Bubblegum Crisis Stage Three
Part Ten
Priss Asagiri's brown hair fell into her face as she adjusted the high tech shades, enjoying the built in functions. Microscopic mode, long distance magnification, even infrared were all available with a touch of the frames. They were a pretty cool toy, much like all the other stuff that Sylia Stingray liked to buy.
This was the third day she and Linna Yamazaki were on the job as Sylia's bodyguards, and it looked to be as exciting as the first two. On their first day escorting Sylia to work they had faced a attack by a secretarial type in the Genom tower itself, the next day they had nearly been run off the road by a boomer operated truck, so she expected things to be interesting today too.
Priss smiled as she started up the limo, hearing the electrical engine hum. "I really like this limo," she called back to Sylia, "custom built?"
:Yes," Sylia was wearing one of her usual off-gray suits, the skirt cut high on the leg, "I had a standard model armored and powered up the engine."
Beside her Linna was making sure her pistol was free to draw as she settled down, her more conservative forest green suit looking very stylish on her. "Are you a pro driver?" she wondered as they pulled out from the townhouse that Sylia owned outright.
"Skilled amateur," Priss admitted, guiding them into traffic, "I did a lot of driving when I was younger, some of it a bit... dubious."
"Courier work," Sylia noted.
Priss nearly jerked with surprise, but controlled her reaction. Obviously Sylia had done some digging on her team of operatives, and by the looks of it some deep digging. "How did you hear about that?" she asked, "I never figured the Tongs to spill."
"Money talks," Sylia looked amused, "and did you know Reika's family is connected? She even met you when you were younger."
Priss DID jerk in surprise at that. "Seriously?" she asked, keeping a eye on the road.
"Apparently you knew her sister Irene," Sylia noted with a wry smile.
"Oh shit," Priss breathed out, connecting the names and realizing exactly why Reika might be a bit annoyed with her....
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
At barely twenty Priss was young to be a courier, but she had two things going for her. One, she was hell on wheels on a motorbike or behind the wheel, and two she did not take shit from anybody. Case in point, this fight going on right now.
"Aw, fuck!" the teen gangster reeled backwards, a knee to the nose sending blood gushing down his face and onto his ragged shirt.
The boys moved to try to surround Priss, but she clutched the bag close to her side and bulled through. A shoulder to the chest sent one teen staggering backwards as she kicked another in the leg, sending him falling sideways. She sprinted by even as she dug into her procket, her expression grim.
"Damn it, give it up," a big, older gangster lunged for her.
Popping the mono-blade from her pocket Priss thumbed the release, slashing at the man as he tried to grab her. He reeled backward with a gurgling cry, blood splashing as Priss bolted by, getting out of the alley and back on the crowded streets of Hong Kong.
Seeing a delivery bike left unattended Priss hopped on, switching the engine on and taking off to the cough of a badly tuned engine. She relaxed a bit as she weaved through traffic but was still attentive, knowing she wasn't out of the woods yet. She made her way across town, ditching the bike and continuing on by foot, eventually reaching the building she wanted.
Kou was on guard tonight, the big Chinese glowering at everyone who passed by, his arms crossed and muscles rippling. He looked down at her disapprovingly as he asked, "Asagiri, what are you doing here?"
"Delivery," Priss said, "can you let Irene know I'm here?"
"Of course," Kuo nodded, waving one of the younger toughs guarding the building over and sending him inside with the message. His expression was difficult to read as he studied Priss, then he mused, "You're really not suited to this, Asagiri."
"I'm good at what I do," Priss shot back.
"There are other things you're better at," Kuo shot back. He smiled faintly, "I heard you sing when you went out with Miss Irene."
Priss waved that off, "Kid's stuff."
Kuo shook his head, "You could be good, Asagiri."
The runner returned with permission that Priss could enter, so she didn't reply as she headed inside. His words, however, lingered in her mind as she was lead through Hou Bang headquarters in the eastern side of the city. Young men and women worked in what almost looked like a typical office building, if you ignored the number of people with scars....
Irene was a fit and attractive older woman, her brown hair kept short and neat, along with the business suits she chose to wear. She and Priss had a 'thing' going on between them, or at least that was what Irene called it. Priss looked at it as 'Irene liked fucking on the desk' but she was a simpler person, more or less.
