- On The Council's Secret Service -
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The Assassin and the Half-breed / 004
The restaurant was small and thick with the smoke of cooking food. The Slay-team left their shoes in the walkway and sat on cushions around their table on a raised platform. Kiyoshi ordered a variety of vegetables and meat, explaining that, unlike the west, Japanese preferred to order everything and share it between themselves. Soon he was cooking the raw food on the barbecue grill in the centre of their table. He told them that 'yakiniku' meant something like 'burned meat'. In other words, a J-style BBQ.
Kiyoshi pointed to a group of men in boring suits sat at the bar by the door. They looked like a group of clones. "Salary-men," he explained. "They have a priority to drink and socialise with their colleagues after their work before they go home to their families. Japanese society is all about work. And these guys will probably be with the same company all their lives. Commitment is also important."
"I can relate to that," said Buffy. "I'm stuck with this gig for the rest of ever. I retired twice but my friends won't let me rest," she joked.
Giles was adding more delicious strips of beef to the grill when he noticed a couple more of the salary-types having a brief altercation with a waitress. She had been leading them to a smaller table down the end of the walkway and it seemed the men were insisting on being seated at the larger table just across from the Scoobs. The waitress looked intimidated by the rough manner of the men and she quickly conceded and sat them at their pleasure.
"Chuck another snag on tha barby, Ripper," Xander hollered in the worst Australian accent Giles had ever heard.
"Fairdincum, mate," Xander went on, "This barby's bonza, Ripper."
"Do be quiet," Giles grumbled. "Before it's your tongue on the barby and not the cow's."
Xander hesitated with a sliver of meat an inch from his mouth. "What?"
Willow hid her mouth from Xander and said quietly: "I told him it was really thin steak."
Xander dropped the cow tongue from his chopsticks and swallowed a glass of water. "Fine," he said, picking up a battered onion ring. "I'll stick with vegetables."
"Actually," Kiyoshi jumped in, "that's ika."
"Ika? Never heard of it."
"It's squid."
"Ugh." Xander had more water and waited until the others started up their conversations again before he leaned over to Willow. "When can we go get some real food?"
Will scrunched her eyes at him. "Be nice."
"I can be nice on a full stomach of real food."
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try a unique cultural culinary experiment. Dive in!"
-
The insistent men at the table opposite theirs watched the Scoobs carefully whilst glancing over their menus.
-
Somehow the subject had turned to the American bombing of Japan and Xander leapt straight in, not wanting to ruin the good mood of the day: "May I be the first to apologise for that."
"Don't ever do that," Kiyoshi said in a whisper. "It's the best thing that could have happened. Before Hiroshima we thought we could rule the world. It gave us humility and made Japan what it is today. I like how we turned out." He realised he'd surprised them more than he expected. "Don't think I'm not sorry for the loss of life but we were on a suicide course as it was. It woke us up." And then he added quickly: "Don't tell my father I said so."
Xander leapt in again: "Apology retracted."
They finished the meal and Kiyoshi asked them how they'd like, for their last day in his country, to visit Universal Studios Japan and have some movie-orientated amusement and rollercoaster fun. Giles was beginning to feel a little out of place with their youthful antics but it might just be interesting so he agreed with the others and said he would love to go, then he made a comment about the free-flowing nature of the complimentary water and he moved off to the bathroom. Willow did the same.
Xander got up. "Speaking of which, I think I'll go water the Bonsai trees." He headed away also.
Buffy turned to regard her young Japanese guide now that they were alone.
-
Behind Buffy, one of the insistent men lifted a small wooden box, usually used to carry a flute, and placed it on his table. The girl was almost alone. He couldn't foresee a better opening arising so he opened the box. Inside there was a thin length of bamboo and a sharp metal dart with a feathered tail. He was about to remove the items when a damned waitress turned up to take their order.
-
"What made you get involved with the Council?" Buffy asked as she looked into his deep inviting eyes.
"I'm not," replied Kiyoshi with a smile. "I just do my father's paperwork sometimes. Keep Universal Personnel looking like it's a real company. Most of my time I'm at the offices of his stationary company. I'm a salary-man too." He gave her an infectious grin.
"Sounds like a busy life." She looked away from him a moment and toyed with her chopsticks. "You…mustn't get much time to be with your girlfriend."
"Oh." He too turned briefly before looking into her emerald eyes. "I don't have a girlfriend right now."
Giles returned to his seat opposite Buffy. He noticed the waitress leave the table across from them. It was the insistent men's table and he noticed that a different waitress was now dealing with them. They must have scared the other girl off, he thought.
-
The waitress was gone and the insistent man reopened his toolbox. One of the girl's companions had returned but he had to act quickly before the three became a crowd of five again. As surreptitiously as possible, he took out the bamboo and, careful not to rub the tip, inserted the dart into it.
-
Giles saw the glint of metal out the corner of his eye. He hid his face behind Buffy with just enough to give him a view of the insistent man. He saw the length of bamboo in his hand and grew suspicious. Something hadn't been right with these guys from the moment they'd stepped in. The man lifted one end of the bamboo stick to his mouth.
Buffy felt Giles' fingers on her arm. She looked up at him with a frown.
"Move aside when I tell you," he said bluntly and severely.
Buffy tensed.
Giles observed the man wrap his lips around the bamboo and take in a mouthful of air to power the shot.
"Now."
