Agents of HIME
Three: Sniper
The figure lay on a rooftop, covered in a tarp that mirrored the off gray surrounding her. The telescopic sight caught the light as they watched the meeting below.
They were gun runners. A briefcase full of money was handed over as the shipping container was opened. There were crates of guns inside, smuggled into the country. Unregistered they would be passed to organized crime figures, to be used in their activities.
They breathed in and out quietly, the rifle held steady in their hands. Breath slowed, heart beat steadied as they aimed, targeting the leader of the smugglers. In between beats of their heart, they pulled the trigger.
The criminals screamed in shock and horror as the man's chest simply exploded. There was a moment of stunned confusion as they looked around wildly for the shooter. They doomed the second target, as a bullet whizzed down from the sky and struck the leader of the criminals paying for the guns. The bullet took him right through the eye, then exploded out the back showering his compatriots with blood and brains.
The sniper on the roof ejected the bullet and sighted once again before they decided they had pushed their luck as far as they should. Calmly they abandoned the tarp, gun and mat they had been laying on. The gloves and bodysuit they wore would leave no trace evidence. They hurried to the stairwell, then headed downstairs.
The closet at the base of the stairs opened silently, as they had oiled the hinges earlier. They ducked inside, then changed...
The criminals (of course) didn't call the police, but someone stumbling across the bodies soon did. They arrived and investigated, and eventually found the sniper's nest on the nearby roof. No trace evidence was found, or any finger prints.
The police ultimately concluded they were dealing with a professional, and it was a targeted hit.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Nicely done, Nina," Shizuru congratulated the sniper warmly.
Nina Wong looked deeply embarrassed. "Thank you," she said.
"You had to abandon the gun, though?" Shizuru asked. "Those rifles are expensive."
Nina wasn't sure if the Headmistress was teasing or not, so she decided to take it seriously. "Sorry, ma'am, I had no way of hiding it on site without risking blowing my cover," she answered.
"True," Shizuru conceded. "Anyway, excellent work as always. Take a few days off... and I've made the usual arrangements if needed."
"Yes. ma'am," Nina beamed and hurried out.
A few moments later Haruka Suzushiro emerged from the next room. "it's hard to believe a girl in her twenties could be that deadly," Haruka noted.
"Says the woman who can punch through a wall when annoyed," Shizuru noted as Haruka sat down in the seat in front of the desk.
"Point," Haruka conceded. She puffed out a breath, "Thank you for handling this."
"You're welcome," Shizuru answered.
The gun runner was a high ranking, trusted member of one of Suzushiro's companies. Worse, he was a family friend. When confronted by his criminal activities, Haruka had found herself faced with difficult choices. Contacting the police would dishonour the company. Worse, it would splash onto her father, who had pushed for the man's promotion.
"Will the fallout be manageable?" Shizuru asked politely.
"We have all the 'I'm shocked, shocked I say' official statements ready," Haruka made a face. "At least we don't have to show we had prior knowledge of his activities and can keep the company's reputation intact."
"Fair enough," Shizuru agreed. "Do you still want us to investigate the smuggling network?"
"Certainly!" Haruka slapped the desk with her hand. "We both know the two scumbags are just the tip of the iceberg. Besides, I have a responsibility, even if I protected my company, to get to the bottom of this."
Shizuru nodded. "Do we need to maintain plausible deniability?" she asked.
"We're already off the books on this," Haruka said. "Keep me informed, but discretely."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Nina-chan!" the voice yelled.
"Oh hell," Nina started.
Thump! The red-head tackled Nina to the ground, hugging her fiercely. "You're back!" she beamed, nearly sitting in the other woman's lap.
"Arika, get off me!" Nina complained, but there wasn't much bite in her voice.
Arika hopped to her feet, then pulled Nina up, still smiling warmly. They had started working for HIME at around the same time, though in different careers. While Nina had become a sniper, Arika worked as a bodyguard, training under the impressive Mikoto Minagi.
"One of these days someone is going to shoot you," Nina grumped.
Arika just laughed.
Arika, Nina and Erstin Ho were roommates in an apartment in the nearby town. Well, officially a 'town' but it was more like an extension of Fuka. Most of the residents were either associated with the HIME, or provided services for them.
Arika smirked as she added, "Erstin is REALLY looking forward to you getting some time off."
Nina blushed bright pink.
Arika laughed again, "GOD you're cute when you're embarrassed."
"Oh shut up," Nina growled.
Nina was a naturally reserved sort of person. Erstin was a bit shy too. But almost as soon as they met there was an attraction, and Arika had decided to help her shy friend 'get' Nina. Which worked out pretty well, besides some comic mishaps like the 'waterpark incident' where Erstin lost her swimsuit...
Remembering that Arika asked, "Do you think they'll EVER let us back into Splashland?"
"No," Nina sighed.
"Was fun though," Arika mused impishly.
"Argh," Nina sighed.
"So should I make myself scarce tonight?" Arika teased. "I know Erstin gets frisky when you come back from missions..."
Nina blushed again, but answered, "If you don't mind."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"So what's my cover going to be?" Nao Yuuki asked, the redhead getting her before mission briefing from a senior agent.
Reito Kanzaki smiled slightly. "Secretary, sorry to say..." he noted.
Nao rolled her eyes, "Short skirt and vamping it up again?"
"Actually you'll be working with a senior agent," Reito said, shrugging.
"Huh," Nao started to say something as an attractive, slightly older woman came in, smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry," the tall, brown haired woman smiled sheepishly.
"Nao Yuuki, meet Rena Sayers," Reito introduced them.
"Please don't tell me you're hitting on this girl, Kanzaki," Rena added wryly.
"You know him, I take it?" Nao snarked.
"You wound me," Reito put a hand to his chest dramatically.
Rena just laughed.
"Your briefing papers, madam," Reito passed over the documents.
"Efficiency expert touring various facilities," Rena noted, "I can swing that." She read on, then gave Reito a look, "Sexy secretary distraction?"
Reito shrugged, "It's a standard tactic."
"I'm a EFFICIENCY EXPERT," Rena gave him a look. "I'm not going to have a secretary that's just eye candy." She looked over at Nao, "Any problems with a reasonable secretary outfit and not shaking your butt at old men?"
"I like you already," Nao deadpanned. She looked over at Reito, "So, we're visiting various Suzushiro businesses, posing as efficiency experts. At each business we'll plant Trojan horse commands in the computers."
"So our experts can figure out who was in on the smuggling and trace the money," Rena nodded. "Then I can 'find' the spyware, and the company loves me. Basically."
"That's the plan, yes," Reito agreed.
Rena shrugged, "Honestly, I think we're being a bit too clever with this, but we'll have to see. Can I request additional staff?"
Reito looked curious, "Oh?"
Rena tapped the documents, "We're going to be criss crossing Japan on this job. I at least want a dedicated driver, ideally evasion trained."
Before Reito could ask why Nao mused, "You think someone at Suzushiro might figure out we're on to them and come after us?"
"There could be a lot of money involved," Rena agreed, "and greed makes people stupid. Like trying to kill investigators."
"Point," Reito agreed. "Erstin Ho is currently trained up..."
To be continued...
Notes: YES I'm reviving this. Probably only one or two more chapters for the side story tho. Basically I wanted to write the sniper bit, then needed to figure out WHY the sniper bit happened. Heh.
