"Oh, fuck me..." Koko grumbled under her breath at the sight of her brother's new, very familiar companion. "This better be good, Kaspar... I'm not the only one pissed off right now."
"I do believe my Queen's words were 'without interference', Miss Heckmatyar... She didn't say anything about finding out I shared a Lifelink to your brother." Black Gold Saw, using her magic to make her horns invisible, was surprisingly civil in tone and manners. "I'm sure you understand the implications of them by now."
"Can I shoot her please?" Rock wasn't even hiding how pissed she was. Black Gold Saw only got along with mages, which meant big sister White and Mother Dearest, the Queen Bitch herself.
"If at all possible, I'd like to keep the bloodshed at zero today." Kaspar spoke up. "This is a business meeting, Koko. Between you and me." Kaspar held up one hand to block Black Gold Saw slightly. "I've been told that you have history together, but I refuse to let her share the memories she has of it. It's not my problem. Right now, I'm offering a contract, if you would please hear me out."
"Fine, but she waits out here." Koko glared at the towering mage, who shrugged, unconcerned.
"Whatever you wish." She turned around and sat on the steps without another word, producing a cellphone in her unarmoured hands and began tapping away at the device as Kaspar was lead inside by his little sister and the Otherworld's youngest Princess - who was still openly holding the gift from her mother, a new customized M1911a1 Government. It had numerous internal and external modifications added to it, plus it had a threaded barrel for suppressors as well as a picatinny rail for mounting accessories to her liking.
"So what's this contract you have?" Koko spun around and sat in the armchair instead of her usual place on the couch.
"Well, to keep the details simple... I want to smoke out a phantom company disrupting my deals in South Asia and Japan. If you're willing to help me, I've got some intel to go over with you and Tojo, if that's alright."
"Why Tojo?" Koko asked, narrowing her eyes. Rock noted that Koko's eyes were like chips of ice right now, hard for even her to read.
"He used to be one of them... It's the Japanese SR Squad." Kaspar explained simply. "They've also got an Otherworlder in their ranks too... a battle-mage named Chariot."
Rock's head swung to the side, staring at Kaspar just as sharply as Koko was. "I vant proof." She didn't even ask for clarification or a repeat. The name of that girl was too distinctive to warrant misspeaking.
"I was only given one picture of her. It's her eyes that gave it away for Gold Saw to find out who she was." Kaspar produced his own phone and tapped at it a few times to bring up the image, sliding it across the coffee table towards Rock. "I take it you know her?"
"I tried to kill 'er." Rock replied shortly as she stared at the captured image of the girl, with her shaggy mane of blonde hair, black tiara made of the same black metal as when she'd last seen the girl. Orange eyes with the distinctive Otherworld gear-iris, and that same doll-like face of pure innocence that actually concealed a sadistic, conniving, heartless, manipulative little...
"Rock. Back to Earth." Jonah entered the room and put his hand over the screen, already aware of the long-winded insult that Rock had been thinking. "Hey, blue." He held up one finger for her to focus on, her eyes still purple. "Look at me. Hey, Rock... Rock. I need you back to blue, okay?"
Rock's eyes slowly receded, but her slight frown remained where it was. "Ven ve find 'er... Be careful, she vill try to manipulate you. Don't let 'er mind games distract you for even a second. It's 'ow she managed to escape from me ven I vent after 'er back 'ome."
"Come with me, let's leave Koko and Kaspar alone for now. We can talk about Chariot while they have their meeting, alright?" Jonah slowly lead her by the hand upstairs into their room, closing the door just loud enough so Koko could hear it.
Once they were behind the closed door, Koko turned her gaze back over to Kaspar, who was retrieving his phone without a word.
"So what's the deal with the SR Squad? I know you better than anyone, so let's start with what you're not saying." Koko spoke with a serious expression as she regarded her older twin's slight smile.
"Well..." Kaspar knew he couldn't weasel out of that one. They were siblings after all, so that meant they knew each other's tics and habits nearly on an instinctive level. "For starters, they've got an Otherworlder. That alone's a reason for caution. However, to actually answer you... They've been flexing their muscles in Jakarta and the surrounding area, not to mention a few slick moves to have some of my meetings and deals cancelled entirely. I had an associate of mine have a look around for me, see what they could turn up."
"An associate? Who, the giant bitch hiding her horns outside?" Koko knew she was being petty but didn't care.
"Not my problem, Koko." Kaspar pointedly raised both of his eyebrows and gave her a solemn stare before continuing. "No, an associate in the local Russian Mafia, goes by the name of Balilaika. Head of Hotel Moscow."
"I know about her." Koko nodded slightly, but didn't say anymore about the powerful woman based in Roanapur.
"So, she managed to sniff out the SR Squad being the ones messing with my deals, and after some recon from HQ, I've managed to piece together enough intel to at least know the members, including Chariot, by sight. You and Tojo would be a great help for any additional intel on the group."
"Tojo would be a better source than I would." Koko let out a slow exhale through her nose, thinking for a moment. "And so would Rock, since she said it herself that she knows the girl. I take it you want me and my guys to handle things in Japan while you stir things back up in Jakarta?"
"I like the idea, but let's talk to Tojo before we consider making any moves. Is he here?" Kaspar knew that the crew as a whole - including the teenagers - all generally did their own things around the property during the day, so he didn't bother looking around for the Japanese man.
"He should be, I haven't sent him into London for anything." Koko slid her own cell phone out of her pocket and sent Tojo a text. Within a minute, he replied saying that he was on his way.
