Disclaimer: I in no way own any part of Get Backers, and do not stand to gain profit from this. And, really, I wouldn't dare lay claim to Doctor Jackal.

Chapter One

Just one story in this two story town – Bon Jovi, Two Story Town

He hadn't been easy to find. True, she could have hired somebody else to do the looking, but she was short on funds, and uncomfortable with the idea of explaining things to more people than she needed to. But she had found him at last, and there he was, with his long black coat, wide black hat, and deadly grace incongruous with the park he was walking in, and even more at odds with the ice cream cone that he was holding in one white-gloved hand.

She walked up to him, nervously, forcing her hands to stay at her sides to prevent them from wringing together in embarrassing nervous habit. She stopped when she was almost toe to toe with the infamous Doctor Jackal, largely because she hadn't been paying attention to how close she was getting.

He looked down at her, face framed by lawlessly twisting strands of black, black hair, an eyebrow quirked upwards in mild inquiry. She blinked. He had purple eyes. She hadn't expected that.

"Er," she said, to his boots.

"Well?" he asked, gently, prompting her.

"I. Um."

"Please speak up. I haven't got all day."

"Er. Well. Um. I, well, er. Um." She sounded like an idiot, and was painfully aware of it. Briefly, she wondered if the Transporter would get annoyed enough at her stuttering to kill her. Well, if he did, he'd save some people a lot of trouble.

"Keh." It was the merest breath of annoyance. He stepped around her and began to walk away, presumably eating his ice cream – it was hard to tell from behind the hat.

"Wait, please, I –" She sounded like she was begging, and for once, she didn't care. It was begging, and to Hell with it, she was desperate.

The Transporter stopped at least, even if he didn't turn to look at her, and seemed to wait for her to continue.

"I've got a job for you." It sounded a little lame now that she had said it out loud, but there it was.

He did turn then, and the movement with which he popped the last of the ice cream cone into his mouth was so fast that she might have just imagined it.

"My schedule is full for the next two months." He said it without apology, without arrogance – just simple fact. "You'll have to find somebody else."



She smiled at him, a wry, crooked twist of the mouth that only qualified as a smile because of a slight quirking upwards at the corners. "Do you have the time to hear me out at least? Please?"

Akabane Kuroudo looked her up and down. She was just over average height, but her build made her look taller. Her brown hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, the oval lenses of her glasses were smudged (it was almost tempting to reach out and wipe them off, how she could still see in them was anybody's guess), and her jeans and shirt looked like they had been slept in. She had a white lab coat slung over one arm, and was hugging it close to her chest, like a child with a security blanket.

The lab coat amused him.

"I won't make any promises," he said, "but I can listen to what you have to say."

Relief broke across her face like a sunrise in miniature. "Thanks so much," she blurted out, her grip on the coat tightening. If it had been a living thing, she would have strangled it by now.

"I'm not promising you anything," he reminded her, his polite little smile taking the edge off his words.

"I know. Just – thanks." She gave a nervous laugh, loosed her grip on the lab coat long enough to tuck a stray wisp of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry. I'm not properly human until I've had my coffee. Do you mind?"

Akabane knew people who were never properly human, even with caffeine in their system (and he sometimes got along better with them than with the ones who were reputedly 'normal'). Nevertheless, he inclined his head – a movement exaggerated by the broadness of his hat – and said, congenially, "I know a place."