"Alright, are next mark's name is Harold Wright, a rather prominent figure in the U.S's tourist industry. He has made millions dollars from his support of many businesses throughout the country that purposefully draw tourists into them. Many of these businesses are just ways for him to launder money at, probably one of the easiest ways to do so. Paying members of his staff to pose as tourists and spend the money on any tourist based items that catch their fancy. He just recently took over a rather large park just over in Boston dedicated to the founding fathers." Hardison was on a roll as usual as he rolled out the facts for a new mark that Nate had accidently found when he was strolling through the aforementioned park and had noticed the eviction of the park's former owner.
"Where does the money come from that he launders?" asked Nate after a second of thought.
"That's the thing, I can't tell where any of it comes from. The money seems to come in from an invisible account, and there is no signs at all of who the account belongs to." Hardison replied before he took a swig from his ever-present bottle of orange soda.
"Anything else that could be interesting to the court?" yawned Parker as she put her head down on the table. She had been rather occupied for the last few nights with a pet project of hers.
Hardison gave her a concerned look; he worried about her midnight escapades. Especially since she had somehow found out about the art of being a ninja.
"He somehow has some interest in idols," replied Hardison as he looked at his computer to find the needed info.
"Ooooh, does this mean we can steal a few statues? I have been wanting to for such a long time now." Sophie said as her eyes lit up.
"Yeah like the last time we tried to steal a statue worked out so well," muttered Parker.
"No, it seems he has a thing for Japanese pop idols. He almost always goes to any concerts that are placed here in the United States. Lately he has been on face book and twitter, confessing that he has a new favorite idol named Arita Shion." Hardison looked up and noticed the odd looks that Nate and Elliot were giving each other.
Nate spoke up first, " Could you show us some pictures of Arita Shion?" Hardison typed on his computer and then transferred the pictures to the big screen.
Elliot face palmed as soon as he saw the picture. He looked at Nate who had a rather large smile on his face.
Nate chuckled a little and then started talking. " It just so happens that Arita Shion is here in town. We just need to find her, Hardison could you please start searching for her. Parker get some sleep, and Sophie get ready to become an agent for one of Japan's most popular idols."
Tsutomu had just finished up his first day of classes and walked back to his apartment. It had been a few days since the wildness at the bar, and Birdy had slowly thought about working with a wily bunch of humans. She was currently asleep, as it had become her most recent past time. Even though Tsutomu did let her have her fun, at least what he could control of it. He was rather worried that she would lose herself from not having something to keep her occupied.
He reached the building his apartment was in, climbed up the stairs and started walking down the hallway. Next thing he knew he was quickly grabbed from behind and had a rather cloyingly sweet smelling cloth held forcefully over his face. Tsutomu's last thoughts before he blacked out were that Birdy would not be happy when she woke up.
…. Tsutomu woke up at Birdy's urging, drowsily trying to figure out where he was. He tried to move his arms up to rub away the sleep from his eyes, but found that he couldn't. His arms were tied up rather tightly, and his body was having a hard time trying to figure out which direction was up. His stomach rebelled against him for a few seconds and then settled back down.
"What have you been up to while I was sleeping?" questioned Birdy as she tried to take full stock of the situation.
"D..d..don't know," stuttered Tsutomu as he tried to respond.
"Well try to open your eyes and give both of us a look at our current situation." Said Birdy a little testily; she did not like Tsutomu getting caught in any sort of hostage situation. Probably something about not being able to switch places, thought Tsutomu slowly.
Tsutomu opened his eyes to find himself in the same apartment that Birdy had been in the other day to talk to Nate and his group of friends. Two people were sitting at a counter in front of him. Tsutomu realized they were the same people he had met on the first day that he was in America.
"What's going on?" asked Tsutomu groggily trying to gain the couples attention. They both looked over and Parker the blonde haired woman jumped over the counter, crossed to where Tsutomu was sitting and put her face as close to his as she could without touching. She had a very unsettling stare that woke Tsutomu up faster than cold water ever could. There was just something in those eyes that said insane, and Tsutomu was worried that she would prove it.
"You seem to be tied up at the moment," said Parker very quietly with a little bit of edge to it.
"What do you want with me?" Tsutomu pleaded to the guy that was still behind the counter.
"We want to know what connections you have? You have a record that is a mile wide but doesn't seem to say anything at all." Said Hardison as a response to Tsutomu's question.
"Just tell him that you're working as an temporary agent for Arita Shion as a part time job," Birdy commented. Tsutomu could tell that she had finally grown bored of the situation. Tsutomu thought that her advice was pretty sound as he was also thinking that he had better do something before Birdy did something drastic, so he repeated what Birdy said. Both of his interrogators heads popped up at this, and they looked at each other, and shrugged.
