UOW S3 E1: A New Reality, a New Challenge

in #fiction11 months ago

 "KaraReinhardt UOW.jpg"
KroninReinhardt UOW.jpg

Foreign Quarantine zone: Tokyo International Airport:

As luck (good or bad luck is up to you.) would have it, Kronin and Kara were airborne when Japan closed its borders in response to the world wide pandemic. This was problematic as there were multiple airplanes with passengers that were heading for Japan.

As the twins entered the airport, Kronin peeked around to look at what was going on. Kara, a police officer and member of the GSG-9 counter terrorism force took a few looks and nodded. “Quarantine. They’re not going to let us in.”

Kronin frowned and nodded. The Japanese government was heavily xenophobic at the best of times. Give them the excuse of a crisis. “Well not much we can do for the moment. We stay in line and speak to the authorities when we get up there.”

30 minutes later, that finally happened. The guard took one look at their passports and shook his head. “You’re not Japanese! Back to Europe!” Kara kept her distance so as not to antagonize the guard, and because she was worried about what had been happening to her. If it was picked up on a disease screen.. Kronin, meanwhile, speaks with the guard, and shows his and Kara’s IDs and the guard checks. “You are on the list. Your company has made an agreement with the Japanese government and the Japanese government thanks you for your actions in North Korea.” Kronin smiles and nods. “Umm, thanks? So what next?” The guard waves over to a different checkpoint. “You get there and get screened. If you’re clean, you will be allowed in. If you’re infected, you will be sent back to Germany.”

Kronin and Kara made their way to the checkpoint, Kronin being moved to one center, Kara to another. Kronin has a small sample of blood taken and is run through tests for the virus. After a bit, he is cleared and directed through to another station where he is given a special debit card, a keycard to an apartment and a provisional citizenship card.

Kara went through the same thing, watching with a growing sense of worry as she has blood drawn and then is run through a nose swabbing and other such things. Luckily, a scuffle broke out behind her and the guards left to provide extra security. So when the tech noticed something odd in the blood test, she was caught by Kara, who made eye contact. Kara wasn’t exactly sure how she did it but she felt herself reach out, hypnotizing the woman reaching into her mind. “Override. I’m. Fine. You will let me pass. And forget you saw the anomaly.” The woman nodded and the guards noticed nothing odd as they came back other than the woman giving the clear sign. Kara was then given her debit card, living assignment in an apartment next door to Kronin’s and also a provisional citizenship card and she reunites with Kronin as he raises an eyebrow. “Everything okay?” Kara smiled. “I’m fine. Computer error.”

Making their way through the checkpoint and being given their masks, both twins put them on and make their way to the airport’s food court where they find public dining is not allowed. Kronin buys some Japanese style ramen and a couple of hamburgers. Kara picks up some sushi and picks up some other assorted food. The twins then make their way to the apartment complex they’ve been assigned.

Kronin’s apartment, Foreign Apartment living quarters:

Kronin and Kara ate their food, Kara doing her best to control the rising hunger inside her. “So that was odd, UOW made an agreement with the Japanese government?” Kronin nods. “Yeah, a perfect justification for the government’s xenophobia and they make a deal with a foreign wrestling company?” He takes his smartphone and looks at his email. “Huh. The Yoshida sisters for Friday Night Clash here in Tokyo.”

Kara thought about that and shrugged. “Don’t remember them. Local?” Kronin nods. “Definitely local. Might be part of the ‘deal’ Japanese wrestling companies sending some of their talent to compete with us. Makes sense. Pandemic will force people to stay at home, will impact most normal forms of entertainment, something new on the wrestling front could help the wrestling companies and could help give the populace something new to watch.”

Kara pulled out the laptop and got on the website. “Nope. Seems UOW signed them. One of them, Yui, is 19. Okinawa and studied Karate.” Kronin considers this and nods. “So.. young, inexperienced. That does give us the advantage. We’re twins and that gives us great teamwork with the connection twins usually have. On the other hand, Yui might be a rookie, but she and her sister have likely been working together too.”

Kara nodded. “Her sister Kana is 21 and has some MMA experience. But it seems clear these two will rely heavily on their martial arts background.” Kronin nods and considers this carefully. “It should be an interesting matchup. We have some background in martial arts as well as technical wrestling.” The rest of what he said was cut off as she felt that very specific hunger she had been ignoring began to assert its strength once more. She tried to push it back down but eventually smiled a bit. “Let’s..Let’s take a break. I’m tired from the flight and going through quarantine checkpoints and all that. I’d like to rest a bit.”

Kronin gives his twin a look but nods. “Alright, give me a call or come on over here when you wake up.” Kara smiles and nods. “Thanks.” She says as she stands up and made her way next door to her apartment, closing the door she sighed. She needed to figure out a way to deal with this. She took a couple of steps and it hit her, it felt like her stomach was twisting into knots. The pain was excruciating. She was also sure if she had eaten anything other than Sushi, she might have thrown up her lunch. She decided to test this. She pulled out her laptop and looked up a local butcher that was delivering. She ordered some fresh cut steak. She bypassed the warning about blood coming with the raw meat and the pandemic and such.

Half an hour later, her order arrived. Kara only barely resisted the urge to have the delivery person as a snack, but took the meat, paid and then after the delivery person left, she began her experiment. She moved the raw meat to a tupperware style container and drained the blood that had gathered at the bottom of the container it had come in. She poured this into a glass and stared at it for a long moment. She couldn’t believe what she was contemplating. Planning. Finally she took a breath and drank it.

It should have been disgusting. It should have made her gag. But her body jumped at it like an addict enjoying a taste of their needed drug. She was shocked as she let out a small, soft moan and her tongue felt that her canines had grown. This was it then. She was becoming a vampire. In the movies that meant she would do the bidding of the one that turned her. The prospect of being Bold’s acolyte was definitely not attractive at all. She got back on her laptop and began researching.

In the end, this research was inconclusive. It would seem that her best choice to avoid becoming a vampire was to resist the urge to drink blood. She glanced at the empty glass of blood from the meat and found herself hoping her research was right that it was human blood she was meant to avoid.

While his sister wrestled with her own problems, Kronin took another look at their opponents. He was continuing to come up with a game plan for the match, but he was also thinking about his twin and her odd behavior as of late. Something was going on and he was going to find a way to figure out what exactly it was.

First, the match. There was, unfortunately, not a lot of time before things began again. But after the match, he and Kara would be having a chat