Chapter 53: Kazoku pt3

Old Shinjuku/Fujimoto's 'Office'

Once hostilities settled down, Kasumi told Fujimoto about her brother and him being kidnapped by a Yakuza family. Fujimoto raised his hand; before they could go any further…he needed payment upfront, to replace the equipment Kasumi and Shepherd trashed trying to meet him plus he wasn't running a charity. Kasumi forwarded the money to the broker and Fujimoto moved to his terminal. He opened a panel at the back of the room, it was small but it was hi-tech. Shepherd looked at the man's console, not only did he have cameras inside his hideout, he had several cameras on his block…which was why he knew to prepare for them.

Fujimoto sat in his chair. "Shaking down the CEO of Sanada Electronics and taking his son…bold" he said. "They're usually not known for pestering people bigger than they are" Kasumi told him of the last place Hayate was before he was taken…Fujimoto went into his computer and had gotten the video feed of the street he was on. They saw footage of Hayate walking home…it was dark and he was alone, nothing was out of the ordinary until human figures came behind him. There was a struggle as Hayate tried to get away, he broke loose and started to run down an alley with his attackers pursuing him. Fujimoto changed the camera footage, and they saw that Hayate didn't get far as more men came out to cut off his escape. He was trapped and was captured easily…a shuttle came in and the men threw Hayate in and flew away.

Shepherd noticed something in the video. "Fujimoto…can you clear up the video?" he asked. Fujimoto cleared up the blurriness and added a night vision filter to the footage allowing them to see the vid clearly. "Is it normal for the Yakuza to wear combat armor?"

Fujimoto snorted. "As if they could get their hands on one…the Alliance keep a very tight lock on their stuff" he said. "Of course it could be black market stuff; anyway I have a clue of where the boy could be"

"Where?"

"That area is in the Kanagawa Prefecture, it's near the old Yokohama port" Fujimoto said. "It's the territory of the Hajime branch"

The Hajime branch was an up incoming branch in the Yakuza organization; they were favored by the Yamaguchi-gumi branch's boss up until five years ago. There was a police raid which took major members of the Hajime leadership, there was also incriminating evidence linked to the leadership of the Yamaguchi-gumi's leadership. In one fell swoop, one of the major branches in the Yakuza was almost taken down due to simple carelessness. Needless to say, the Yamaguchi broke ties with the Hajime and blacklisted them from the organization. However because the Hajime branch had a taste of power, they have been trying to get back into the good graces of the organization.

Kasumi nodded. "Okay, we got the location, let's go" They began walking out of the apartment.

"I would be careful if I was you, they sniff you coming…the boy is as good as dead"


Port of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture

In the 19th century, The Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858 specified Kanagawa as an open port. The Port of Yokohama formally opened to foreign trade on the 2nd of June 1859. The port grew rapidly through the Meiji and Taisho periods as a center for raw silk export and technology import. As technology grew allowing easier export and import, Yokohama as well as other ports around Japan had seen little usage. This port was closed down in 2075 CE; it is now the base of operations for the Yakuza. It was nighttime, guards was posted in every entry point and was heavily armed…Shepherd and Kasumi was just outside of the port scouting the area. Shepherd turned to Kasumi.

"Too many to count, how do you want to do this?" Shepherd asked.

"We need to get in quietly…if they suspect something is up, they'll kill Hayate" Kasumi said.

"Easy for you to say, you have a…" Shepherd turned his head to see Kasumi giving something to him. "A stealth cloak"

"I always carry two just in case" Kasumi said. "If it wears off, find cover until it recharges" Shepherd nodded as he loaded the program into his omni-tool. They went down into the port; it was large which meant they had plenty of places to take cover. The port had ten piers; it was going to take too long to search every single one of them…which meant they need at least one person to talk. Kasumi and Shepherd had found a target, a big man in black combat armor…too big for Kasumi but just right for Shepherd. They went into position; Kasumi threw a small pebble against the wall to catch the man's attention. He investigated the source of the sound allowing Shepherd to come behind and get him in a choke hold with his geth arm. The man struggled to get free…Shepherd had to be careful his robotic arm was incredibly strong and he could easily snap his neck, not to mention this struggle risked getting the attention of the other guards.

He pulled him to a pier with Kasumi close behind. They placed him on the floor to question him; Shepherd crouched down and got in his face. "Here's how this is going to go…you tell us where Hayate Sanada is and you get out of this in one piece" Shepherd threatened.

