Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost in the Shell or Transformers, just my OC's and the plot.

SPARK IN THE SHELL

CHAPTER 35: DOWN TO BUISNESS

"Code 12384?"

"N-n-n-nope!"

"Bi-code 369?"

"S-s-stillnothing!"

"And what about the other 13 files on the E and C class levels?"

"N-n-nope! C-c-checked'em a-all, s-stillnothing!"

"Alright, we'll move onto the next lot, this time with the breakers on set D and keep the decryption code programme running at just under 15%, we can afford to keep the signal pace at a minimum while the firewall's still intact...I'll be back in a sec,"

"Your getting more coffee? That's your fifth cup and it's not even gone nine yet"

"Yeah well I need it, it's Monday and it's too damn early in the morning for me"

"Tough break kid 'cause your gonna be seeing a lot more early mornings with us. Hey if you're going up to the canteen, can you bring us down a few cups of the black stuff?"

"Sure..."

Danny rubbed his eyes and gaped his mouth wide open as he yawned, drawing in as much oxygen as possible to wake up his still half asleep brain, he was one of those individuals who always felt the Monday effect, and it always sucked. As he walked down the corridor he stopped to watch the city from one of the building's many wall windows. New Port certainly looked lovely in the morning, even if it was 8:12am and too early for his liking. After ambling his way to the elevator and navigating the corridors, he eventually arrived at the canteen. Grabbing a polystyrene cup and pressing the button on the coffee machine for a latté with milk and two sugars, he took one large swig and sat down at the window side bar and rested his head in his arms, just a few minutes rest for his tired eyes wouldn't hurt, and the other could wait for a few minutes. But just as he started drift off into a state of semi consciousness, he didn't hear the footsteps that approached from behind.

"Hey, you okay there?" Togusa asked as he pulled up a seat next to the redhead.

"Mmm? Oh. Morning Togusa" he mumbled as he tilted his head to the side.

"Not an early riser huh?"

"I hate Mondays" Danny grumbled

"Heh! I know what you mean, but it looks like you didn't get much sleep last night" Togusa commented as he noticed the faint dark patched beneath the teenager's eyes.

"We didn't get back to the safe house until gone 11:30, and I had to help Darren with making an automated switch for our 'cybercomms'; I don't think we finished until gone twelve-ish..." Danny replied as he lifted his right hand, revealing a silver ring covered with cybertronian glyphs and a tiny silver thread connected to the top which ran along the back of his hand and connected to the sleeve of his holo-form suite.

"How does it work?" Togusa asked

"The switch on the underside of the ring is triggered when you clench your fist; it's loaded with specialized sensors that can detect the difference between your fingers and another surface so as to prevent it switching on by accident"

"And you made them last night?"

"Helped to make them, their Darren's design"

"Geez, is there anything that kid can't do?" Togusa smiled

"If it's anything to do with computers and cybertronian tech, then no I'm afraid not" Danny chuckled

"But what about you? You're pretty good with that kinda stuff"

"Yeah, but it took me a bit longer to catch up, cybertronian's actually not that hard to learn, surprisingly. It's kinda the same principle of learning to ride a bike, it's hard at first but when you actually get moving and start to get a feel for it, the basics just seem to slot into place. I remember when D taught me and my cousins how to read it, it took us all less than a few weeks; which is weird in a way, 'cause most people struggle with learning new human languages nedalone an alien language" Danny said as he gazed out of the window.

"Hmm, guess you'll have to teach me sometime if it's not that hard to learn"

"Hey Danny, you might wanna come back down here, I think we found something, and flip your holo-form back on, there's some more of those military dudes somewhere in the building" Glen said over the comm.

"On my way...let's see what we got?" Danny said as he pushed himself up and stood up, turning on his holo-form. Togusa still couldn't get over at how it incredible it was for him to just flip a little switch and completely change his age and identity in a second. Even though he first met the Autobots and their charges only two weeks ago, he still found himself in awe at them. He followed the now late twenty something man back down to the dive room, where they found Ishikawa, Boma, Glen and Frenzy. Frenzy's head had several wires plugged in which were linked up to Glen's external hard-drive which fed into his laptop, which in turn was linked into one of the dive rooms hard drives. The chief, Major, Batou, and the rest of the kids were all gathered around the main monitor.

"Hey, what did you find?" Danny asked as he sat back down in his seat.

"We think we might have found something that could point us in the right direction" Glen replied.