Parker got very close again, and smiled in the creepy way that only an insane person could pull off. "That's convenient, could you call Arita and get her to come here so she can come and help out with a plan of ours?" She said as she finally backed off from how close she currently was.
"Sure" replied Tsutomu as he took a relieved breath. Parker untied his bonds and Tsutomu quickly walked out of the room, into his apartment, and then let Birdy take over so she could relieve her pent up boredom.
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Nate was sitting and preparing plans for their upcoming escapade when his door almost came off of its hinges from a few pounds on the door. His reaction was to jump up and hide behind his counter with a frying pan in his hands. He wished that Elliot was here to remedy the situation. The longhaired man had quite the ability to take out a good number of men with his bare hands, usually having to fight against multiple assailants at the same time. Nate figured that his only chance of surviving any physical encounter was to surprise his assailant. So he yelled for the person to come in, since he had noticed that the lock had been snapped from the force that had been put into the door. He was thinking that the perpetrator had to have some sort of handheld battering ram, when Arita Shion walked into the room looking like she was highly inconvenienced. Nate waited until she was at the end of the counter before coming up from his position behind the counter.
"What brings you here?" he asked slowly trying to catch her attention before she decided to destroy something else. He was having a hard time comprehending how strong she must actually be to be able to do that much damage to his door.
"I need to know why a friend of mine had to be kidnapped for you to get a message to me", she responded testily.
"A friend of yours? Kidnapped? When did this happen?" Nate wasn't entirely sure how well his plans would work out, especially since Arita had a very explosive attitude.
"Yeah, he lives just across the hall from you. He tells me that Parker and Hardison kidnapped and interrogated him earlier today." Arita seemed to get more upset, and then went extremely calm. Nate was surprised at the complete change of moods, and he knew that whoever Arita said she was, she obviously had more under the surface.
Nate took a deep breath to steady himself, and then purposefully pushed his fear away. "I was looking to get a hold of you. My associates obviously felt the need to do their best to do the same. We were also concerned about what your friend was doing here in America; his past seemed a little too vague for our comfort.
Hardison was probably making sure that his other tenants were safe." By then Nate had relaxed enough to finally to talk toe to toe with the girl.
"Probably safer than having a bunch of thieves in the building. His only problem is that he's an accident magnet. As for you needing me, I would need to know what's involved for me?" Her response was just what he had been expecting.
"I need your help being a distraction for our next job, nothing grand. Our next mark happens to be rather enamored with your work." Nate said has he went back to his counter to get himself a cup of coffee.
"Hmmm, I'm not so sure. I was kind of taking a break from the singing. If you can swing it to make sure that my agent in Japan doesn't know I'm here then I'm in. As long as your really willing to give me all the info you can on Christina Revi." Arita's response was just what he had expected, and he got her number so he could call her when he had everything ready for the job.
Harold Wright was in his office working out the plans for his newest project. He wanted to be able to show the U.S just how important the tourist industry could be. He planned on making tourism profits in the U.S rise easily above the 7% of the gross profit that it made annually. His plan involved the use of dozens of relatively small towns in the southwest and turning them all into potentially lucrative ghost towns. His plan wasn't entirely set up yet, but he knew that in order for this to happen he needed to vacate entire towns before he could get started with any sort of construction.
He was daydreaming about all of the money that he could possibly get a hold of, when a very attractive and professional looking woman walked into his office. She had a certain flare about her that seemed to draw his attention to her immediately, even though he had many other pressing thoughts on his mind. She had walked in unannounced and Harold wondered why his secretary hadn't bothered to page him about the unexpected appointment. Her nametag had the name "Phoebe Morrista", and also said that she was an agent of some kind, although he could tell that she definitely wasn't with the government.
"It's to finally make your acquaintance, my name is Phoebe. I'm here to ask for your help in arranging a rather big bash for a client of mine." She sat down across from him on one of the chairs set at the opposite side of his desk.
"I'm afraid that I'm out of my own depth? Why would I possibly help your client," replied Harold.
"Because you are the only man rich enough on the Eastern seaboard, that also has an interest in Japanese music, especially since my clients name is Arita Shion. Or so your face book profile says." Phoebe's comment got Harold's mind going again. He was pretty sure that not only would he be able to meet his favorite Japanese idol, he would also be able to gain some money out of this.
"I would love to help with Arita's bash. Here's my phone number so you can call me later with the details." Harold wrote down his number, handed it to the pretty lady, and watched as she exited his office.
Elliot walked beside Arita as they walked into the big performing dome that had been rented out for the purposes of the party. He still wasn't sure how Nate's plan would work out, although he never usually did. He just did his part, and Nate's plan would fall into place. His job this time was to act as Arita's personal bodyguard, and keep everybody but Harold away from her. Arita still was an enigma to him, she was the strongest person he had ever seen, but it was well hidden under the pop star mask. As soon as she exited the limo that they had driven up in, her character had went from mysterious and foolhardy, to composed, confident, and happy go lucky.