"Go to hell" the guard sneered. The cybernetics in Shepherd's geth arm whirled as he suddenly held the man down while firmly grasping the guards head.

"Thought you would say that…" Shepherd said. "Funny thing about my arm…it tends to malfunction at the worse possible moments and when it does…it tends to crush things quite messily…" Kasumi knew this was a lie, Legion and Tali made that arm to last…other than the occasional maintenance it had no history of malfunctioning. However the guard didn't know this. They could hear a cracking sound; it was the man's helmet cracking like an egg as Shepherd was applying pressure. "I would talk now; your head is on the line"

"Okay, okay!" Shepherd took his arm off the man's helmet. "He's at the pier farthest to here, but you won't get to him…at midnight if Sanada doesn't pay what he owes, the boy is dead" Shepherd and Kasumi looked at each other…this was new information, Hiroshi never told them that he paid these guys anything. Something was fishy here…but they didn't have time, it was an hour to midnight. Before they could leave the guard pulled out his gun and aimed for Kasumi.

"Cuz!" Shepherd pushed his cousin out of the way and the bullets hit his arm, the spectre unfurled is omni-blade and retaliated. He struck the man in the head, leaving large chunks of his helmet on the floor. The man went limp on the floor and blood poured from his head, Shepherd went to check on Kasumi. "You alright?"

"Yeah…" Kasumi said. She looked at the dead man. "He's not Japanese…"

"Kasumi explain later, no way the other guards didn't hear the gunshots" Shepherd said. "Let's get your brother" They ran out of the building and headed for the Osanbashi Pier. "What did you mean that he was not Japanese?"

"The Yakuza is only made up of Japanese, they don't trust outsiders" Kasumi explained. "This isn't the Yakuza we're dealing with…"

"So Hiroshi lied to us, why?" Shepherd asked.

Kasumi snorted. "Because he's a sociopathic bastard that only cares about himself…" she said. Alarms started to go off. "Uh-oh, looks like they found that guy's body…so much for stealth…" Shepherd activated his tech armor and got his weapon ready.

"We're almost there, get ready for anything" Osanbashi Pier was the largest pier of Yokohama Port's ten majot piers. In its heyday, it handled passenger traffic including cruises, and has customs, immigration and quarantine facilities for international travel. The guards saw the duo coming and opened fired, Shepherd and Kasumi went to cover.

"Damnit, we don't have time for this!" Kasumi said.

"Agreed…" Shepherd popped up from cover and hit the group with a singularity field causing them to float helplessly in the air. "Kasumi, get Hayate…I got this" Kasumi hesitated for a moment, Shepherd was a very capable soldier but he was still outnumbered and outgunned two to one. Shepherd hit the singularity with a warp field, causing the guards to splash into the water. "I'll catch up to you, now go!" Kasumi reluctantly nodded and activated her stealth cloak, and went towards the pier. More guards came out of the pier heading for Shepherd, allowing Kasumi to get in unchallenged. The pier was huge, Hayate could be in any of these rooms…She took cover and saw one of the guards salute a dark-skinned man was a large beard, and he looked like the leader.

Kasumi climb up and walked the catwalks above while keeping an eye on the leader. It was good for a while up until the guards found her and she had to fight them off. After dealing with them, she turned the corner into a room…it was dark and the smell was unbearable. She took a step and heard something wet underneath her foot…she turned on the light, and reeled back in disgust. Dead bodies were everywhere and were in the process of decomposing, she noticed tattoos on the dead bodies…the same ones the Yakuza bore on their bodies. "Well that explains what happened to the Hajime branch…" She could hear sounds of struggle in the room next to her; a voice was yelling it was male and very young. "Hayate…" She rushed in and saw a man trying to carry him away, the man saw Kasumi and took out his gun. The thief rushed the man and gave hard right to his face, when he dropped to the floor she gave a swift kick to the head knocking him out.

"W…who are you?" Hayate asked.

Kasumi looked back at the boy. He was the spitting image of their father. "I'm Kasumi; I'm here to save you"

"Did father send you?" Kasumi nodded, she decided to leave out that she was his older sister…he went through enough. She grabbed her brother's hand and they ran for the exit, she hoped that Shepherd was out of the firefight and heading for the exit too. Shots headed their way, Kasumi covered Hayate and ducked from fire. They were stuck in cover while the guards were trying to flank them from both sides. Too many to fight while protecting her brother, until she heard screams and a loud explosion.

"Move out, hurry!"

"Wayne?"