"We've been going over Hidaka's financial assets and records, both with the ministry of foreign affairs and his own privet accounts with Kenbushi and several major privet online backs as well as several high profile E-stock and shares traders. I know they say a fool and his money are soon parted but this guy is anything but a fool when it comes to money. His stock portfolio is worth over 45 trillion yen and his contract fees with Kenbushi pay up to 30 million yen every year. Plus, aside from his links to the foreign affairs ministry and Kenbushi keeping his wallet topped up, he owns several major shares in the Megatec body corporation and a small number of wine banks in France, Italy and England. Basically, this is one really rich bad guy" Darren said

"So what did you find that might help us nab him?" Batou asked as he leaned on the back of Darren's chair.

"We went through all his financial records and he's got one hell of a system set-up. The files with the ministry and Kenbushi were pretty tough to get to but the attack barriers and firewalls that protect his personal files are built like a Kazakhstan bunker, and the fact that he's built most of the system's programmes to work manually made it all the more hard to slip through, there's no AI's controlling this system. But regardless, I looked over his assets concerning all his stocks and shares and found several inconsistencies between the outgoing margins of the Megatec shares, when I ran these past the records we dug up for his annual net worth figures, I found that even though the outgoing was anywhere between five to fifteen percent, the incoming revenue has been at eleven percent like clockwork over the past nine years. When we checked the figures against Megatec's overall revenue we found they didn't match, in all that time nearly 638 trillion yen is unaccounted for" Ishikawa explained.

"Holy crap! That's a hell of a lot 'a wonga!" Ashley said as he gawked at the figure on the main monitor. "Dude, that ain't a figure that's an intergalactic zip code!" Miles concurred

"On that note we dug a little deeper and found tucked away in a seven layered stealth barrier, a collection of files which we think might be his secret ledgers. The file's themselves are divided into two main sections, financial figures and financial transactions; it looks like he has more than just a third party helping him with his scheme because all the people he's done business with are referred to by their initials..." Darren said as he brought the data up on the main monitor, sure enough it showed Hidaka's 'business' transactions in detail, as the data scrolled down the screen, everyone was surprised to see just how many set's of initials there were.

"This can't be right, for this many people to be involved and have no-one notice somewhere down the line doesn't seem right" Togusa frowned

"Unless a majority of them are from other schemes he's been involved with over the years, look at the date stamps" the chief gestured to the numbers in the top right corner of the screen.

"October 2022? How long has he been under the radar? And what else has he been doing all that time?" Mikaela asked offhand

"I don't know, but we counted over 135 files" Boma replied, the whole group all glanced at one another in surprise

"This has got to be the evidence we need to arrest him" said Tom

"For every illegal activity listed her it will be, but we'll need to find the file that suggests or gives any reference to the Autobots in anyway, that way we can charge him with breach of national security" The chief replied

"That's what I thought, and look what Frenzy found hidden behind another stealth barrier..." Ishikawa said as he typed on the keyboard, on the main screen another file popped up, this one was red and wasn't numbered or titled in any way. As Ishikawa opened the file a video stream popped up and began to play, it was the Autobots battling the black HAW-206 tanks and the mantis-bots the day they first arrived into this world, everyone watched in stunned silence as memories of that day suddenly came back to mind. Another series of data windows popped up, displaying a series of financial sums and other financial transactions, along with several streams of bar-codes and numbered reference files.

"Where the hell did he get that video?" Sam gasped

"If he works for the foreign ministry then chances are he acquired it from section 6, they were meant to be there as back-up for us that night" the Major replied, as Ishikawa typed away on the keyboard, another file popped up, this time it was a large collection of image cells from the video feed with certain areas and portions of the Autobot's anatomy highlighted, next to which were small windows of data displaying what looked to be the starting prices for an auction, a wave of shock and anger spread through the group as they watched the data came up one by one on the main monitor. But for all their wanting to explode in a fit of rage at the men responsible for this unforgivable crime, in the back of their minds they knew it ultimately wouldn't serve any good (though one would be mad to say it wasn't tempting). For their part they kept their ire to themselves, though they couldn't keep it hidden as the section 9 team watched as the deep, albeit brief, silent storms of anger passed by and mellowed into glairs of mild irritation, lending to their incentives to catch theses criminals.

