Chapter Three - Part Three: Hero Public Safety Commission
A little over an hour after Hawks received the call, he landed on the roof of a tall office building in the heart of metropolitan Tokyo with Misaki held securely in his arms. At first, she'd been apprehensive when he'd told her that they would be flying from Fukuoka to Tokyo, thinking that he meant under his own power. She'd been shocked to find out that, not only had he chartered a plane, but he was the one who was going to be flying it.
He'd told her not to worry, that he'd probably clocked more flight hours than most commercial pilots. She'd mockingly replied that unless those hours were spent flying an actual airplane, they didn't count. He'd laughed at her and assured her that he knew what he was doing as he'd started up the military style shuttle craft. She'd spent the flight in the copilot seat, staring out the window at the clouds rushing by while Hawks had regaled her with stories of his flight history. She'd never flown in any kind of aircraft before, and the experience had been so incredible, she'd almost forgotten why they were even flying to Tokyo in the first place.
Almost.
Misaki looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings of the roof they were currently standing on and asked, "What is this place?"
"The headquarters of the Hero Public Safety Commission," Hawks replied nonchalantly as he strode toward the roof access door.
Misaki immediately clammed up, letting out a shocked gasp as a sudden rush of nervousness erupted in her stomach. She looked around apprehensively, half expecting a bunch of men in black to pop out of the shadows at any moment and escort her off the premises.
"Is it really alright for me to be here?" She wondered aloud as she hastily followed after him, reasoning irrationally that staying close to him would keep her safe from the imaginary men in black.
"Sure!" He quipped, turning around swiftly, and pulling a laminated badge hanging from a lanyard out of his coat. "I got you a visitor's pass."
Not bothering to ask when he'd managed to do that, she walked over and took it from him, still a bit on edge as she nervously said in a low, and somewhat conspiratorial tone, "That's not really what I mean..."
He just smirked and opened the door, gesturing for her to enter the building ahead of him. Stepping tentatively inside the door, she waited at the top of the stairs for him to walk in after her. She followed after him closely, jogging down a short flight of stairs to another door. He preceded her that time, turning back to silently motion for her to loop the pass over her neck. She hastily did so, her nerves turning her stomach again as it became more and more apparent to her that they had just snuck into this building!
She wanted to call out to him and ask him what the hell was wrong with him, but she kept her jaw clenched tightly shut. The less attention she drew to herself here the better. Now she knew why he hadn't wanted to tell her what the job was. If she'd known this was where he'd planned on bringing her, she would have turned him down in a heartbeat. Learning the hero business from Hawks was one thing but walking voluntarily into the headquarters of the Hero Public Safety Commission was an entirely different bag of worms.
Biting her lip apprehensively, Misaki followed Hawks down the hall to a large waiting room. A middle-aged woman with slicked back blonde hair looked up as they approached.
She handed a folder to the man sitting at the desk in front of her before greeting the hero, "Hawks."
He brought his hands up behind his head and grinned back at the woman as he replied with a tilt of his head, "Madam President."
Wait, President?!
Misaki couldn't help the startled gasp that escaped her at the realization that she'd suddenly come face to face with the top administrative authority for all heroes in the country.
The woman's pale blue eyes slid over to gaze at her from around Hawks as she asked, "Who is this?"
Crap!
And now she'd just gone and drawn attention to herself. Perfect.
Clearing her throat nervously, Misaki clasped her hands in front of her and bowed as she hesitantly introduced herself, "I'm Torimodo Misaki. I'm just observing for the day..."
"I see," the President replied curtly, giving her a quick once over before returning her attention to Hawks. She turned and motioned for him to follow her.
"Come with me. Torimodo-san can wait here," she said firmly, glancing back at Misaki once more over her shoulder.
Hawks turned around to walk backwards after the President as he clasped his hands in front of his face and called out to her apologetically, "Sorry! Be right back, Misa-chan!"
All she could do was wave back, grimacing apprehensively. There went her security blanket. But at least the President had gone with him.
Not really knowing what else to do, she walked over and sat in one of the reception chairs in front of the elevators. Glancing around the office, she thought back on how she'd wound up in her current predicament. Taking Hawks up on his offer to show her the ropes of the hero business was already a big step outside her comfort zone. Perhaps she had been a bit spoiled by his easygoing nature, which had afforded her a sense of comfortability in concerns to her past transgressions.
She hadn't really thought about her criminal past since she and Hawks had become tentative friends. Now, however, sitting in the center of the headquarters of one of the highest levels of law enforcement agencies in the country, she could feel that old familiar fear begin to creep up on her. Her hands felt clammy. The rushing sound of her heartbeat pounded in her ears and her stomach turned, threatening to toss her breakfast up into her lap.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and leaned forward, bracing her hands on the edge of the chair as she started counting out her heartbeats under her breath. It was a coping mechanism she'd developed to stave off the panic attacks she'd suffered from in her youth, after the incident with her parents. She breathed in deeply through her nose, letting the breath out slowly through her mouth as she counted, relieved to feel the sudden wave of anxiety begin to subside. She opened her eyes after a few minutes and sighed in relief when her heart rate finally returned to normal.
