AN: Hello all and I hope you have had a Merry Christmas and a good New Years celebrations. I hope 2021 goes better than last year and if last year is anything to go by then the bar is set pretty low. I hope everyone reading this is continuing to stay safe amidst the current climate surrounding and hopefully there will be a time in the near future where we return back to a somewhat normalcy in the world.
That being said, its about time I updated this story so here is the next chapter.
I do not own any of the H.O.T.D content or its characters. Except the OC's they are mine. All mine *Insert maniacal laughter here*
*VROOM*
Both Busujimas and the Carter patriarch turned to the source of the noise emanating from the van. They watched as a black blur shot out of the rear doors and landed on the tarmac behind the vehicle, what the black blur was soon became clear to the Busujima although Chris himself wasn't fazed.
"Was that really necessary?" the Carter patriarch asked, clearly not impressed by his son's actions.
The young man in particular, got off his vehicle and turned to look at his father.
"Hey, it's been awhile since I've seen my baby so I am entitled to a little reunion." James argued as he tapped his hand on the vehicle he was standing next to.
Saeko then stepped forward with great interest in what James just appeared with.
"A bike?" she questioned as she continued to move closer to it.
"Oh it's not just any bike. This is a Honda DN-01 from 2010 so it's one of the last models. My brother and I have customised this one in particular so she's got a few more perks than a base model and packs a bigger punch too." James happily answered although something drew a look from the swordswoman.
"She?" the purple haired girl raised her eyebrows at that particular comment.
"It's common for drivers of vehicles to call them by the opposite gender. Helps the whole take better care of them by treating them more human-like than actual tools." James replied.
Saeko listened to the young man's response as she started to edge closer to the bike with curiosity in her eyes. James noticed this and tapped the front windshield.
"You can touch her Saeko-san, she won't bite. Not while I'm around at least." James beckoned her to approach.
The purple haired girl responded by stretching her hand out and began to feel the body work of the bike. The shiny black bodywork intrigued her as she ran her fingers down the bike to where the seat was. That was then she looked back at the young man who was watching her.
"I know what you're thinking but no you can't ride her. You lack certain things like a helmet and some riding gear. We'll need to grab those later as all of the stuff in the van is for me." James spoke.
Saeko almost pouted in disappointment but her thoughts were quickly turned elsewhere.
"So this was you and your brother's little project then. You know your brother was the one who organised this to be sent out here. Something about wanting to clear some space perhaps." Chris noted.
James turned to his father as he said that and raised an eyebrow at the mention of his brother, Lee.
"I assume he wanted me to test it out properly then. The modifications have been complete for a couple of months now." James replied.
"I can see the work that's been done, it seems like the rider's seating position has been modified too. Let me guess for aerodynamics?" Chris asked as he paid attention to the main frame of the bike itself.
"Yeah, changing the seating arrangement without compromising the structure or the components of the bike was the real challenge, especially with the new hardware we installed." James answered.
Chris nodded in response as he finished inspecting the bike. After which he looked at his watch and upon seeing the time, he looked at his son and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Now I must be off as my time is short enough as it is. I have given you your mission and I have given you your tools. How you complete this is up to you so take your time and envision everything before making a move. I'll look forward to hearing of your success." Chris spoke directly to his son as he reaffirmed his son's goals.
"As you wish Dad, it will be done." James responded.
The patriarch turned to the Busujima elder and bowed slightly.
"Thank you for putting up with my interruption and next time we meet, it will be on more calmer terms." Chris told the elder who only huffed in response.
Soon after, a car appeared outside of the Busujima residence. Chris released his son and walked to the car and opened the rear passenger door.
"If you get stuck you know how to get in touch." was all the patriarch said as he climbed into the car and shut the door.
Immediately after the door shut, the car moved away and the Busujima family along with James watched the car pull away. Once it was out of sight, James returned to the van and unloaded the rest of the items in the van which did not take too long and placed them in the entrance to the main house. The young man then closed the back of the van and tapped its metal frame twice loud enough for the driver to hear. The van then sprung into life and moved out of the compound and down the street in the other direction.
It was at this point where both Saeko and Kage looked towards the young man who was eying everything he just took out and noticed he was deep in thought. After a few seconds he turned to face them.
"Oji-san, I apologise for imposing on you once more but do you have a place for me to store the bike by any chance?" James asked.
The elder Busujima looked at him before nodding.
"You may use one of the storage rooms around the side of the house. We do not use it anyway and since neither of us use any personal vehicles, you may use it as it has a large enough door for you to use to take it in and out without going through the house." Kage responded.
The elder then motioned the young man to follow to which James went to his bike and began to push it following the two Busujimas as they led him round to the storage room in question which was in a part of the compound that the young man had not been to yet. Whilst it wasn't a garage in its own right, the young man watched as the elder Busujima lift what looked like a thin metal commercial style door which opened up a small but empty room which only housed a few bare shelves which had only collected dust.
