Disclaimer: Nope, still not earning a cent from this one.
Author's Notes: I changed the rating on this one to PG-13 for mild cursing. Since things are starting to happen, we're gonna get to see more of Ban's colorful vocabulary in the next chapters =)
"Ban-chan, what is the Silver Claw?", Ginji asked as soon as their clients Wataki Taese and Manoyu Ishido left the Honky Tonk cafe.
"The Silver Claw is not a WHAT, Ginji," Ban replied. "It's a WHO."
"Eh?"
The Get Backers' clients had left them with a map to the Mikazuki Munechika's reported location -- the mansion of a certain private collector named Karekawa. They had also left them a layout of the mansion, some papers containing various information that could help them in their mission, and of course, Ban's favorite -- a clean crisp check.
Ban ran his fingers along the amount written on the check that he was currently holding and smiled. Ah yes, five hundred thousand yen for not having done anything yet is not bad, he thought. Not bad at all.
"Ban-chan?"
"Huh?", Ban said, snapping back to reality.
"Who is the Silver Claw?"
"Well, he's the Dark Fleet's topmost agent", Ban said as he folded the precious check and put it into his shirt pocket. "When the organization needs a very important task done swiftly and correctly, they assign him. In short, he takes care of the high priority stuff."
Ginji thought about it for a moment, then asked, "What kind of stuff does he do?"
Ban answered, "Since Dark Fleet is primarily a smuggling organization, that's mostly what he does -- smuggling goods into different countries. But from what I've heard, he's also involved in spying, stealing, finding traitors in the group, and occassionally assasinating people."
Ginji's eyes widen when Ban said the word 'assasinating'.
"Actually, that's what he became known for", Paul interrupted. "He uses daggers that secrete some kind of muscle relaxant into the cut inflicted on the victim's flesh."
"Yeah", said Ban. "A chemical similar to Flexeril [1] which causes the victim to feel anything from drowsiness to paralysis."
Paul nodded. "But that's not what made him known", he added. "When he kills, he aims for the heart. They say he's so fast and his aim is so precise that the victims don't have time to give any kind of resistance. His crime scenes always leave no signs of struggle."
Ginji's brows furrowed. "He sounds like a very ...", he paused as he searched for the right word. "... ruthless killer." He shivered as he remembered another ruthless killer that uses a different kind of blade to carve the letter 'J' in his victim's bodies.
"I wouldn't exactly say that", Ban said slowly.
Paul and Ginji looked at him, puzzled.
"Well", Ban explained. "He aims for the heart. As soon as the chemical from his dagger comes in contact with it, it becomes numb. The victim doesn't feel anything until it stops beating. He dies a quick and painless death. If there's such a thing as elegance in murder ... " Ban shrugged. "... that must be it."
Ginji stared at Ban. Elegance in murder?, he thought. And thought some more. But he still couldn't associate the word 'elegance' with 'murder'.
Paul looked equally perplexed.
Ban chuckled at them, then said, "And that's not all. The head of Dark Fleet is a man codenamed 'Havoc'. They say that the Silver Claw works directly under him." Ban paused. "Wait, let me correct that. The Silver Claw works ONLY for him. Aside from Havoc, nobody knows who the Silver Claw is. Not even the other big bosses in Dark Fleet."
Ginji was silent, mulling over what Ban had just said. Finally he spoke. "I hope we don't run into him, Ban-chan."
"I hope so, too", Ban said. "This is gonna be a difficult job if we do."
One of the backdoors of a large mansion opened, and a girl dressed in a maid's uniform got out. She was wearing a knee-length black skirt, a black blouse, black stockings, black shoes, and a white apron. She was carrying a mop and a pail and was headed towards what looked like a storage room along the walls of the mansion.
Ban and Ginji were watching her with their night-vision goggles while she walked. They were up in one of the trees in the woods surrounding Karekawa's large mansion, having jumped over the back wall about two hours ago. They've been watching the movements in the house, waiting for the right time to strike.
During their two hours of observation, they confirmed the information given to them by their clients about the security of the place. They saw the rotating camera mounted near the backdoor, the guards and maids that come in and out of the said door, and the two roaming guards that would occasionally appear. If their information was correct, most people in the house would be asleep in just a little while, which is when they were planning to go in. Their plan was to take care of the control room first, where the mansion's security personnel are monitoring the cameras. This would give them more time to do their thing before getting noticed.
After about half an hour of almost no movement in the house, Ban decided that it was time. He nudged Ginji, who was sitting on the branch next to him and nodded. Ginji nodded back in understanding, then put the goggles inside his backpack. They jumped from the tree, landing silently on the grass.
When the camera turned to the side opposite where they were, Ginji ran toward it and leaped. He hung on the camera for a few seconds, sending volts of electricity until it short-circuited.