"Priss," Irene smiled warmly as she entered, her eyes twinkling with amusement. She swept Priss with her gaze and frowned slightly, "Did you have some trouble?"
"The Vision gang jumped me," Priss admitted as she took off the shoulder bag. With the ease of long practice she turned it inside out and popped open the hidden compartment, popping out the small squares of plastic and passing them over.
Irene frowned, "We were given assurances by young Miss Valante that there would be no problems with the shipment,."
"Then Lisa is talking out of her ass," Priss sighed, sitting down tiredly. It had been a long day, and she really needed a rest. "So what did I haul this time?" she asked curiously as Irene loaded the data drives into the computer
"Contraband vids from Japan," Irene noted calmly. A smile twitched on her lips, "Our lords and masters in China are getting stricter about what they'll let in."
."I still can't believe Hou Bang makes enough on it to justify smuggling in American and Japanese programs," Priss noted wryly.
"Contraband recordings are as hot as the resistence to playing them," Irene shrugged, "the harder the crackdown, the more we make."
"Dangerous, tho," Priss mused.
"True," Irene smirked, "but that's what makes it fun."
Priss stuck her hand out as Irene finished recording, "Can I get my pay, please? That bitch of a landlord is riding me again."
"You should more into one of the clan controlled buildings," Irene noted as she counted out the yen onto Priss hand.
"Yeah, well," Priss smiled slightly and shrugged as she said, "I wanna keep at least a little independence, you know?"
"I do," Irene nodded, though a flicker of pain showed in her eyes. She got up, long legs moving silkily as she smiled, "How tired are you, little Priss?"
Priss smiled back, "Not that tired."
Some hours later Priss slipped out of the office, leaving Irene asleep behind her desk. As fun as the sex was it left her feeling a little... soiled. She guessed it was how much Irene got off on her being younger that bothered her, or maybe the woman's domineering ways. She always had the feeling Irene wanted to control her, and was displeased she couldn't.
Straightening out her clothes Priss walked out of Hou Bang, silently resolving this was the last courier job. They were just getting too damn dangerous, and too many people seemed to by dying lately. She passed Kuo in the alley beside the headquarters, who took in her messy state and frowned disapprovingly.
"What?" Priss challenged.
Kuo looked away, somewhat uncomfortable. "I... do not think Irene treats you fairly, miss," he admitted. He was about to say more, when they both heard the first shouts of alarm. He and Priss pelted up the street only to freeze, eyes widening in alarm.
Cops. And not just the cops but military forces, pouring out of vehicles and moving to surround the building. "Oh, crap," Priss swore, realizing this was a full on raid. She had thought the family had paid off the local cops enough to turn a blind eye, but apparently not.
"Go," Kuo shoved her down the street, "get lost in the crowd, hurry."
"But...!" Priss yelped.
"You are just a runner, I doubt they have a warrant on you," Kuo ran back towards the buildings, "Go! I have to help Miss Irene."
Priss watched him go, shocked at the gruff man helping her, then turned to run. Hurrying away she saw a familiar face among the cops and cursed, knowing who has sold them out. Lisa Valente was standing by a police officer, smug smile on her face as they talked, even as the army began to break into the Hou Bang owned building.
'You and I aren't done, Valente, not by a long shot.' Priss vowed to herself silently before she disappeared into the night.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Priss?" Linna looked at her in alarm, "You looked like you were a thousand miles away."
"More like a decade," Priss admitted, concentrating on the road. She looked in the rearview mirror at Sylia, "What sort of details did you hear?"
"You worked for certain interests in Hong Kong," Sylia answered calmly, "they were sold out and you escaped to Japan. As you were never charged in any of it, you didn't have a record going into working for Genom."
"I see," Priss admitted. She looked over at Linna and asked, "Uhm, is it going to be a problem with Reika?"
"I don't think so," Linna said, "she didn't go into much detail on why her sister is in prison, after all. And she said for me to tell you that how you handled Valente made up for it." She looked curious, "Who's Valente?"
Priss smiled grimly, "You don't want to know."
To be continued....