Joe was still trying to figure something out the next day. It was late morning, and he'd decided to go to the Snack J, firstly to observe his quarry –Nick- in the hope that he would discover a weakness or flaw that he could exploit, and secondly to get some coffee. Nick was there and so were Jun and the rest of the band, as they were rehearsing.
"Hey Jinpei, I'll take a refill on my coffee!" he called across the room from the booth where he was sitting. He had to sit in a booth today, as he was, thirdly, in the process of dismantling and cleaning the shotgun he kept under the bed in his trailer, and he needed space to spread the pieces around.
This also positioned him closer to the stage. While he tried to think of a better plan, he could at least endeavor to project some menacing intimidation Nick's way by making it clear what sort of men Jun normally associated with.
In fact, Nick was looking his way right now. Joe seized the opportunity to fix him with an intense stare, while rubbing gun oil over the stock and barrel.
That's right, he thought, meeting Nick's eyes. A wuss like you wouldn't last three seconds in our world. You have no place here.
Nick's eyebrows rose slightly. Joe took this as a sign he'd gotten the message. Repressing a smirk, he held out his empty mug to Jinpei, who was approaching him with a coffee pot.
Joe glanced over at him again, and caught Nick still staring at him. Something like guilt flickered over Nick's face and he quickly turned his attention back to his guitar-playing.
Jinpei refilled his mug, remarked to Joe that he'd better not leave a mess on the table 'cause he wasn't going to clean up after him, and then went back to the bar.
Hmm, thought Joe, as he began reassembling his shotgun. Everyone knew that musician types were all druggies and lowlifes of one kind or another. So were Liberal Arts majors, Joe figured. If he did some investigating, surely he could turn up some dirt that would put Jun off Nick for good: a drug habit, a history of rampant promiscuity, a live-in girlfriend he'd neglected to mention –something like that. Maybe an anonymous tip to the police could get him busted for drug possession –Joe didn't doubt the guy would have something incriminating in his place. Maybe he ought to find out where Nick lived and covertly search the place himself.
If only he could find evidence that Nick was affiliated with Galactor! Then he really could kill him. Hell, if that were the case, Jun might even kill him.
Maybe he was involved with Galactor and he was a cyborg too.
No. Joe shook his head ruefully. That was the kind of thing that only happened to him.
The rehearsal seemed to have come to an end for that day. No doubt Jun needed to start getting ready for the lunch crowd that would be arriving soon. Joe scowled, watching Jun squeeze Nick's hand and give him yet another kiss on the cheek, saying "See you tonight!"
Sickening. That guy was utterly unworthy of the Swan.
Joe was cradling his now-fully-reassembled weapon in his arms. Nick had to walk past Joe's booth on his way out and, as he approached, Joe fixed him with one last glare and, for a brief instant, trained the barrel on him.
Nick's eyes widened perceptibly.
That's right, thought Joe smugly as he watched him head for the door and leave. I'm on to you. You just wait…
But now Jun's voice cut into his happy thoughts.
"Joe, you've got gun cleaner and oil all over the table." She had her hands on her hips. "Did you have to bring that thing here to do this?"
Joe shrugged. "Never know when I might need to do some pest control."
Jun frowned. "The cleaning supplies are under the bar –Jinpei will show you where."
Joe ignored the implied directive.
"What do you know about this guy Nick?" he asked pointedly, "He's around this place all the time lately –kind of suspicious if you ask me. What's his angle?"
Jun's eyes flashed.
"Is that was this is all about?" she demanded, her voice turning sharp.
"There are a lot of creeps in this world, Jun, and some of them-"
"I can do whatever I want," she retorted, "Whether or not you approve."
"Well I sure don't approve of-"
"Oh, what are you going to do, Joe? Smack me in the face?" She was glaring.
Okay, that was uncalled for, thought Joe, but somehow he couldn't think of a response.
"Mind your own business!"
With that, she turned and stalked off towards the stairs that led to her and Jinpei's apartment.
Joe sighed. That hadn't gone so well. And pretty much the same thing Ken had told him too: don't interfere.