"Has anyone placed any bids yet? If it's an E-auction we could easily trace all the bidders by back hacking their link to the online auction site" Togusa suggested

"We checked that out already and we couldn't find any online addresses, it looks like the auction itself will be held at a secret location, the address of which has been encrypted and hidden in a random code programme, the same goes for the full names of Hidaka's clients and the accounts to which the bids are collected in. It'll take a while to decrypt them but in the meantime we can use Hidaka's online shares E-trade codes to see if we can find his 'backers'" Ishikawa replied.

"Excellent work, carry on with the decryptions and notify us the minute you have a list of the clients names and the address of the auction site. In the meantime, Major, Batou, Togusa, you'll join in Saito and Pazu staking out Hidaka at his home and work place, as for the rest of you stay close by and follow the Major's orders, the same goes for your friends down in the parking lot too" the chief said as he left the dive room, the kids and agents looked to one another in confusion, Sam was about to ask the chief something when the door slid shut behind him, he turned to the Major instead, who looked at him with that 'don't worry, we got this covered' look in her eyes.

"Did he, just say we're going on a stake out with you guys? I mean, for real 'bugging someone's apartment tailing them wherever they go staying up all hours of the night eating take-out' kinda stake out?" he asked, slightly tensely.

"Well? You got a problem with that?" the Major smirked in a slightly teasing way

"Uh No! Nono! It's just uh; I didn't expect your boss to be so, well-"

"Trusting of you all?" she finished for him; Sam looked at her nervously before relaxing his guard. He knew it was useless trying to soften a point, for she would only pierce right through it.

"Uh yeah, but seriously your cool with that? I mean 'cause I kinda thought with you being the field commander and having such standards and all I would have thought you would-OW!" Sam exclaimed as Ashley elbowed him in the ribs

"Ah shut it Witwicky and just run with it! Seriously though, you're cool with us helping you out in the field? Even though we're not cops?" the 12 year old asked

"The chief wouldn't have said so if he didn't think you were up for it, and considering how you've all handled yourselves thus far, I think you'll be fine, albeit you're going to have to learn on the spot since we don't have the time to put you through the fire-arms exam and preliminary field test, but we do have time for a quick debriefing, come on..." the Major replied with a confident smile as she beckoned them to follow, even gesturing for Danny, Darren and Glen to come along. Looking at one another in further bemusement, none of the kids said anything as they followed her close behind, all of them wondering just what she had in store for them.

"Think the chief made a good call on this one? Don't forget three of them are barely in their teens yet" Boma asked offhand as soon as the door closed.

"It feels weird, but look on the bright side, at least these kids don't need baby-sitting" Batou grinned as he left the room.

As the day wore on and the early morning waned into the mid-day hours, the sun beat down upon New Port as the city still bustled and thrummed with its never-stopping beat, but there was a lull in the pace of sorts as its inhabitants stopped to rest and replenish their strength with their lunch hours; a brief pause to have time to one's self, take time to reflect and prepare for the afternoon's work that lied ahead. The city was at rest, but for the kids and Autobots, it was anything but restful. It was loud, fast, bright, colourful, vibrant, and it thrummed with a rhythm never before heard.

The rhythm of human life, encompassing and vibrating with energy as it stirred the being and lifting the spirit to sing to its near eternal tune, beckoning all to join this dance of human life, beautifully choreographed to the balance of order and chaos, like the tides upon the shore. To follow the masses as they turned and weaved their ways to form living rivers of countless individuals, like ants along a trail or blood in the veins, everyone moved together as one without command nor direction, they just all knew where to go. And at every turn, there were new things to see, to hear, to smell and to touch, a virtual paragon of treasures for the senses and a wealth of stimulation for the mind, you could wonder this place forever, and though you might get lost it would not be a wasted journey.

At least, that's what the kids thought when they first stepped out of their guardians.

This was a city, unlike any that existed in their world.

Never in their young lives had they seen such buildings, structures and architecture of such vast and unreal proportions. Many of the skyscrapers looked as if they went on forever, for at their bases the lines of perspective didn't seem to stop, and some were so wide and clustered so close together that broad terraces and bridges stretched between them to form vast platforms for other equally impressive sized buildings and gardens, some even had tunnels built into them for highways to go through, a few even had roadways snaking along and around them like waterslides or rollercoaster tracks, forming a vast network of highways (the superhighways) that rose some fifty to sixty feet above the ground. Equally, many of the skyscrapers foundations were integrated into other huge subterranean structures, some were like strip mines, vast and wide, circular or curved pits lined with high-end boutiques and other stylish shops with bridges and elegantly shaped balconies that criss-crossed across the open space; while others were like geo-fronts, large expanses of space that dropped down sharply and were often lined with five star restaurants, cafe's, high class apartments for the upper classes, beautifully landscaped gardens, and in one in particular, a large river that flowed down from the mountains was allowed to cascade down some 70 feet into the bottom, to form a giant boating lake that looked to be some 600 yards wide, before being allowed to flow onwards to join the main waterways and out to the sea.