Harold had met them as soon as they had entered the building, and was ecstatic to finally meet his favorite star in the flesh. He had handed her a gift basket that was filled with these triangle shaped rice balls. He had her autograph a few things, and then made her pose for a few really weird heart pose shots. Even though Elliot had been to Japan many times before, there were still things that threw him off every now and then. He still wasn't sure why he needed to play the bodyguard bit, just that after Arita had a one on one with Nate, Nate had felt the need to provide Arita with a little extra moral support.
The party was planned to start at the end of a rather eccentric performance by Arita. Arita got up on stage and started her first set of songs, making sure that her dance routine kept in line with the music. Elliot looked around and was considerably surprised at the crowd that had gathered for at least the concert portion of the party. The crowd had a good portion of Japanese people, but it also had quite a few others that had been purposefully invited to help public relations along.
Arita got done with her first few songs and passed it on to another group of local musicians that Arita had liked enough to allow them to become a part of the performance. She walked off stage and into the surprisingly large dressing room that had been provided for her. Elliot sat outside, and waited until Harold Wright walked up and asked to be let into the dressing room.
"Harold just entered the dressing room. Are you sure this will work?" He commented quietly out loud.
"Just relax, Arita knows her part. She seems to be a pretty believable grifter by herself." Nate's voice sounded a little harried, since his job was to get the crowd riled up. Elliot could hear him talking loudly into a mic. as he got on stage to say thanks to Harold Wright and the other supporters for the party.
Harold exited the room, and quickly made his way out on stage where he helped Nate lead the whole crowd in a cheer that would bring Arita back on stage.
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Birdy looked up as Harold walked into the room and mentally gagged. Nate had told her that she needed to keep Harold at least semi- "occupied" until the party started. She stood up as soon as he entered, ran across the room and glomped him. Birdy could hear Tsutomu snickering while he watched her make a fool of herself. Harold jumped a little when they made contact, and tried to peel her away from himself.
"Your performance was stunning as usual," he said with a flustered voice. Birdy could tell that he was not used to physical contact at all from his reaction.
"Oh, I'm so happy that you were able help put this together." Birdy had responded with her most spunky voice, and she was sure that Tsutomu would have a heart attack from the amount of laughter that was bouncing around in her head.
"I've got no problem with spending money to broaden other peoples musical interests." Harold muttered something as he turned away to get a water bottle. "Especially since none of the money is mine." It was only thanks to Birdy's hearing that she even heard that in the first place.
"Well, don't stay too long. I'll go help your promoters get the crowd ready for your next performance." After he said that, Harold walked out of the room and gave Birdy some space. Birdy pulled out he ear bud that Hardison had given her, turned it on and then started talking.
"Hardison, where does he get the money for this?"
"I still can't tell. The money he used for this came from a variety of different accounts. Each of which seem to originate mysteriously from Japan…" Hardison's pause spoke volumes as the ramifications of what he said fell on available ears.
"Anyway girl, you need to get back on stage before they hold the DJ at
gunpoint." Birdy had to smirk at this, since it was his life at stake after all.
Birdy hurried out of her dressing room after putting the final touches on her outfit. She ran towards the stage and accidently bumped into somebody. To her surprise though, the person only imperceptibly shifted when they were hit, while Birdy was knocked off balance. She shook it off, apologized, and walked onto the stage. She was puzzled for a brief second as the lights flashed in her eyes, and then she started singing.
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Parker made another pass on her target, dropping another little bug on his body. Hardison had told her that the bugs were little microphones, that when bunched together in a relatively close space, amplified a persons speech enough to be recorded. This was the last of her bugs, and she dropped it without hesitation. She heard him talking on his cell-phone for a few seconds. Harold sounded a little distressed, and from what Parker could tell, not happy about what he needed to do.
Parker only got "kill the singer", and "Yes, Mistress" with a defeated sigh. Parker walked away, and started talking just loud enough to get picked up by Hardison's little ear mics.
"I think I just heard him say that he was going to kill the singer." She continued walking until she got to the bottom of the ladder that led up to the catwalk. She climbed up the ladder skillfully, and then walked a little ways and sat down.
Nate was the first to respond to her comment. "Did you get all of the mics on him."
"They should of all been on him, you'll need to ask Hardison if they were on yet. He said it just as I walked by." She could tell that her response was what he needed and she decided to relax by hanging upside down from off the catwalk to watch the rest of the concert from her vantage point.
Not long after she got settled in, another person, rather heavy person, came up ladder and walked to the middle of the area, just above where Parker was hanging. She heard the person set up something on the rail, and she looked up. There resting lightly on the rail was a hunting rifle, an intense looking woman sitting there waiting to shoot. Parker was puzzled at what she saw, the vibrations when the woman had come up had told her that the person had to have weighed at least 500 pounds. But the woman that stood above her looked as if Weight Watchers was her job.
