Part 1
Several days after hunting down Innocence and destroying countless Akuma—warlike soul-enslaved "machines" by the Millennium Earl—Allen Walker thought it was good to be back home at the Black Order. He felt grubby and smelled of sweat. His clothes and uniform needed a good wash too. He had a spare uniform and sent the one he had worn out for dry-cleaning.
Once he was settled in, he opted for a nice bath. So he took his washing items with him and made his way to the communal baths. He stripped in the changing room and then walked into the elegantly designed foundation baths that the Black Order had crafted for its people.
When Komui took over as Chief of the Black Order, he did some renovations to the Castle. He eliminated personal showers from each Exorcist's quarters and built a communal area. He said that it was a way for the Exorcist's to get to know each other when they were at their most vulnerable. Of course, there were separate areas for the men and women.
Some of the Exorcist's complained, but it more of cost-cutting thing for the Black Order. However, this all happened before Allen arrived to the Black Order and became a member. He learned about it through Lenalee Lee one day when they engaged in causal conversion in the Dining Hall. Casual, meaning she ate her light breakfast while he scarfed down a meal fit for three kings. As a "Parasite Type" his metabolism needed a lot of fuel.
He sat down in the pool surrounding the foundations underneath it cascading waterfall of marble. He was completely alone. It was the perfect time to be with his own thoughts. The water soothed his bruises and sores, relaxing his muscles until he felt barely an ounce of an ache. He remained this way for five minutes taking in the solitude, then washed.
As he lathered himself, he heard something like metallic footfalls that got louder as they approached him. Turning towards it, he saw a robot. He looked at it, his body covered in thick soap covering his more sensitive areas.
It was a duck and it quacked at him. "Okay…" he said. "Ducks like water, I get it."
Komui was always tinkering with newer and more advance technologies in his robotic research to help out the Exorcist's in the field. He said he would prefer no one got hurt, and if a robot aided in that, his inventions would be in that regard.
But despite his best efforts not all of his inventions turned out to be beneficial to the Black Order. And this robot was no exception. It was too small to be of any use in the field.
"And what do you do?" he asked it, as if the robot could talk, tilting his head with curiosity. "Another one of Komui's toys, hmm? Komui?"
The duck waddled closer to him, cocked its head up, and then a voice rang out from a speaker in its chest, as a camera ejected from its mouth. A zoom lens focused in on him.
"Allen!"
"AH!" Walker croaked shocked. "What the hell, Komui?" Allen tried to cover himself.
"Glad to see you back!" Komui's voice reverberated through the tiny robot's speaker. "Although, I'm seeing more than you right now that I had ever wished to see."
"Then don't look!" Allen turned around to try to refocus his efforts to mask his exposure, almost mooning the camera.
"I see a full moon in the middle of the day," Komui jeered.
"AH!" Walker screamed. "Stop looking at my naked body, Komui!"
"Purely for scientific purposes only, I assure you," Komui said back with what sounded like amusement. "You have some nice tone muscular structure going on, a very healthy young man."
Allen quickly grabbed a towel from the edge of the foundation pool and covered his lower region. He grumbled under his breath. Of all the times to be interrupted. Now he felt more stressed than before he came here. "Peeping Tom," Allen muttered.
Komui Lee, Lenalee Lee older brother and Chief of the Black Order, often had no sense of decency when it came to the privacy of its members. He was enthusiastic and dedicated to his job, sometimes too much! But Allen always remembered what happened to the cat when it became too curious. And he was wistfully wanting to test if Komui had nine lives!
"Sorry to catch you at a bad time, and I know you just returned from a mission, but I have another assignment for you. And I believe it's right up your alley!" the eager Chief said.
Allen was tired and he signed heavily. All he wanted to do was take a bath, have a meal, and then go back to his quarters, and sleep. He felt he could sleep for a week. But he was an Exorcist and he knew he had a responsibility. Often he felt it was duty to sacrifice his own well being for the Order. But Lavi told Allen he needed to chill and let loose sometimes. Too much stress plays havoc on mental acuity of an Exorcist in the field, Lavi had said.
Then again, the Millennium Earl didn't take time off in killing innocent people.
"I just got back," Allen said politely.
"I know, sorry. Please come to my office when you've freshened up."
Allen nodded. "Okay, I'll be there soon."