But he still had every intention of discovering the dirt on Nick. Jun would be thanking him – with any luck, before Christmas morning dawned- and so would Ken!
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Thank goodness for student directories, thought Joe as he stared up at the large apartment building a few blocks from campus that he now knew was Nick's place of residence. What he didn't know, unfortunately, was whether or not Nick was currently at home.
He decided he'd better stake the place out and just watch who came and went for a bit. He sat on a bench across the street from the building's entrance, reading a student newspaper that he was ready to hold up over his face if Nick came by and generally trying to blend in. Fortunately, there were student types his age wandering around, even though there weren't any classes going on, so he didn't look too out of place.
It got dark too early in December he thought, glancing up at the dimming sky. It looked like it might rain too. He began tapping one foot impatiently…
He sat there for a half an hour before he got an answer to his question –Nick appeared in the door way of the apartment building. Joe yanked the newspaper up over his face. A moment later, he carefully peered around it and saw that Nick had gone walking down the street.
This was the chance he'd been waiting for! All he had to do now was find apartment 309 within the building and use Ninja stealth to get inside it without leaving any sign he'd been there.
But then a new thought occurred to him –where was Nick going? It was a Sunday night and the Snack J was closed now.
He decided that he would follow Nick –he could always double back later and search his apartment once he'd learned where Nick was going.
As it turned out, he followed Nick all the way to the St. Legis Hotel.
What the hell would Nick be doing here, wondered Joe, staring around the ornate splendor that was the lobby of Utoland's most expensive hotel, concealing himself behind a marble pillar.
Maybe he was a drug dealer, or at least a courier, Joe thought hopefully. Nick was walking towards a cluster of elevators, and then he got inside one and its door closed. With that, Joe emerged from hiding and ran over in time to watch the glowing dots above the door that marked the elevator car's ascension. It stopped on the 15th floor.
Thank goodness it was dark, thought Joe, ten minutes later. Now he was crouched on the outside ledge that ran around the fifteenth floor of the hotel. He was in birdstyle too –a precaution in case he fell, as he could then use his cape's wings to glide.
But if luck was on his side tonight, whoever Nick was visiting would not have closed their curtains yet. He began to carefully and silently make his way along the ledge, pausing to peer surreptitiously into every window that he could.
He was halfway around the building, at a corner suite, when he spotted Nick through a window whose curtains hadn't been pulled fully closed though an inner curtain of very sheer fabric muted Joe's view somewhat.
But he had no doubt that it was Nick he was seeing. Nick was standing in a room that looked like a drawing room, complete with fancy chandeliers and a grand piano. But Joe's attention was riveted to the person Nick was talking to –a woman with long blond hair who was sitting in a chair. Unfortunately, the position of her chair was such that Joe could only see most of the back of her head and only a slight portion of her face.
Nick seemed to be explaining something –he was doing all the talking- while making entreating hand gestures. Lip-reading was out –the sheer inner curtain made Nick's face too fuzzy.
After a few minutes, though, the woman stood up and walked into an adjoining room, beckoning for Nick to follow her –and Joe still hadn't gotten a good look at her face yet.
He quickly moved along the ledge, towards the windows of the adjoining room –but all their curtains were completely pulled and he could see nothing. He checked all the other available windows for the suite –none had open curtains.
And then it started to rain.
Joe went back to the previous window and crouched there, seething in frustration as raindrops beaded his visor and made it even harder to see. And as the minutes went by, there was still nothing to observe. Nick and the woman didn't come back to the drawing room.
He gave up. Another ten minutes, and he was back inside the hotel and back in his civvies –and standing in a corridor of the 15th floor. The suite that he had been watching, the one where Nick was right now, was number 1505.
So, a few minutes later, he approached the main desk in the lobby, carrying a small box he'd fished out of a trash can –it was empty, but no one knew that except him.
"I've got a delivery to take up to Suite 1505," he told a desk clerk in a brisk and business-like tone, "Could you tell me the name of the person staying there so I can verify I'm delivering it to the correct recipient?"