Parker decided to do something, and so she pulled out her tazer, flipped up behind the shooter, and applied a full charge to the back of woman's neck. The extra pressure that the woman put on the railing was enough for it to break under the pressure. She fell forward, and plummeted to the stage, landing right behind Arita.
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Birdy paused for a few seconds when she heard a loud crash behind her, she looked around to see what had made the sound and noticed the gaping hole in the floor of the stage that was five feet away from her. The whole crowd seemed to be just as surprised at she was at the gaping hole in the floor, and the loud crash that had echoed over the sound of the loudspeakers, and the roar of the crowd. She stopped singing and walked over to the whole. She looked down in the whole and tried to make sense out of the jumble of pink fluffiness that assaulted her eyes.
She peered a little harder into the hole, and noticed that something was moving down there. The only way that she could figure it out was that whatever had fallen was heavy, and it had fallen into a storage space that was full of extremely fluffy, pink, and entirely too feminine.
The last thought crossed her mind as the thing that was down in the whole stood up, and jumped up onto the stage. The crowd hushed as it watched the now pink monstrosity fly into the air, and land on the stage opposite of where Birdy was standing. Birdy stood there semi-shocked until she realized that the pink blob was now aiming a gun at her from under the cover of tight wrap of light pink tulle. She started running off stage, and just barely got out of the view of the audience when the gun fired. The bullet tagged her in the back of her neck, and ricocheted into the pulley system for the stages curtains. Birdy found a little bit of cover, and waited until all of the curtains fell to the ground. Elliot was already on stage trying to take out the pink blob, but he was easily being out matched. He got knocked flying across the stage and into Birdy, who caught him easily and set his unconscious body on the floor.
Birdy stretched a little as she switched into her battle suit, and watched the gun line up for another shot. This time the bullet hit her hand as she launched into a full sprint and shoulder tackled the thing into a set piece. She was thrown off violently and went sailing into the rafters, passing a rather startled Parker on the way up. She looked up, grabbed a bar and swung herself back down at twice the speed that she had been launched. She hit the marionettes shoulders as she put both of her feet into the landing. For a second, she got the thrill of skiing, before she was forced jump off from the rapidly de-accelerating body.
Birdy had known that it was pretty powerful marionette when she had started, but she hadn't realized just how life like it looked. This thing put Undine to shame in how lifelike it was, and it was larger and possibly more powerful than the other marionette. Birdy was not looking forward to the upcoming battle with this thing.
She didn't have to worry though because one of the hanging stage light structures suddenly swung down hitting the marionette's head and almost decapitated it. Birdy could not believe her luck, until she looked up and saw that Parker was hanging off the wall holding what looked like a very large pair of wire cutters.
Birdy winked and walked off of the stage. As soon as she found some cover, she switched with Tsutomu. Tsutomu walked away, though he was making comments about not leaving the marionette there.
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Hardison watched the mass hysteria that happened when everyone in the audience heard the gunshots. He wasn't too happy about the situation either, as he quickly packed up his computer and moved himself up to the box that Nate and Sophie were sitting in high above the stage.
As soon as he got there he walked in and saw that Sophie was hysterically talking to someone on the phone line. Hardison motioned, asking silently what she was doing, and Nate mouthed the word police. When Sophie got done with the phone, she set it down. There was a large crash on stage that had caused everybody to jump, and look down at the curtains again. Nate made a roll call, and got everybody but Elliot. Parker did sound a little out of breath, and Hardison had to ask if everything was okay. Parker started on a rather long tirade about what had happened, although nobody believed the heavy destruction part until they all walked on stage.
Harold Wright stepped outside to get away from all of the chaos. His mind was reeling from what he had just been forced to do. He was just happy that the mistress would transfer more money into his account. The marionette wasn't important, and he was glad to be rid of it. He was just about to his car when he was grabbed from behind, handcuffed, and thrown in the back of a police car.
Elliot woke up on Nate's couch, a little disoriented. He hadn't been knocked out since he had been in Puerto Rico a few years ago. He did a quick check on himself, and noticed that quite a few of his ribs were broken, but they were healing rather splendidly. He could hear Nate, Sophie, and Hardison talking about the job.
"This went a lot easier than I thought it would." Nate said as he took a swig from his cup of liquor.
"It was pure luck that we caught what he said, and were able to give the evidence to the police." Hardison seemed a little distracted as he said this.
"Too bad Elliot got hurt. Poor thing." Came Sophie's concerned reply. "That and Arita disappeared, who knows if she's still alive."
"She's still alive, there is quite a lot of fight in that one" Elliot said out loud, surprising everyone else in the room.
