seeing as there were still numerous other empty cups on the desk, and tossing out that one surely didn't make much of a difference.

The white-plumed duck glanced up at his disgruntled boss before returning to his files. He rummaged through a folder, and at first it seemed as though he would not even address the chief standing at his desk, before he opened his bill. "...it'll get a lot worse before it gets better." He stated, ad-libbing the remainder of the chief's sentence, even though it was really his own input rather than a genuine attempt to finish the man's own sentence. And that was true, because in addition to Epcot City's own criminals, criminals from other locations were even migrating to the city upon hearing how easy it was to get away with just about anything.

"But that's not an admission that things'll stay that way indefinitely." He added a moment later, continuing to shuffle through the reports.

[Chief O'Hara]

The overweight, overworked, and overstressed chief of Epcot City's police had retrieved a handkerchief from his jacket's interior pocket. With it he absorbed some of the perspiration that blanketed the top of his head, but the sweat would still generate regardless. The Irish cop sighed again, just before Maui opened his bill and spoke.

O'Hara shifted his weight to look back at the medium-boiled detective. Maui Mallard: a detective less cocky and annoying than Casey. And speaking of Casey, at that point O'Hara felt a tinge of regret for making his outburst directly in front of Maui, and for embarrassing Casey in front of another member of the force.

"Aye, Mallard." The chief's Irish accent was indeed thick, but he was still easily decipherable to well-attuned American ears. The chief pocketed his handkerchief and folded his arms on his sizable gut. "We'll just have have t'work harder for that silver linin', won't we?"

Just then, O'Hara noticed the numerous piles of intimidatingly large stacks of cold cases on Maui's desk, and this only reminded the chief of Epcot City's situation. The chief grimaced and shook his head. There was no use in denying the fact: Epcot City was going to hell in a hand-basket, and fast.

[Cold Shadow]

The feathered detective nodded his head toward the chief. He neatly arranged the papers back into the file he had most recently been rummaging through and then placed it on his desk before hopping out of his chair and onto his webbed feet. He intended to go and get himself another cup of coffee. At this point he wasn't even sure what time it was, as time became a weird sort of entity when you were as involved in a project as he was. He didn't have any urge to check one of the clocks adorning the station's interior walls, either, as it didn't make much of a difference.

He had gotten some leads from the cold case files. Parties who were clearly guilty, though there was not enough evidence in the court's eyes to allow for an arrest, or a search warrant. Those who got away with horrendous deeds based upon discrepancies in protocol. Buffoonery of that nature. And, of course, secret identities: those villains whose alter egos couldn't be proven to be the culprits in the masks who defied the law. Maui couldn't touch those villains with a ten foot pole, but a certain ninja would be investigating them soon enough.

Maui stopped in front of his desk, looking toward Chief O'Hara and wondering if the man would walk with him to go get his sleep-warding beverage (though Maui could just as easily have gone for a nice, tropical drink right about now, though those kinds of frivolous acts would have to be put on the back-burner for some time).

[Chief O'Hara]

Chief O'Hara watched as Maui arranged the cold case file neatly and hop off of his chair. Being a bigger man (both vertically and horizontally), O'Hara had to look downward slightly just to politely address the Hawaiian shirt-clad detective. Funnily, the police chief had absolutely no idea that the detective whom he conversed with almost every day was secretly Epcot City's ninja vigilante.

O'Hara immediately recognized that Maui was after some coffee. The chief's Irish charm surfaced to his lips and tugged them into a smile. Every day it was rarer and rarer to see the Chief (or many other cops for that matter) smile, but the chief was happy to in this case because he, too, thought a cup of joe would help get him through the day.

"I could stand a cuppa, meself." He gestured for Maui to lead on, and would follow the duck closely.

On they would walk, through a dense forest of ringing phones and policemen and detectives working their fingers to the bone, aiming for Epcot's most notorious criminals. On the way, O'Hara stepped on a copy of a printout that clutched to the floor. He bent and picked it up, but wish he hadn't:

"Bulba."

Taurus Bulba, one of Epcot City's most dangerous and elusive criminal geniuses. Heists, kidnappings, and even murder, Taurus wore the papal tiara of crime.

O'Hara continued to walk, but his face mostly remained on the picture of Taurus Bulba. "He makes me sick, that Bulba."

[Cold Shadow]

Maui walked through the police station with his pudgy superior, pausing as the Irish cop stooped down to pluck a stray printout that was carelessly left to idle on the floor, unnoticed to the majority of busy workers scurrying about and doing their finest to maintain order among chaos.

Taurus Bulba: the name was not lost upon the white-plumed detective. in fact, the name likely wasn't lost on the majority of Epcot City, whether they were in law enforcement or not, for the man was about as notorious as they came. One could publish an entire novel containing just the crimes of that one individual, and possibly work up enough for a sequel, to boot. Likely wouldn't be a bestseller, though. it would probably be a must-have for aspiring wrong-doers, but stealing it wouldn't promote sales any. Maui shook his head once he realized he was rambling in his own mind, likely a side-effect of needing that next caffeine fix.

"On the ladder of filth that Bulba stacks up pretty high." Maui coolly responded to the chief, and his tone insinuated that there was no love lost between law enforcement and Taurus Bulba. "If we could just get our hands on Bulba I think it would do a world of good. To see someone so high up fall to justice would stir some fear into lesser criminals. Make an example of 'im."

Maui Mallard had gone after Bulba, and so had Cold Shadow, but thus far all either of them had gotten was diddly-squat. Bulba was many things, but not a fool, and he hadn't gone on for as long as he had by being careless in regard to either the police or vigilante justice. Owning such a big piece of the pie, Maui suspected he had to watch his back even in the criminal underworld. No honor among thieves.