She was startled slightly a moment later when the frustrated voice of the man behind the desk suddenly rang out. "Oh, come on!"
She looked over at him and tentatively asked, "Um, is there a problem?"
He looked up at her, bringing up a hand to scratch the back of his head as he sheepishly replied, "Sorry, didn't mean to say that so loud. It's this stupid computer!"
The man reached out to whack the side of the monitor and Misaki immediately jumped to her feet, knowing that would only make the problem worse. She called out before she could stop herself, "I'm actually pretty good with this stuff. What seems to be the problem?"
He made an exaggerated hand gesture at the monitor in frustration, "The stupid thing just froze! I can't get anything to work!"
She cringed when he began to bang on the keyboard next.
Clasping her hands behind her back, she cocked her head to the side inquisitively, gesturing with her eyes at the monitor. "Mind if I take a look?"
The man scooted back in his chair and threw his hands up in the air. "Have at it."
She stepped around the side of the desk and the man stood to offer her his chair. Sitting down, she scooted up to the keyboard and quickly typed in the command to open a prompt box. She'd always been pretty good with anything math or computer related. She'd learned to read and write programming language from a guy she'd met at a net cafe while she'd been trying to figure out what to do with herself after leaving her parents at the orphanage. Those skills had eventually become her saving grace while she'd been growing up on her own. Typing in a few lines of diagnostic code, Misaki read through the results briefly before zeroing in on the issue.
"I see. Hidden message box." She pulled up the message box and hit cancel, clearing the error and a report suddenly popped up on the screen. "That should do it."
The man leaned over her shoulder to stare in shock at the screen as he excitedly exclaimed, "No way, you fixed it already? Thanks!"
"Ahem." The sound of a throat clearing drew both of their attention to the President standing behind them with her arms crossed and a look of extreme displeasure etched across her face.
"Ah! Madam President!" The man stammered, waving his hands in front of him. "This was just—!"
"Save it," she cut him off, holding up a hand. "During your exit interview with HR you can tell them why you allowed a civilian access to our private computer system instead of calling tech support."
The President snapped her fingers and two security officers stepped forward, from where Misaki couldn't rightfully tell, and forcefully escorted the protesting man out. She shivered, having flashbacks to the imaginary men in black from the rooftop who turned out to be not so imaginary after all.
"Did I just get someone fired?" Misaki asked in muted shock. "I was just trying to help."
The President sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, sighing dejectedly, "Why is good help so hard to find these days?"
Misaki looked over and abruptly stood up from behind the desk, holding up her hands up in front of her and stammering, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"Torimodo Misaki, was it?" The President asked, turning her attention to Misaki.
"Yes?" She replied instantly, standing rigidly before the woman's scrutinizing sidelong stare.
"You have computer experience?" The President inquired and she turned to address her fully.
"Um, well," she stammered, caught off guard by the sudden inquiry. "I mean, I'd call myself a little more than proficient, I suppose."
The President's expression remained a carefully controlled mask as she continued to grill her for information. "Any office work experience?"
She blinked, more than a little confused at this point as to why she was being asked all of these questions. "I've been a teller and a loan officer for Tythan Savings and Loan in Fukuoka for the last three years."
Why does this feel like a job interview all of a sudden?
After a moment of silence, the President made an affirmative sound and said, "I see."
Reaching for the phone on the desk, the President made a quick call before leaning over to write something on a piece of paper, which she folded in half and handed to Misaki a second later. "Take this to the second floor. They'll process you in."
"But Hawks—" She briefly protested as she tentatively reached out to take the folded note from the woman's outstretched hand.
The President cut her off, "He'll be a bit still. There's plenty of time."
She turned to walk into the office behind the front desk, tossing Misaki a pointed glance. "Go on now."
"Y-yes, ma'am," she stammered, turning abruptly, and heading for the elevator.
The last thing she wanted to do was upset the President of the Hero Public Safety Commission.
She stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the second floor, noting that she had been on the twenty-eighth. After a long, uninterrupted ride, she stepped off of the elevator into another wide lobby, noticing the lone receptionist typing at a computer behind a long, tall desk.
Noticing that there appeared to be no one else around, Misaki timidly stepped toward the large desk. She opened her mouth to address the stern looking woman behind it, but before she could say anything, the receptionist shot out her hand. Snapping her jaw shut, Misaki reached out and placed the note in it, jumping when it was snatched away from her. Opening the note with her fingers, the receptionist glanced briefly at what was written there before tossing it onto the desk and turning her eyes back to the computer monitor.
As she resumed her steady typing, the receptionist finally spoke, her nasally, high pitched voice addressing Misaki. "Name?"
Not expecting the sudden question, she blinked and replied, "Excuse me?"