"This room has not been used in years so you may use it how you want it." Kage told the young man who wheeled in his bike and placed it in the center of the room.
The young man looked around and took in his surroundings of the room. There were no plug sockets so he couldn't use this room for anything other than housing the bike. He also noticed that there was no light bulb in the dangling wire. He smiled at the prospect of making this room his own.
"I thank you Oji-san. I shall deal with the rooms upkeep and make sure that it is kept clean whilst I am using it. You won't have to tell the maid to clean this room as I shall handle that myself." James bowed his head slightly in respect.
Kage nodded and grabbed what looked like keys in the current light off the shelf nearest the corner and threw them at the young man who caught them expertly.
"What about your other items?" Saeko spoke up, noting the items still left in the entrance to the front door of the main house.
"Well, my weapons and gear I'll move to my own room but I'll need somewhere else to house what I use for the tasks I have been given. A 'base of operations' if you will for planning and briefing others who will get involved." James explained.
"Others?" the swordswoman asked with curiosity.
"Of course. Don't get me wrong, I could do the whole operation on my own if I needed to but that is not the end goal which my father wanted me to achieve. He wanted me to build up my own contacts in Japan to not only help me with this task but for future operations as well." James responded.
"You may use my office if you wish. I have little use for it aside from managing the dojo's finances which only require my full attention when the taxes are needed to be paid." Kage offered once more.
"I thank you again for offering your home for my sake." the young man once again bowed slightly however the elder raised a hand to catch his attention.
"Please think nothing of it. It was a part of those contracts we signed earlier. I will offer my abode as my part of assisting you with your tasks but know this. Do not bring your troubles to our home. After today's showing, I shudder to think what would be considered trouble for you?" Kage went on.
James lifted his head to the elder Busujima in front of him and nodded in response.
"You have my word." was all the young man said in response.
The group went back outside and after James closed and locked the storage room. He went back to the other items at the front of the house. With some assistance from mainly Kage with the more heavier items. They moved the young man's gear into his room to which they were left there for sorting later.
The group then returned and grabbed the remaining items and proceeded to Kage's office. There, both Busujimas watched as the Englishman in front of them began sorting out the equipment that they carried in earlier. They noticed items like a Laptop, an unmarked black box and what look like electrical wires. They continued to watch as James looked around the room near the office desk until he found a certain wire which he traced back to the nearest wall.
"What are you doing, James-san?" Saeko asked as curiosity got the better of her silence.
"I'm just changing the wires at your internet connector with some special ones of mine." James replied as he lay down on the floor and began to fiddle with the access port.
"What will it do?" Kage asked as he too was curious in the young man's actions.
"These wires will allow me special access to the internet via my family's personal servers. The wire in itself is made in such a way so it can send very specific information so when it's transmitted it will only be received by the personal server. The wires I am installing also separate all information I use with that laptop over there with any other device that uses the internet in the house. In other words, your internet provider won't know a thing as there won't be any logs recorded on their end." James explained.
"In plain Japanese please, James-chan?" Kage bluntly spoke, clearly not understanding what the young man meant.
"It'll be like this laptop never existed on record. It shouldn't interfere with your speeds either. The black box is essentially a transmitter which only works on my access codes only so if this place is compromised it will send everything on its drives to the server and then destroy itself and the laptop for good measure. Another little feature of mine." James went on as he rose from connecting his own splitter and wires into the access port and going over to his laptop and connecting the wires on that end to finish the job.
"So it's like some computer from a movie, then?" the elder Busujima surmised.
"In a manner of speaking. The information we have stored in our data vaults could cause some major damage if the wrong people ever got a hold of it so coming up with a way of removing any risk of data breaches in the field was one of the first things I was taught." James answered.
The young man turned back around and approached the desk which the mission file marked for him was left there as he worked. He eyed the file for a brief moment before lifting his head.
"So the first order of business is to build this little 'motley crew' of ours." James turned back to the Busujimas with the file still in his hand.
"And what about that…?" Kage pointed to the file.
James looked at the file before responding.
"In truth, I could likely do this task on my own but that isn't the main objective here. At some point, I'll be taking over from my father and thus everyone who is contracted to him will be released from their duties to my family once I take over." the young man admitted.
"Meaning…?" the elder Busujima pressed.
"What it means is that the family will need to extend its contacts with each family member. We do this as a means of bringing in new talent and personnel with each generation, rather than relying on the old traditions of using the same bloodline, organisations, that kind of thing. Although those released will in other words be 'retired' in our eyes, their oaths to secrecy stated in each contract is still valid till their death bed. Same with the two of you." James pointed to the two Busujimas as he finished his explanation.
"So you said you were going to involve others. Who did you have in mind?" Saeko asked with interest.
"Usually we bring in those who have pure ambitions to get into positions that we find desirable. There was a reason why I'm here and not living on my own. With your father's position being close to the Emperor of Japan and from my observations that you're being poised to take over once he retires. That's why, when you're ready, you can take the step to be involved with proceedings under my tutelage." James explained.