"Got a heavy weapon off one of the guys I killed…get clear I'll cover you" Shepherd loaded another energy cell and fired into the building. The enemy yelled as they were thrown across the pier by explosion after explosion. Kasumi took advantage of chaos and took Hayate outside to meet Shepherd. Behind was a shuttle in the air trying to get them, Shepherd loaded one more time and fired again hitting the shuttle. "You okay?" Kasumi nodded. "Good, lets head to the shuttle" They headed for their shuttle, Hayate was the first to go in…Kasumi was next, Shepherd spoke up.

"Cuz, hold up…I found some logs while I was fighting these guys" he said. "They're HLM"

"HLM? What do they want with Hiroshi?" Kasumi asked.

"Nothing good…" Kasumi took the logs and read them, she frowned. "Well?"

Kasumi looked at Hayate who was unaware of she just read. She looked at the logs and frowned. "That son of a bitch…"


Sanada Estate

Shepherd and Kasumi returned to the estate where they found Hiroshi waiting for them. Kasumi had been silent since the ride, and angry at what they found at the port. Hayate was asked to stay in the shuttle…what was going to happen was not going to be pretty. Hiroshi looked around and frowned.

"Where is Hayate?" Hiroshi asked.

"He's in the shuttle" Kasumi said trying to keep calm. "We need to talk"

"About what?"

Shepherd crossed his arms. "About the fact that you lied to us" he said. "Hayate wasn't taken by the Yakuza, he was taken by the HLM" The Reaper War had done extensive damage to companies across the galaxy by Sanada Electronics was one of the hardest hit. The company was bleeding money and Hiroshi didn't do something he would be on the street, so he made a deal with the HLM. He gave the HLM his company's technology for billions of credits to keep afloat.

"The technology you gave the HLM was used for an attack on the Citadel a year ago" Kasumi said. "We know this because we went after the cell that deployed it" After the culprits were defeated and captured, the Alliance cracked down on the other cells and asked the government all over the world to assist. The Japanese government stated to asked questions, and Hiroshi cut his business relations with the HLM…he even threw the Japanese cell under the bus to keep suspicion off of him.

"They didn't like that, so they got back at you by kidnapping Hayate to make you suffer" Shepherd said. "You couldn't come to the police because then they would find out about your business deals with the HLM"

"And so you call me…because you knew I wouldn't turn my back on my brother" Kasumi said. "But more importantly, you knew about my reputation as a thief…I could get in and out without them knowing"
"And if we were to kill a few of those bastards along the way that was fine too…because it would keep you little secret buried" Shepherd said. "Game over Hiroshi…we took a little detour to the police and gave them the logs we found"

"They're coming as we speak to arrest you…with the amount of evidence you'll be going away for a long time"

Hiroshi lost his composure after hearing that. "You fool, if I'm arrested the government will seize everything…you just made your brother homeless!"

Kasumi frowned. "You placed Hayate in danger and for what? To keep your money!" she said. "I'll take care of him and I'll make sure that he doesn't become a man like you" Shepherd and Kasumi walked out of the estate as dozens of squad cars came up to take Hiroshi to prison.


Hanada Spaceport

Shepherd was the spaceport ready to go back to Rannoch. Kasumi had decided to say on Earth to keep an eye on Hayate, she had used her money to buy an apartment complex for the boy to live in. It wasn't a mansion but it was in the ritzier parts of Tokyo, after Hiroshi was arrested most of the help went their separate ways but some had decided to help get Hayate adjusted like Hideki. Kasumi came to see Shepherd off.

"So how's Hayate?" Shepherd asked.

"Shaken up, but I think he'll be fine" she said.

"Have you told him?"

"No but when it is a good time, I'll tell him" Kasumi said. The PA system sounded. "Looks like your ride is hear cuz"

"Looks like…" Shepherd said. "If you need any help, you know you can call me anytime"

Kasumi smiled. "I know…" The two gave a big hug and Shepherd went to his shuttle. She watched Shepherd's shuttle fly until it got out of sight. As she walked down the steps, she decided to place a call to an old friend.

"Kasumi?" Jacob said. "Hey, long time no see…how have you been?"

"I'm fine, Jacob…um, listen is the offer to join the Corsairs still up?" she asked.

"Um, yeah…we'd be happy to have you but what's the deal? You weren't interested before"

"I have responsibilities; it's a long story…"

Two Chapters to go until the Final arc: Citadel! Next Time! As always Review and Comment!