"1505?" said the clerk, but he stammered as he said it, "You've made some mistake. There's no one staying in 1505 right now."
"Sorry about that," said Joe, and he walked away, thinking…
He definitely wanted to search Nick's apartment now!
He was damp from the rain, cold and cursing to himself by the time he got back to the apartment building near the university, but the hallway outside Nick's apartment door was empty and it proved to be short work to pick the door's lock with some of the attachments on his cable gun.
The lights were off, so he kept them that way, but in the dim light coming through the window from the streetlights outside, he could see that the place was a disappointingly typical-looking studio apartment for a young male occupant –clutter all over the desk, an unmade bed, clothes on the floor and dirty dishes in the sink.
Actually, thought Joe, it looked a lot like Ken's place.
He decided to start with the desk. There was a large unmarked envelope sitting on it so he picked it up and walked over to the window where the light would better enable him to examine its contents.
Glossy brochures and photographs…
It was a press kit for the world famous rock band, the Demon 5.
Well, this was no use, thought Joe disgustedly. He would start digging through drawers and the closet. Damn it, he'd find something –and hopefully something that would explain what the hell Nick had been doing at the hotel.
That business was looking increasingly sinister. Didn't that female Galactor commander that Ken and Dr. Nambu encountered a few months ago on the mag lev train have long, blond hair? Why wouldn't the desk clerk admit there was someone staying in suite 1505? He actually looked scared when Joe had asked him about it.
Movement caught Joe's eye then, and he glanced out the window. Down on the sidewalk, revealed in the streetlights' glow, was Nick and he was rapidly approaching the entrance to the apartment building.
Shit!
Joe hastily stuffed the envelope's contents back inside and placed it back on the desk and then he left the apartment, locking the door again behind him. The third floor corridor he was standing in now lacked any corners that he could hide behind. Nick was going to appear here any second now, but was he going to emerge from the elevator or from the door at the end of the corridor that was marked "stairs"? He had to decide quick!
Nick was a wuss, Joe concluded, he'd take the elevator up.
So he himself would take the stairs down.
Joe was halfway down the stairs when he realized someone else was coming up and before he could do anything about it, he found himself practically face to face with Nick.
Damn it, thought Joe, his mind racing… What to do?
Nick glanced at him curiously. "Hey, don't I know you-"
"Heh, small world," muttered Joe quickly, not pausing at all or looking at Nick; he just kept on walking down the stairs.
There were a few dozen apartments at least in this building. Joe prayed Nick would believe that he had just happened to be visiting somebody else who lived in one of them.
But again, he cursed to himself as left the building and stalked off towards the street where he'd parked his car.
And it was still raining.
He was so close, and he'd nearly blown it. He was certain now that Nick was not the harmless college kid he purported to be. There was something fishy going on for sure.
The trick was going to be marshalling proof that would convince Jun. Joe knew that she was ticked with him now, so only solid evidence of Nick's sliminess was going to fly with her.
But Christmas was only five days away now. He was running out of time!
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Two days later, Joe was sitting at the bar in the Snack J. As had become the norm, the place was crowded, Jun's band was playing, and people were dancing. He was still running out of time in his mission to eliminate Nick and bring about a reconciliation between Jun and Ken before Christmas morning. He'd even gone and bought some contingency presents for them –nothing he was all that excited about but it was beginning to dawn on him that he might have taken on a mission that he couldn't accomplish and that his real "gift" to them might not be possible.
Just an hour earlier, secure in the knowledge that Nick would be occupied playing in the band here at the J, he'd infiltrated Nick's apartment a second time and this time he'd searched it thoroughly.
He'd found nothing. Or at least nothing that would help him tarnish Nick in Jun's eyes. It was no use telling her that Nick was a slob. Ken was one too.
He sighed.
Ryu handed him a beer.
Ken, naturally, was nowhere in sight. Joe didn't think he'd spent time here at all since that day they were introduced to Nick. While Joe could fully understand the desire to keep one's dignity and not be seen as a loser, Joe couldn't help but feel that Ken was being a bit… gutless. He should be here –fighting for his girl!