[Chief O'Hara]

'Right ye are, Mallard," Chief O'Hara enthusiastically agreed. He nodded and the fat in his cheeks bounced slightly with each nod. As he continued to walk, the chief brought up his clenched right fist, as if he was undercutting a foe.

"If we catch 'im, we'd strike a mighty blow on Epcot's hooligan idjots! Ah, it'd be a fine day."

Just fantasizing a better future of Epcot was enough to make the picture of Bulba sick. He neatly folded the printout and pocketed it so he could pin it to a board or something later.

"Someday. Someday we'll get 'im, if we work for it." His face hardened nobly as he said those words, but humorously all of the nobility in his face shifted to pleasant delight when the two reached the coffee machine. "Here we are, lad."

[Cold Shadow]

He continued to walk along the familiar route with his superior, listening to every word the man had to say. When he had first joined the ECPD he found it difficult to understand everything the portly man was saying, but having gotten accustomed to the man's thick accent he could easily keep up with every syllable without any hitches.

When they arrived at the coffee machine a couple of cops were standing around talking to one another. Upon seeing Chief O'Hara they quickly collected their coffee and scurried off to work. Maui didn't recognize either of the officers, and decided that they were probably new recruits still wet behind the ears. They were at least savvy enough to hurry along having seen the approaching O'Hara, so he hoped they were fast learners in more meaningful areas, too.

"You know what Bulba has done. I know. Heck, everyone knows. But without evidence that won't mean a thing in court. Even if we brought him in now he'd probably walk." Maui commented as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Once he had done this he added a fair amount of cream and sugar. He had a soft spot for sweet drinks. "If we could get something that'd stick, though..." He ponder as he stirred his beverage with one of those little white, plastic stirring sticks.

[Chief O'Hara]

Chief O'Hara gave the two officers the benefit of the doubt and decided that the two men were just finishing discussing important matters relevant to their occupation. Heaven forbid they were wasting valuable time in front of the chief. But wait, getting coffee is valuable time, because caffeine can push one to get through the day. So in a way, one could thank coffee for locking up Taurus Bulba. What malarkey! Chief O'Hara desperately needed coffee, too.

Chief O'Hara waited for Maui to serve himself, and when it was the chief's turn he poured his own cup of coffee. As he poured he nodded in agreement. "Sure, Maui. Bein' at th' right moment at th' right time." The Chief's pronunciation of Maui was the most distinctive heard in the department. The chief was cutting back on excessive sugar, but he did add some cream to his coffee. He, too, thought as he mixed his drink. He scoffed when he thought of something--someone--in particular.

"Sometimes I think that ninja may be onto somethin'."

By ninja Chief O'Hara clearly meant Cold Shadow. The chief would have never guessed that Cold Shadow was standing right in front of him.

[Cold Shadow]

Maui casually took a sip of his coffee when the chief mentioned the 'ninja.' He was a bit surprised to hear praise in regard to his alter-ego's vigilante exploits, but he couldn't very well show any pride in his initial reaction, and thankfully the fact that his beak was preoccupied with his beverage aided in his charade of remaining stoic.

"It's true that the 'ninja' has helped the ECPD make a few vital arrests that we weren't able to get our mitts on otherwise, but I'd feel a lot safer living in a city where the law could keep a cap on these thugs and not someone in a Halloween costume." He responded easily enough. Thankfully his intimate relationship with the hot liquid also allowed him time to choose his words carefully before he had to lower the cup to respond. He felt the response was smooth enough, plus it was honest. He did wish that he could maintain peace solely as Maui Mallard, but in Epcot City's current state that just wasn't good enough anymore.

"Plus I could never find much dirt on the ninja, anyway. Aside from a couple of vague eye witness reports claiming to have seen a ninja in the vicinity of some of the scenes, nothing ever panned out." He followed up. He supposed that karma could be true enough, and that good deeds would be rewarded in turn, because as luck had it out of all of the detectives that could have been assigned to investigate the ninja, Detective Maui Mallard himself had been chosen. Maui, of course, could not grasp any solid leads on the ninja. And so long as he remained on the case, he had a funny feeling that no reasonable clues would ever crop up. Wink, wink.

"The idea of a ninja running around Epcot City and dispensing vigilante justice on its wrongdoers sounds like something straight out of a comic book." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

[Chief O'Hara]

Chief O'Hara realized that what he said might have sounded silly and irrational from a police chief. He admitted this by nodding and sighing, and rubbed the light sweat on his temple.

"Aye, it is like those books and Hal'ween costumes, and I want th' police to be on top o'th' game. It's all silly, but if it means catchin' crooks..."

He recognized that he babbled. He shrugged as well and smiled meekly at the duck. "Anyway! Pay no attention to me. I'm off me rocker. You're right, ninjas are fiddle-faddle. I better get back t'work, but..." He cleared his throat and made his voice sound more boss-like. "Keep up the spirit, lad. You do the service good."

There was that irresistible Irish twinkle in his smile, and with that he took his coffee and started back for his office, where more work waited for him.

[Cold Shadow]

Maui nodded in response to the Chief's praise. "Thank you, Chief. I'll continue to do my best, for Epcot City." He responded before his superior officer turned to return to his work station. He let out a small sigh of relief once Chief O'Hara had disappeared from sight. He capped off his coffee and then started to make his way back toward his own work station, pausing briefly at a nearby board which had numerous mug shots and sketches of criminals. It was so full that it looked like a collage of evil.

Hopefully there would come a day when he could put away his ninja gi and staff for good. But in the meantime there would be Cold Shadow to augment Detective Mallard's endeavors to clean the streets of Epcot City.