The sea too played an important part in shaping the city, the various river channels, cannels and wide estuarine rivers made it Japan's answer to Venice, all the grandeur, scale and romanticism, but with an Asian twist. The waterways were lined with shops, restaurants, homes and apartments and office blocks, and everywhere up and down the deep muddy waters boats of every size, shape and purpose drifted by, water taxis, water buses, water cafe's, even whole market stands atop barges drifted from stop to stop.

New Port was not just a city; it was a world of its own with its own climate and stratosphere.

As the (disguised by the holo-forms) kids gawked upwards at the vast (ground level) cityscape, standing on a balcony overlooking one of the many vast subterranean shopping plaza's that went some eighty feet down, and standing under a sky-bridge (giant modified balconies and bridges that support/hold other buildings) that extended for over 90 meters between two skyscrapers some further two hundred feet off the ground, Batou and Togusa looked at one another in amusement as they watched the kids lose their minds in disbelief, the sight of their bulging eyes, even with the holo-forms, brought a particular satisfying grin to Batou's face, The Major on the other hand, was starting to think that perhaps taking them out before hand to get use to it all would have been the better option, rather than just take them out and hope they could help do the work without distraction, obviously for a bunch of kids who had no city's like this where they came from, that was not the case.

But on the other hand, it did present the opportunity to see if how well they could keep their minds on the job, among a few other things she had in mind.

"That. Is so unreal" said the twins as they gawked up at the buildings.

"Dude, that's a mall between those buildings, and its 200 feet up in the air!" Miles said

"Who the hell designed this city? I wouldn't mind some of whatever they were sniffing" Tom grinned.

"I don't care how the hell this whole thing ends, I am so getting some photo's of this place before we go home!" Hailey concurred as she bounced back and forth on her heels.

"Just make sure she doesn't see any boutiques or she'll have a heart-attack" Sam whispered to Batou over his shoulder.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because she'll realize she didn't bring her dad's platinum card" Sam replied, at that Batou had to stifle a giggle, as did Sam and Miles.

"Okay, lunch is over, time to get down to business..." the Major said as she paced off, everyone fell into line and followed close behind, all the while the kids couldn't help but glance up and around as they walked along, occasionally bumping into people as they lost sight of their line of direction, at one point Miles accidently walked into a lamp post and fell flat on his back, electing a few giggles among the group, "eyes forward Miles" the Major said in a flat tone, though it wasn't very becoming of 'new section 9 rookie' she helped him up never the less. After navigating through a network of plaza's and small streets they soon arrived at a huge highway intersection, across the one of the roads Saito appeared from around one of the street corners and made his way over to the group.

"Nothing new to report, he hasn't moved from his office in the last hour, but his itinerary says he's got a meeting with the British and French ambassadors in half an hour. The Tachikoma's are keeping an eye on the IR system outside" the sniper said

"Alright, this is where we spit up; Tom, Hailey, twins, you'll be with Togusa, Ashley, Miles and Sam your with Batou, and Morri and Mikaela, your both coming with me, so remember, stay close and don't lose your concentration, report in at 16 hundred hours" the Major said "Rodger!" everyone replied and duly went off with their assigned partners. Morri noticed out the corner of her eye the Major shooting Batou a wink, bemused, but not wholly concerned she shrugged it off and followed the section 9 field commander.

"So what are we doing first?" Mikaela asked discreetly as she and Morri flanked the Major's sides as they walked along.

"First, we cover all the bases, there's a few places we need to check out before we begin the more serious work, this'll be a good chance for you two to learn firsthand how to pass off for being police officer's, you're going to need to know how to 'talk the talk' as well as 'walk the walk'...and you're going to have to get used to using the cybercomms, there are something's that have to stay privet when out in the field" said the Major, meeting both their eyes with sideways glances, the girls both gave a discreet nod and flipped the ring switches in their palms, a slight ping in their earpieces signalled the comms being activated.