Saeko took note of his words and thought of what the young man told her earlier that she will have to wait until she finishes her training under her father first before James involves her with his work.
"Either way, It'll take time to get the personnel I need both for the contact list and for the task at hand. You'll have more than enough time to complete your training without missing anything." the young man reassured the swordswoman.
"He is right Saeko-chan. You are very close to surpassing me, I cannot teach you much more than refinement at this stage." Kage agreed.
The young swordswoman looked at her father before walking at a reasonable pace out of the office. Both men noticed she turned in the direction of the dojo as she exited the room.
"I think you've reignited her desire." Kage commented as he looked at the young man across from him.
"Good. If Saeko-san wants to train under me then she needs to be ready in mind, body and spirit. If not, she could end up becoming a burden or even worse getting hurt and I think both of us would agree that we don't want that to happen." James picked up the file on the desk and made a reference to it as he spoke.
"I shudder to think what would happen if I lose her. She is most of what I have left in this world." the elder admitted.
The young man across from him put the file back down on the desk and stepped forward to face the elder Busujima.
"That's why my only direction for you Oji-san is to continue to not only be her father but her teacher as well. She will want to push herself to be ready and she could very easily overdo it. That's why I hope you've learnt something from our fights earlier today about the level between yourself, Saeko-san and myself. You'll know when she's ready to take that next step so you'll tell me when she's ready, not her." James spoke with assurance.
Kage nodded in response. He agreed with the young man's word that he was putting Saeko's interests instead of his own for her own safety.
"So what are we going to do for today then?" Kage asked.
"Well I'll need to sort out my room with the extra items that have been moved in today and then after dinner I'll be planning on what kind of people I need for the task." James listed off the things he needed to do by counting them off his finger.
"Well then I'll go and watch over Saeko-chan as she trains." the elder Busujima spoke as he then turned and left the office.
James grabbed the file from the desk and left the office to head towards his room.
After dinner
James had just sat down at the office desk and eyed the file marked 'Operation - Pruning Rose'. He opened the file and began taking in the contents within. He first noticed a note that was attached on to the documents with a paper clip.
'We need this one alive and in police custody but he is too high up in society to simply be arrested. Keep casualties to a minimum. -CC.'
The young man moved the note aside to read the target file which included a photograph of his target. James carefully read the file description which gave the target's job title and his known history.
'I can understand that the target would be too high up to get caught doing something he shouldn't be doing. He'd likely have enough to pay off the police force if he did.' James surmised as he finished reading the file.
'But first we need to bring up a contact list. It'll make my job easier by any means.' he went on as he closed the file and grabbed the nearest notepad and began jotting down roles he would be looking for.
The minutes went by as the young Englishman was deep in thought as he went through not only what and who he would need to complete the task but also to help establish the net he wanted to build for himself. This led the young man to complete a list of the roles and industries that he would like to influence which only meant that he would need to find the people that would fill those roles.
*Knock, Knock*
The young man was interrupted by knocking at the door. He turned to see Saeko who was now dressed in a low cut light purple top and grey jeans which hugged her legs tightly.
"How is the work coming along?" Saeko asked.
"I have made a list of certain roles where I would like the people we would like to recruit need to be aiming for in their ambition. Now we need to find the people I need." James told her.
"I suppose that is what will take the most time right?" the purple haired girl commented as she stepped closer to the young man.
"Like with finding employment, it takes time. We have to find the right people but I have high hopes." the young man replied.
Saeko raised her eyebrows at the response.
"How so?" she asked.
The young man chuckled at her curiosity.
"Well, we're in school aren't we? We have a whole host of people who are growing up who could be suitable if given a good 'push' so to speak." James pointed out.
"I suppose when you put it like that then you'll be spoilt for choice." Saeko responded with a hand on her hip.
"Not quite, it's a public school, remember so most of them will not make the mental grade to suit what we need." James told her as he grabbed the file from the desk.
"So what's the plan now?" the swordswoman asked.
"Tomorrow, we're going shopping for items to help with any planning we have to do. Always go with paper copies for things like this. Easy to dispose of." James spoke as he walked past her.
"You're talking like this could be dangerous." Saeko smirked as he made it to the door.
The young man turned to Saeko and chuckled at her words.
"In this line of work Saeko-san. Anything could be dangerous. That's why I'm tasked with it." James said with a smooth tone after which the young man left the room with Saeko still in it.
The young swordswoman processed the Englishman's words for a few seconds after he left the room. Soon after, a smile appeared on her face.
'That's just what I'm looking for.' Saeko thought to herself before following the young man into the hallway.
AN: A short one but for those that are wondering, there is a reason why the target hasn't been revealed yet and I believe it serves the story better once this 'Group gathering arc' is complete. Until then, the next few chapters will be going through who will be apart of the group that James wants to build.
Rate, follow, review. All of the good stuff.
Till next time.