Hello again!
I have found myself with quite a bit of free time today, so I decided to update!
Thank you tons to Shan-kun for reviewing! I hope Izzy is in character this chapter, too; I worked hard on it.
Disclaimer: In case you've forgotten since chapter 2, I can lay no claim to Durarara.
Chapter 3
Arlua poked her head into Natsuki's office on her way to the back room to check for support requests.
"Hey, did you know the crazy client you sent me to is Shi's flea?" Arlua asked. Natsuki looked up.
"Huh?"
"The guy Shizuo is always trying to kill whenever he shows up in Ikebukuro? That's the guy you sent me to yesterday," Arlua replied. Natsuki blinked in surprise.
"Really? Sorry about that. But no one else would take the job, and I didn't make the connection," Natsuki said. "By the way, a top-priority support request just came through," she added, glancing at her screen. "The client requests you specifically."
Arlua felt a horrible sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.
"Which client?" she asked woodenly, dreading the answer.
"Apparently his computer won't boot," Natsuki said conversationally. "I can't imagine why; we just had a technician there yesterday."
Other technicians went to other clients yesterday. It could easily be one of the others and I was just requested to make sure it wouldn't be the same tech as yesterday, Arlua told herself.
"Which. Client. Is. It?" she forced herself to ask.
"Izaya Orihara," Natsuki answered. Arlua groaned and turned her back on the other woman.
"I'm not in today. I called in sick. I'm going home," she announced as she stalked away.
"Arlua, wait!" Natsuki called after her. Arlua stopped, but she didn't turn back around.
"No. He's insane. I told you yesterday; I'm not going back," she snapped.
"He's offering a bonus to the company if you show up. A large bonus. Which you will get part of," Natsuki said, having followed Arlua into the hallway.
"I don't care."
"Don't be stubborn, Arlua. We have to send someone, and you were requested. You know-"
"I said I'm calling in sick for today," she broke in, cutting her friend off. Natsuki was quiet for a moment.
"The last tech who called in sick rather than go when he requested them – no, you're not the first one to do that, Arlua – came back the next day and there was a different request. He requested the same tech every day until the person ran out of sick days. The tech ended up quitting," she said softly. Arlua scowled. "Orihara gets what he wants, Arlua. One way or another. That tech who quit? Ended up working for another support company. Orihara used an alias and requested them at their new company. He doesn't give up. But if you just do what he wants, he'll get bored. That's how it was with one of the others; the tech just went when requested and he got bored and started requesting a different technician." Arlua's scowl deepened.
"So you're saying if I just go and try to be as boring as possible, he won't request me again?" she growled. Natsuki nodded. Arlua sighed.
"Fine. I'll go. Today only," she snapped.
Just to get him to leave me alone, she told herself.
Arlua eyed the keypad warily. The door was locked; she'd already tried the handle. Figuring if the information broker was going to turn her in for her electronic lock pick, he would have done it already, she pulled the device out of its pocket and set it up.
Less than a minute later, she heard the soft click of the lock disengaging and opened the door, returning the device to its pocket in her tool kit as she did so. Arlua stepped into the office and closed the door behind her.
"Oh, so you decided to come after all. Interesting," Izaya's voice laughed. Arlua refused to look around for him and strode over to the desk, trying to appear as if she wasn't bothered by being there at all.
"I didn't decide to come; you requested a specific technician, so I was obligated to come," she replied as she set her tool kit on the desk and eyed his computer appraisingly. "What did you do to it?" she added, crouching to see the tower better.
"I don't know what you mean, Lu-chan," Izaya protested from wherever he was. Arlua tensed.
Lu-chan? What the hell? She forced herself not to react, to focus on the task at hand. Just get the stupid machine running again and leave. Be boring. She reached around the tower to turn it around. As soon as she saw the back of the computer, she sighed and forgot her "be boring" plan.
Arlua stood up, put her hands on her hips, and scowled, directing her frustration around the room until she found him, leaning against the wall, and then glared straight at him.
"What's that look for, Lu-chan?" he laughed. She growled.
"What did you do with the power cord, you cretin?" she demanded. He smirked.
"What makes you think I did anything with it?" he countered.
"Because unless you're in the habit of letting strangers into your office – which I suppose you might be, considering how crazy you are – you must have been the one who disconnected the power cord from the wall and the computer and removed it from the vicinity of said computer," Arlua snapped. "Now tell me where you put it or give it to me so I can plug your stupid computer back in." Izaya laughed and moved over to a set of shelves on the far wall.
"I really should make you find it yourself," he mused as he reached behind one of the books and pulled the power cord out. Then he threw it across the room. Arlua, still scowling, caught it and crouched to plug the computer in.
"I really should make you check to see if that was the only problem yourself," she muttered as she pressed the power button and straightened to run a quick check on the stupid thing. Izaya watched silently as she worked, and she ignored him as completely as she could.
"Next time I'll give you an issue that won't be so easy to solve. A real challenge," he told her as she wrote out the bill.
Next time?! She thought frantically. Instead of replying out loud, though, she folded the bill into a paper airplane and launched it at him.
"Next time request a different technician. I have better things to do than whatever 'challenges' you think you can come up with," she retorted. He grinned.
"See you soon, Lu-chan," was his only reply. She glared at him, but he just wiggled his fingers in a cheery wave. So she picked up her tool kit and headed for the door.
On the way back, she resolved to erase all data on his hard drive beyond data recovery if he requested her again.