"So basically just watch and learn huh?" Morri asked with a small smirk

"That's the idea, and make sure your paying attention; I'll be pop quizzing you both later" the Major smirked, the girls looked at one another puzzled, whatever she had in store they knew they'd find out sooner or later.

For the next two hours the Major lead the way to the more 'glamorous' areas of town, namely the outskirts of the more seedier areas that consisted of high class strip clubs and bars, shops that sold fake or illegally attained goods (not that anyone in this end of town was in the habit of asking questions) and underground meeting places for the less honourable of society, generally, this was the place to come if you needed information, and not the kind that could easily be attained from the other police agencies. As she went to work with her 'line of inquiries' (namely shaking down the Yakuza and loan shark underlings, or anyone else she knew had the information she needed), Morri and Mikaela hung back as they watched her work. Like a mother wolf teaching her cubs how to hunt, the Major was particular in pointing out the essentials; how to stand and look with an intimidating presence, how to grab someone's attention with a simple gesture, how to pick up subtle cues in a conversation and how to hold someone's gaze with a single look. She also pointed out the importance of feminine wiles for getting the necessary goods. Though it was tough to not to break out into giggles nedalone smiles, the younger girls were finding this 'field trip' to be quite fun in a strange way, it felt risky and daring, as if they were breaking the rules and getting away with it. For Mikaela it brought back memories of her younger days with her father, the little thrill she used to feel when they jacked each car in the dead of night, the same thrill swelled up inside and egged her on to learn all she could. For Morri, it was a conflict of consciousness that gradually gave way to the conclusion of 'this needs to be done, for the guy's sake'; once or twice she wanted to ask the Major if this was really necessary, but the Major sensed her slight unease and at times reassured her with a 'don't worry, you'll be fine' look, deciding to throw caution to the wind and trust the Major's intuition, Morri said nothing and watched and learned as they continued through the town. The Major too found this little exercise to be both interesting and somewhat enjoyable, it wasn't everyday that you got to have a bit of fun on the job with two 'rookies' that were good at learning on the spot (they certainly proved to be more competent and attentive then most rookies in some of the other public security sectors). For a moment she really wished they were real rookies, at the rate they catching on they could pass for being good section 9 agents in no time. Finally they arrived outside a rather tacky looking underground cocktail bar, another obvious meeting place for those of a criminal persuasion.

"So what are we looking for in this place?" Morri asked

"To see how well you've both been learning, this is your pop quiz..." The Major smirked; the girls glanced sideways at one another and braced themselves for whatever was coming next.

"So, who's got what in this place?" Mikaela cautiously asked

"A guy by the name of Nohara comes here regularly for his daily martini and olive; he's a go-between for some guys in the Niihama Express and the Nagasaki Times and there's a certain piece of Intel he's promised to share with me before he takes it to the highest paying journalist. Here. Give this to him, tell him it's the 'regular payment' and mention me by name, he won't refute but he won't necessarily hand it over just like that, you're going to have to smart with him, and convince him your not to be messed with, he catches on fast so he won't argue..." the Major continued, slipping a small piece of paper with a bar-code printed on into Mikaela's hand, they both looked at the Major with a pair of 'are you sure about this?' looks.

"When you go in, ask the barman for the back room, he'll know what you're talking about. And don't worry, I won't be far away..." the Major smirked and flipped on her therm-optic camouflage, disappearing into the street. Morri and Mikaela both looked at one another, then at the front door and shrugged. "Well here we go" Morri said in a hushed voice. Keeping their backs straight and sucking in deep breaths, they both entered the bar, remembering the Major's lessons in making a good appearance they both walked down the stairs and across the floor in an alluring way, catching the barman's gaze with an equally sexy flutter of the eyelids, he found that couldn't turn away as they glided towards him. He was a big guy with obvious cyberizations done to his head, smartly dressed in a waiters uniform he was obviously a muscle man with a piercing through his lower lip and had a half cast African profile, though he looked big and tough, he seemed to turn slightly bashful as they approached, 'wow, I can't believe this works' Morri secretly thought.

"Uh, um, what can I do for you pretty ladies?" he asked in a sweet and gentle voice.