A door opened upstairs, and Tojo came down the stairs with a partially eaten apple in one hand and his phone in the other.
"You needed to speak to me?"
"How much do you remember about the SR Squad?" Koko asked, gesturing for him to join her and Kaspar in the living room.
"Quite a lot, actually. Where should we start?" Tojo quickly joined them and took a bite of the fruit, knowing he'd be in for a lot of talking.
"Hmmm... I think I can work with all this." Kaspar had been using his phone to record all of what Tojo had provided them with about the SR Squad. "I should have a plan prepared in a few days, should I come back then so I can share it with everyone?" Kaspar didn't end the audio recording yet, just in case Koko or Tojo had more to add.
"Don't bring her next time, alright?" Koko's gaze went towards the window, indicating Black Gold Saw's presence outside. "Even if she's part of that plan, I don't want her here."
"Alright, I'll do my best to convince her to stay in London or something while we have our meeting. I just want to warn you now, my best can only go so far with her. Our Lifelink's still developing, and I know you're aware of how they operate at times."
"I can accept that. Just call ahead when you're done getting everything prepared, I don't want Rock getting herself worked up like that again." Koko agreed to Kaspar's requests, including the subtle one about Black Gold Saw's potential defiance.
"I'll see you then. Take care, sis. Tojo." Kaspar nodded, scooping up his phone and ending the recording before he left the house, finding that Black Gold Saw was already waiting in their car instead of on the porch.
During dinner, Koko asked Rock to divulge her past encounter with Chariot, making it clear that it was a contingency plan should fighting with the apparent battle-mage occur while they underwent Kaspar's plan for the whole operation against the SR Squad.
"Vell... for vun zing, Chariot is ze daughter of two mages, but isn't a full mage 'erself." Rock explained after a moment to consider how to explain everything. "'owever, she can use magic, more zan enough to make 'er a zreat for surprises. Especially Mary."
"Mary?" Koko narrowed her eyes slightly at the name.
"Chariot's limited magic is almost entirely devoted to Summoning magic." Rock elaborated after taking a bite of her food. "Mary is ze name for 'er pet creation, I don't 'ave ze English vord for vat to call it... It 'as eight metal legs zat end in a single spike, a large 'ead, and Chariot 'erself rides on top of ze back end of the 'ole zing."
"Does it kinda resemble one of these?" Jonah had been tapping at his phone, then presented the screen to her, which Rock gave a very surprising reaction to.
With a startled recoil, Rock's eyes went wide in panic, accompanied by a sharp intake of breath. It took a moment for everyone to see the screen as Jonah showed it to the rest of them... It was a picture of a Tarantula spider.
"I think someone's scared of spiders..." Koko couldn't help teasing Rock for her moment of fright. "So, considering the way you described Mary, I get the image that the thing's fairly large too."
"Yes, zat's right." Rock's expression was still wary after seeing the creature that Koko had called a 'spider'. "Chariot can summon Mary venever she vishes, as long as zer is enough space. As for 'er veapons, she uses a sword vith a large circular shield, as vell as a similar transformation for 'er legs zat Strengz uses for 'er Ogre Arms. Chariot's legs turn into large disc's zat she can moves very fast vith."
"So she's gonna be a huge pain in the ass, isn't she?" Lehm got the general picture of the girl. "What about her personality? What if we meet her when shit's all calm and peaceful?"
"She's manipulative." Rock didn't even hesitate during her reply. "She vill seem all cute and innocent at first, but she vill try to lure us into some kind of trap. I don't know if zis information vill be much use now zat she's 'ere on Earth, especially since ve don't know 'ow long she's even been 'ere eizzer."
"Let's play it safe and say around the same length of time as you." Koko spoke up. "So that'd be... a little over three months now."
"If zat's ze case, she may 'ave major changes to 'er personality entirely." Rock shrugged slightly. "In battle, vizzout Mary, she uses 'er speed and 'er shield to protect 'erself, and 'er sword is razzer big for 'er size. Not big enough to require two 'ands, but big enough to make close combat troubling."
"Kaspar's intel on her had that picture of her taken in Tokyo." Koko commented, then turned to Tojo. "You and I will have to handle translations while we're there. I'm pretty sure nobody else here can speak Japanese, right?"
"I actually have an idea for that." Tojo pulled out his phone. "I happened to see this a while before you texted me to talk about the SR Squad." After a few moment of searching, he turned the phone around for Koko to see the promotional video for what he had in mind, an innovating in-ear audio translation device. "We just set these little earbuds to our language of choice and it'll translate what we hear into that language. So if Lutz set his to German, it would translate all the Japanese he hears directly into German. Or Finnish for Valmet, Italian for R and Ugo... you get the idea."
"That's brilliant!" Koko was amazed at the idea. "I'm surprised it's not from Umbrella like Rock's adapter."
"Nah, they're healthcare and medical tech." Lehm chuckled slightly, since they all knew the American corporation had quite a dark side after the meeting with that one-eyed Captain from their Security Division, Tobias Darkwood. "This is more of a media or travel thing. Pretty smart idea, if you ask me."
"I can speak nine languages, plus Old Speak on top of that... and now this thing comes to practically bite me in the ass." Koko was amused, but annoyed at the ingenuity of the device. "Alright, I'll book us a flight to the US for tomorrow so we can get ahold of these translators. I wonder if we can set them up to translate everything into Old Speak?"
"Now that's a smart idea!" Lehm chuckled in agreement. "Probably gonna need to talk to the thing's development team and weasel it out of them, eh?"