Buffy ducked to the side and Giles stopped the dart with a menu before it could hit his chest.
Panic shook the diners as the assassins threw their table over and ran through the back of the restaurant.
Buffy gave a quick glance at the dart that stuck from the menu. The tip was wet with a fluid she knew wasn't there to improve her health. She threw on her shoes and ran after the men.
The vampires split outside the restaurant and went off in opposite directions. Buffy came out into the food and shopping complex and saw one of them crossing the plaza. She jumped a rail and flower border and made after him.
In a dark corner of the shopping plaza, between a Mister Donut and an ice-cream parlour, a shadowy figure watched as one of the vampires he was tailing headed past him and over a wooden bridge. The shadows parted as the Daywalker stepped into the glow of the street lamps. Blade watched Kojima run beyond the bridge and between two clothes stores. Feeling the adrenaline of the hunt, he gave chase over the bridge and after the vampire like a hungry cheetah.
Buffy crossed a bridge that flew over a lower shopping plaza and followed the target – now there were two of them – and she tried to keep up. They were moving fast out of her sight and she reached for the pink cellphone in her pocket.
-
Giles and Xander were helping the waitress lift the upturned table back into place when Giles' phone rang. He went back to his chair and snatched the mobile from inside his jacket. "Hello? … Buffy?…Where are you?"
-
She took a sharp turn left out of the complex and into an alley lined with crawling ivy. She saw the trailing vampire vanish to the right into another street. She ran at full speed through the alley with the phone pressed at her ear. "Across the bridge at the plaza, left, down a ramp, second right, left and right again."
-
Blade finally caught up with Kojima on an abstract bridge designed more like a tunnel. From the outside it appeared as a metal frame occasionally decorated with corrugated steel. Inside it was clad with wooden boards though the centre path was boarded with strips of metal and a series of metal pillars and girders decorated with bolts ran either side of the path. Overhead, wooden rafters ran the length of the bridge.
Blade entered the structure and made a sprint for the vampire. As Kojima reached the centre of the bridge he spun and fired a bullet at the Daywalker. Blade let it hit his vest as he ran into the vampire and broke his gun arm. He didn't want to kill this suck-head yet. Not until he found out who the next link was in his chain of command. He was about to demand the info when Kojima tried to stab him with a knife. Blade caught the wrist and twisted the arm around and the knife fell. He barred a leg behind both of the vampire's and slammed a palm into his face. Kojima flew over, tripping on Blade's leg and smacking hard on his back into the metal of the bridge. The Daywalker reached down for him but Kojima kicked and kicked to keep from his grasp. Blade shoved the wild limbs aside and dragged the freak up by his brown tie. Kojima hissed and tried to bite at him. Blade slammed nut on the guy and he relaxed in his grip.
Blade bore his gleaming white teeth at the vamp. "Now you're gonna tell me who you work for."
"Eigo de ienai! Wakarimasen!" he spat back insistently.
"Bulls––t. You understand me just fine – now talk before I start cutting off limbs."
"I will tell you nothing, Daywalker! You may be accustomed to mongrels who squeal like farmyard pigs but I am pureblood gokudō!" Kojima wrestled free and made a desperate dash across the bridge. Blade drew his gun from the holster under his coat and fired a single burst of hollow-points into his back. Kojima gasped as he exploded in flame and ash. Within seconds his remains had drifted away on the evening breeze. Blade put a finger to his ear and was about to contact Whistler when he sensed someone approaching him at hunting speed.
Buffy turned the corner and met with one of the vampires as he stood curiously on a second bridge alone. She put the phone away and approached the unusual overpass. In the centre of the bridge was a figure dressed in black and wrapped in a long black coat. Another dark broody vampire, she thought. On further inspection she noticed other things. The handle of a sword poked out from his back and his hair, from the temples, over his ears and to the nape of his neck was replaced by an impressive tribal tattoo. He watched her approach, frozen in readiness for any move she might make, like a hunting cat. He didn't look Japanese but African-American. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes and his face held no emotion but his body was primed to explode all over her. He was a vampire if ever she'd seen one. He was the most serious-looking vampire warrior she'd ever seen. Buffy circled the poised warrior cautiously. She knew he had something to do with the assassins at the restaurant and she was determined to find out who they were and how they knew who she was. But, if there was no other choice, she would dust this creature like any other.
"This is how it's going to be," she informed him. "You're going to tell me who you are and why you want me dead." He didn't respond. "Or I'm gonna have to get physical," she added. He still didn't make a move. He looked like one of those street statues. Maybe if she put a quarter in his hat…?
She decided he needed some incentive to spill his beans and she moved in to perform the ironic move of twisting his arm as it always worked on Spike. As she attacked, he fended her hands off with a quick succession of moves before trying to knock off her head. She ducked and swept his legs. Blade jumped the attack and kicked at her but she rolled out of it and came back with a foot into his face. He dodged and swung another sweeping leg strike at her yet, again, she pulled away and avoided it.
They stopped a moment and held off their attacks in an odd stalemate. Neither one of their attacks had connected. They were in this face-off position when more people appeared. Buffy was pleased to see her team arrive. Giles came around her and held a cross out toward the dark warrior. Willow held position on the other side of her with Xander who had a vile of holy water in his grip. Their emergency kit was out.
The warrior vampire was cornered.
(This story takes place just after Blade 2)
BLADE belongs to MARVEL and NEW LINE etc. etc.