"We're looking for the back room please?" Mikaela asked sweetly, the barman looked at her with a knowing look and smiled

"Right this way please" he smiled, and lead them behind the bar, through to a door which opened out into a larger bar with several people sat at various tables, they all noticed the young women enter with casual glances, all but one noticed them come in, he was a scruffy looking chap with messy unkempt hair and a note book sticking out of one pocket of his neatly pressed suite, and on the table next to him was a martini glass with an olive floating in the drink.

"That must be him" Morri said through the comm, Mikaela nodded in reply.

"Would you ladies care for any refreshments?" the barman asked trying to show off as polite.

"We'll be fine thank you" Morri replied as she and Mikaela both gave a slight bow and proceeded towards their target. As they approached the table the man looked up and acknowledged them with a discreet nod, to which they returned the gesture, he looked them up and down as they leaned against either corner of the table opposite him in an alluring way, making sure they both had his full attention, he smirked in a sly way which seemed to suggest he thought they had something on offer. Perfect, he was right where they wanted him, with the Major's words in the back of their minds, they proceeded.

"What can I do for you two?" he grinned, the girls glanced at one another with a smirk, Mikaela held up the piece of paper leaned forward slightly.

"The Major sent us; you have something she's interested in" Mikaela said, the man looked at her with a quirked eyebrow as the grin on his face steadily turned into a slightly incredulous look.

"Is that so? I don't see my regular payment anywhere" he said folding his arms, Mikaela placed the piece of paper down on the table and slid it towards him, being sure to let her fingers linger over the paper as she pulled her hand away, the man looked at the paper and the bar-code upon it, from out of his pocket he produced a tiny black rectangular micro chip, reading his expression, Morri could see he had something in mind, frowning, she raised her guard and slid along next to Mikeala.

"Is that it?" Mikaela asked

"Of course"

"So why don't you just hand it over?" she asked

"Why would I? This particular piece of Intel's quite sensitive, and I don't think the regular payment is going to cover it this time round" he said with a sly grin

"Really? Because that's too bad, we'll then have to tell the Major...and I'm sure you know how she doesn't like to be disappointed" Morri said with a small taunting smirk.

"Why the hell did she send you two? She usually comes in person" he retorted as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"She's busy giving someone a wrapping over the knuckles, which will be you very shortly if you don't hand it over" Morri replied, Mikaela slid off the table and moved off to the man's side, staying just behind his shoulder.

"Oh please, you seriously expect me to buy that bluff?" he sarcastically retorted, Morri glanced up at Mikaela with a nod, she understood Morri's cue and returned the gesture.

"No, but I expect you to get this subtle hint..." Morri grinned, in one quick move Mikaela pulled his chair back until he fell flat on his back with his legs in the air, and before he could get up Morri quickly pinned the guy down, holding him down by the neck with her foot, her heel dug uncomfortably into the side of his neck, prompting him to stop his struggling. Everyone in the bar noticed this but said nothing and returned to their drinks, this was not the kind of place where you stepped into other people's business; it was a sure fired way to getting on the wrong side of the wrong person in this end of town, and these girls certainly looked to be no exception. With a seductive twist of the hips and legs, Mikaela knelt down next him with a sweet and innocent smile. "Now we're gonna ask you nicely, if you hand over what we need and accept the payment, we'll leave this whole little altercation out when we report back to the Major, what do you say?" she asked, he looked between back and forth between them and finally relented with a sigh of defeat, he held up the micro chip, which Mikaela snatched up and stashed away in her pocket while Morri removed her foot, allowing him to get back up.

"Thank you" Morri sweetly replied

"Geez, where the hell did she find you two?" he glared at them both as he rubbed his neck.

"If we told you that, you'd be as smart as us, and can't have that now can we?" Morri replied smugly as they turned to leave for the door, the guy simply watched them leave in bemusement. 'Since when the hell did she start sending out lackeys to do her job for her?' was all he could think as he watched them disappear up the stairs.

"Oh, leaving so soon?" the barman asked as he watched them emerge from the back room.

"Afraid so, sorry but we got people to see, places to be, maybe another time" Mikaela politely replied and they both duly exited the bar, as he watched them disappear he passed a melancholy sigh, wishing he had asked for their numbers.

"Well, I see your old habits haven't changed much?" the Major's voice said from behind.

"GHA!" he jumped in surprise

"Still a big baby as always, you know I don't bite, much" she said, he could practically hear the smirk in her voice, realising who it was, he relaxed a little.

"Oh it's you, don't scare me like that" he replied

"Hmm...So how long were you listening at the door?" she asked, his eyebrows flew up in surprise, realising what she meant.