The receptionist sighed in irritation and pointedly iterated in a snarky tone, "Your. Name."
Shaking her head and blinking a few more times, she replied, "Uh, Torimodo Misaki."
The receptionist kept typing as she said in a bored tone, "Second door on the left."
Looking over, Misaki finally noticed the narrow hallway to her left lined with doors and she tentatively trailed off, "Okay..."
Stepping hesitantly toward the hallway of doors, she reached out to turn the handle of the second door on the left-hand side, feeling a bit like she'd become the heroine of a horror movie all of a sudden. What, with the creepy receptionist, and now the suspicious hallway of doors. All that was missing was the ominous music as the door swung inward to reveal... A room full of servers.
Releasing the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Misaki cleared her throat as she walked inside before hesitantly calling out, "Hello?"
She jumped as the door slammed shut behind her and the sound of metal wheels scraping against the tile floor suddenly rang out just before a slender man with wild, curly salt and pepper hair, and thick horn rimmed glasses peered around one of the tall servers at her.
"You the new recruit?" He asked in a clipped, high-pitched tone while pushing the glasses up the bridge of his long, narrow nose.
"Recruit?" She asked, confused.
The man nodded, his curly hair bouncing atop his head with the action. "Torimodo-san, right?"
"Yes?" She replied tentatively, unsure what he meant by recruit.
"This way!" The man jumped up from the stool he'd been sitting on, taking several long strides across the tile floor while pushing his glasses up his nose once more.
She scrambled forward, jogging after him to keep up. The man had to be almost two meters in height and nearly all of it seemed to come from his legs. He stopped at the back of the room next to a desk with a lone computer sitting atop it. Pulling out the chair, he gestured for her to sit. She did so, still very confused.
"Sit here and fill out this form entirely, no blanks please." He gestured to the form on the computer screen. "Also, make sure you take a copy of the completed form to accounting on the fifth floor, so they know where to deposit your check. Those folks really like their paper, ya know?"
She started abruptly, alarmed, "My check? Wait a second, what is this?"
"New employee paperwork. You're the President's new secretary, starting today," the man explained succinctly.
"I'm what?!" Misaki exclaimed as she shot up from the chair, waving her hands in front of her. "No, no, no, there's been a mistake. I already have a job."
"Not anymore." The man reached into his white lab coat and pulled out a piece of paper, holding it up for her to see.
As she read though the words on the page, her eyes began to grow wider with every line. He was holding up a letter accepting her resignation from Tythan Savings and Loan, effective as of that morning.
"You're kidding!" She shrieked, grabbing the letter from him with both hands and reading through it again, as if that would somehow change the words on the page.
"How did you—? When did you even—?" She stuttered, looking back and forth between the man and the paper in her hands in shock.
The man shrugged his bony shoulders and pushed his glasses up his nose again, explaining, "What the President wants, the President gets. And right now, she wants you, Torimodo Misaki. Better bring your A game. The turnover in the President's secretary job is about two weeks."
The man turned and began to walk back in the direction they'd come from, his long strides quickly carrying him away as he called out over his shoulder, "Good luck!"
Misaki collapsed back down into the chair and stared down at the letter in her hands in disbelief. She'd been in the building for no more than fifteen minutes and her life had already been turned completely upside down.
"Unreal..." Shaking her head slowly, she tossed the letter onto the desk and glanced up at the screen of new employee paperwork.
She had a very important decision to make. If she took the blue pill, she'd just go back up to the top floor to wait for Hawks, thank the President for the offer, then go back to the bank the next day to try to explain to them that everything had been one big misunderstanding; hopefully getting her job back. If she took the red pill, she'd have to accept that her time at Tythan Savings and Loan had come to an end, leave everything she'd ever known behind, and answer the screen full of life altering questions, hoping that the background check they were sure to run on her didn't throw up any red flags to get her fired; or worse.
Taking a very long moment to weigh her options, Misaki sighed, "what the hell?", before reaching out to pull the keyboard toward her.
Preview for Chapter Three - Part Four:
What the hell was she doing? She knew next to nothing about heroes or law enforcement; two things she'd been actively avoiding for over half her life. She should have just left well enough alone and stayed in her safe little bubble processing loan applications and—
No. It was way too late for that now.
She couldn't just ignore everything that had happened since she made the daring decision to save Ai from having to live the rest of her life with half of her face melted off. She was supposed to be here. Hadn't her academic advisors been trying to convince her of that for years? Wasn't that why Hawks kept pushing her to consider doing something more meaningful with her life?
Misaki looked down at her feet, seeing a white chalk line drawn at the tips of her toes and a brightly lit path on the other side, leading into a shining white light on the horizon.
This was her starting line.
Psych! Had you going there, thinking she might be going down the hero path, huh?
Check back in next week to find out where Misaki's path will take her - and what Hawks has to say about it ;p
Big thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited this story, I'm so glad that you like it and I really appreciate the support!
As always, thanks so much for reading :)
LOLSAT