After all, thought Joe, it wasn't like he was having any luck in his efforts on Ken's behalf.
And Jun was pretty mad, he reflected –at both of them now. A mere "I'm sorry," wasn't going to cut it -Ken would have to do something a lot more dramatic.
But Ken wasn't here.
And he'd found nothing in Nick's apartment. No drugs, no women's underwear, no communiqués with the Galactor logo on them…
It was beyond frustrating!
He craned his neck to glare at the cause of his growing anger and impatience –Nick- who was over on the stage beside Jun, strumming away on his damned guitar.
Nick looked up and caught his eyes –and damned if the bastard didn't smirk at him!
Joe wanted to fling his beer across the room at him –he wouldn't miss!- so pissed off was he at his enemy's smugness, as if he knew that Joe was failing in his mission and that he was worming his way ever further into Jun's affections…
Damn, he thought; he had to get out of here before he really did hurl something at Nick, and he'd have a hard time justifying that to Jun. In fact, the thought of abandoning subtlety completely in favor of beating the crap out of Nick was starting to seem increasingly appealing.
He was getting desperate.
He made his way through the crowd, seething inwardly, and heading for the door.
But suddenly the girl with the nice smile and the warm brown eyes stood before him.
"Hi Joe, ready to give me that dance you promised?"
Her timing couldn't have been worse.
Crap, he thought, he had promised her a dance, hadn't he? But dancing was the last thing in the world he felt like attempting -and especially now! No matter how pretty she was, he was still in a terrible mood and he still hated dancing.
"Hey, I'm sorry, but I can't right now."
Disappointment flickered briefly across her face but she hid it well.
"Okay," she said, but nevertheless Joe felt like a jerk, and an idiot.
But he needed to go find Ken. Getting him to do something –hell, almost anything at this point- was Joe's only chance of seeing things made right again in his family before Christmas morning.
He wouldn't give up yet.
He left and headed for his car, and then drove straight to Ken's airfield –driving way too fast, really, but he didn't care and speeding made him feel better.
Ken's door was locked again. Again, he had to bang on it and yell because Ken took his damned sweet time opening it and letting him in.
Though at least this time, Ken let him in.
Joe wasted no time on preambles.
"You have to talk to Jun!" he yelled, waving his arms, "If I have to watch that worthless pissant cozying up to Jun for one more minute, I swear I'm going to stick him full of shuriken 'cause he-"
"Shut up, Joe. I have a plan."
"-pisses me off worse than any goon ever has and…"
Joe suddenly paused and his eyes lit up with hope.
"You have a plan? What is it? How can I help? Tell me what-"
"You can help," declared Ken, giving him a shove towards the door, "By going home and staying out of trouble."
That didn't sound like much of a plan to Joe. He searched Ken's face, hoping to see that fighting spirit that had been missing for so many days now but what he saw looked more like… fear.
Ken was pale, his eyes wide and his jaw clenched tightly.
"I want to help," said Joe, "Tell me what's going on! You can go to Snack J tonight, you know –why waste any more time?"
"No," said Ken, still with the air of a deer in the headlights, "Not tonight."
"Why the hell not?" demanded Joe, thinking maybe Ken just needed some prodding.
But now Ken was looking like he regretted having said anything. He shoved Joe again, trying to herd him back out the door.
"If not tonight, then when?" asked Joe, backing up though not nearly as quickly as Ken wanted him to, "Tell me when!"
But it was apparent from the tense barrier that was Ken's face that no details would be forthcoming.
A vehement "Don't you do anything!" were Ken's last words before he shut the door in Joe's face.
Joe stood there for a moment, staring at the door.
This was an improvement in the situation, to be sure, but Joe was not reassured. The fact that Ken wouldn't tell him anything about his supposed "plan," and that he looked all too likely to flake out on whatever it was, convinced Joe that his own work was far from finished.
But Ken had a point –there wasn't much of anything he could accomplish tonight.
So he went home.
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