"You knew?...What? Were they?-"

"Just some new recruits on their first field test" she replied, he looked at the empty space where her voice was coming from and gave a small smile.

"Ah, so that explains the message you sent me ten minutes ago about Nohara, you needed some fresh meat for them to try out, it's not often that you set something special up for new recruits, they must be special" he said

"You could say that; thanks for the favour, and tell Nohara I'll talk with the DEA about cutting him a deal if he pleads guilty to that incident concerning the press leak on those witnesses in the Nagaoka murder case, he'll know what you're talking about...and of course I'll pay you in cash, same as always" the Major said as she slipped him a small piece of paper with a bar-code printed on, she slipped away and started walking up the stairs.

"Hey wait, if your girls aced their test you can treat them to a few drinks, it's on the house" he called up the stairs.

"A generous offer; and we would take you up on it if you actually had anything that wasn't a generic brand or watered down" she replied

"That's a little uncalled for" he simply replied

"See you later Buranamo" she replied as the door closed behind her. Down the street the girls leaned against a wall, breathing a few sighs of relief as they regained themselves.

"Hell am I glad that's over, you didn't think we overdid it a little do you?" Morri asked, "I don't know, I hope not, at least we got the Intel" Mikaela replied as she pulled the little micro chip out of her pocket and rolled it back and forth between her fingers, "Yeah, but where was the Major?" Morri thought aloud, "I did say I wouldn't be far away..." the Major smiled as she reappeared in front of them.

"And from where I was standing, I'd say you both passed with straight A's" she continued with a satisfying look, the girls both looked at one another in a mix of excitement and slight confusion, "So, does this mean we're going to be joining you on a lot more of these little 'intel gathering trips'?" Morri asked cautiously; "Well it's a start, at least I know you two can handle yourselves, there'll be times when those kinds of skills will be needed in much tighter situations, but for a first time, you did real good" the Major replied with a smile. Feeling a measure of relief the girls allowed themselves to relax, but Mikaela straightened her back as a feeling of slight alarm went through her. Both the Major and Morri noticed the startled look on her face.

"Wait a sec, if this whole afternoon was you're way of teaching us the ropes, then what did Batou have in mind with Ashley, Miles and Sam in tow?" she said, both women were speechless for a moment before Morri face palmed her forehead with a particularly loud smack and the Major frowned with a sour look on her face.

"Oh my god..." was all Morri could sigh.

Meanwhile, halfway across the city in another seedy neighbourhood, Batou and the boys had been having quite an afternoon.

That is to say, when Ashley (rather cheekily) joked to Batou that Sam was somewhat of a geek and that Miles was descended from a long line of hippys 'going all the way back to the age of Woodstock', he decided to take it upon himself to help the lads 'toughen up' and show them the intricate art of interrogation.

The said interrogation included storming one of the neighbourhood yakuza hideouts and taking on every thug and underling that came at them until they could get to the middle men hiding in the back rooms of the establishment. Miles (in all his impulsive and alternative wisdom) believed he had somehow strayed into some Tarantino style kung-fu movie and had acted accordingly with a flurry of crude yet still effective karate moves and an even cruder set of one liners (with the BSHB on his back enabling him to do practically anything, taking on a bunch of yakuza thugs was a way to really indulge in a few 'boys romp' fantasy's), Sam however was not so enthusiastic, whilst cheering his 'bro' on he kept to the sides of the room, dodging every bad guy that was knocked out and sent flying, whilst simultaneously trying not to completely freak out as Batou and Ashley took the lead, contently taking delight in the whirl of chaos of bloody knuckles and broken noses.

"You know Bayou, It's a real crying shame I ain't a real rookie, 'cause I could really get use to this!" Ashley grinned as he swung a left hook into one guy's chin, Batou grinned in satisfaction as he watched the kid take a flying kick, knocking four guys in a row right through a plaster board wall and then flipped around to punch another guy out cold.

"Kid, at this rate, you're the rookie I wish I had!"

"Uh, you guys DO know the girls are totally gonna nail our nuts to the wall for this?" Sam asked in alarm as Batou knocked another bad guy out

"Relax bro! We totally got this covered! Look out dudes it looks like their bringin' out the big guns!...LITERALLY!"

Another semi-stand-alone chapter, & this one starred a charcture from episode 4 of first Gig, did you spot him? (five points & a cookie to the winner! XD) R&R on your way out please! :)