The camera retracted back inside the duck's mouth and the robot turned and began to waddle away through the entrance to the baths. Allen watched Komui's toy as it left and he wondered if he called on his Innocence could he grab it from here and crush it in his fist? He felt like venting some frustration and a small robot would do just the trick.
It was a tempting thought, but then he would no doubt have to explain his actions and pay for the damages. And he already had so much debt to pay of his Master, Marian Cross. A son-of-a-bitch if there ever was one. The man was cold-hearted monster who only cared about booze, women, and gambling, and not necessarily in that order. And with any loses, he would tell them to send the bill to his apprentice, Allen.
Allen clenched his fists. It made him angry just how much abused he had been through with his Master, and it was still happening. When he came back from his last mission, in fact, he found a letter addressed to him, with yet another collection notice of $23,000 for a one-night stand at an Inn. It included cost for liquor and damaged from a fight with some Akuma.
Allen went to leave the baths when he dropped his bar of soap. He bent over and searched beneath the water for it when his towel dropped.
Just then, someone else came into the communal baths, and he a gasp! "Oh my god!"
Allen turned around. He was buck naked with everything exposed.
He didn't know who it was, possibly an Exorcist or one of scientists, but he couldn't put a name to a face at the moment, and yet, from the way she was looking at him, she was not looking to put a name to his face at that moment. She was looking lower down.
Allen covered himself with his hands.
Allen looked up at a sign above the inner entrance to the baths that said: "Women Baths".
Allen's face flushed and he smiled nervously. His towel was soaked and had sunken to the bottom of the pool. How the hell did he not notice that he had entered into the wrong communal area? He must have been more tired than he thought!
Why didn't Komui tell me when the duck was here?
The female bather opened her mouth to let out a scream, but he jumped up out of the water and ran towards the changing area before she had a chance.
"I'm sorry!" he screeched out, as he bolted past her, naked as a jaybird.
Lavi, a Bookman assigned to the Black Order from the Eastern Branch to record its history against the Millennium Earl, strolled casually down a corridor. He had just come from Komui's office, the Eastern Chief of the Black Order, after hearing about Allen's latest mission. But it had been a relatively an uneventful one from the underlining tone of the young Exorcist's report. Except for battling Akuma, of course.
Only fifteen, his birthday was soon, Allen had been thrown into the line of battle several times, to come out alive against some pretty tough enemies. Lavi was impressed with Allen, but it was still uncertain what lay ahead for what was prophesied as the young Exorcist's destiny.
Lavi saw Allen Walker come walking down the opposite end of the same corridor, sighing heavily to himself. The young Exorcist looked tired.
Lavi smiled at the teenager, three years his younger. Allen looked dapper dressed in a white dress shirt, close-chest vest, and dark trousers and boots. Casual wear, he once remarked. Lavi was with Komui when the toy duck spoke to Allen in the communal baths and had seen the be-all of Allen Walker, no butts about it.
"Allen!" Lavi said excitedly.
"Oh, hi, Lavi," the teen said almost deflated. "What are you doing here?"
"I just finished reading your mission report," Lavi answered. "Bookmen have access to all Exorcist's reports. Nice job defeating those Akuma, but too bad the rumour about the Innocence wasn't true. Just another one of the Millennium Earl's schemes to get you alone again, eh?"
"Yeah, I was disappointed too."
Lavi smiled. "But good luck in your new mission," he said.
"Thanks. Wait! How do you know I have another mission?"
"Because I was there when Komui spoke to you in the baths. Oh, and next time, you might want to cover up quicker when you're on camera. The Director of the North American Branch was visiting and she was pretty shocked to see you bare-it-all and let it all hang out."
Allen gasped. "You mean…"
Lavi saw the young Exorcist's face flush red with embarrassment. "Yup! She saw whole enchilada, I think she liked it." He winked with his left eye, the other behind an eye patch. Blinded by an injury at an earlier age.
"Oh my god! I have to apologize!"
Lavi let out a belly laugh. "Gotcha! Just kidding!"
Allen frowned, gripping a fist at his side. "Not funny, Lavi," he said vexed. "Not funny at all!" He stormed pass him, his pace twice that of normal.
"Come on, Allen. Can't you take a joke?" Allen didn't reply. "Hmph," he shrugged. "I guess not."
Lavi then walked away.
To be continued...