Breaking into the house was not difficult for the retrieval duo, since they had done it several times in the past. They reached the control room without incident. Five seconds later, they left the room with the two guards inside sleeping soundly.
According to their information, the sword should be in one of Karekawa's three display rooms on the second floor. One of the storage ooms in the house had doors leading to the display rooms. The next part of their plan was to get to the storage room, and search for the sword from there.
Ban navigated the long corridors, with Ginji frying two more security cameras along the way. But as focused as they were to get to their target, it was hard not to notice the sheer opulence of the place -- from the chandeliers, to the paintings on the wall, to the Victorian-style furniture, to the thick carpet on the floor (which was a good thing because it muffled the retrievers' footsteps).
When they reached the second floor, they found a long hallway exactly as their map had indicated. Wataki's informants are really good, Ban thought.
As they made their way carefully through the hallway, one of the doors opened and a guard walked out. Before he had a chance to react, Ban clamped his hand over the guard's mouth, and pressed the guard's medulla oblongata [2], which sent the guard to the floor.
A few doors away, they found the storage room. Ban slowly opened the door, and cautiously peered inside. His eyes widened, then he quickly stepped back, his back to the wall. Ginji gave him a questioning look.
"There's somebody in there", Ban whispered.
Ginji tensed up, small sparks of electricity visible on his body. Ban held his hand up and shook his head.
In reply to Ginji's confused look, he pointed to the door with his thumb and whispered again, "Check it out."
Curious as to who could possibly be 'in there', Ginji carefully peered into the room. What he saw made him gasp.
There was a maid inside, bound and gagged. She was sitting on the floor at the far side of the room with her knees up to her chest. Her head was leaning on the wall, and her eyes were closed.
With concern in his eyes, Ginji whispered, "Is she still alive?"
The maid seemed to have heard Ginji. She jerked her head with a gasp, startled.
"Yeah, she's still alive", Ban whispered back.
Ginji gave Ban a look that said 'duh', then stepped through the door. The maid watched him as he made his way to her, her eyes wide with fright. Ban followed from behind.
When Ginji got to her, he whispered, "Hey, don't be scared. We're not gonna hurt you."
"Mmmmnhh", she said, or rather, tried to say through the duct tape on her mouth.
She winced a little as Ginji carefully removed the duct tape. As soon as her mouth was free, he asked her, "What happened here?" He then reached behind her to untie the ropes around her wrists.
The maid hesitated. "I, uh ... ", she stammered. "I made a mistake, so Karekawa-sama ... punished me." She looked like she was in the brink of bursting into tears.
"What?!", Ginji said.
"Quiet, Ginji," Ban said as he frowned. Karekawa was a businessman known for his ruthlessness and sometimes less than legit affairs. It shouldn't be a shock to know how de dealt with what he perceived as incompetence. He knelt in front of the girl and began untying the ropes around her ankles.
"Who are you?", she asked, her eyes wide.
Ginji smiled at her. "We're the Get Backers", he said. "I'm Amano Ginji, and my partner here is Mido Ban. What's your name?"
She stared at Ginji for a while, then answered, "Iarra. My name's Iarra." She paused for a moment then said, "Umm ... Are you friends of Karekawa-sama?"
Ban replied, "No. We're here to retrieve a stolen sword that your master is in possession of."
"A sword?", she asked.
"Yep", Ginji answered with a grin. "It's called the Mizuki Machinka."
"You mean Mikazuki Munechika", Ban corrected.
"That's what I said."
"No, you said Mizuki Machinka."
"Same thing."
"No, it's not", Ban said, a little irritated. He was about to say something else when he stopped himself, and took a deep breath. "Never mind. Let's just go search the display rooms."
Ban stood up and offered a hand to Iarra, who looked like she didn't know what to make of the two men before her. But she let them help her stand up. She was about Himiko's height, with two long black pigtails trailing down in front of her shoulders. Ban guessed that she was probably eighteen years old.
He looked around and found the three doors leading to the display rooms. "We just have to pick a door."
"Ummm... Did you say you were looking for a sword?", Iarra asked.
Ban looked at her. "Yeah, why?"
"The swords are in that room", she said, pointing to one of the doors.
Ban and Ginji looked at each other. Finally, Ban shrugged. "I guess we should take that one", he said as he walked over to the door.
One of the roaming guards stared up at the smoke coming out of the camera by the back door of the mansion. He unhooked his communicator and spoke into it.
"Control, this is Akita. I think Camera 4 has short-circuited." He paused, waiting for a reply. When none came, he spoke again. "Control, is everything alright?"
The only sound coming from the communicator was static. The guard frowned. "Nimoto", he said.
"Hai", said a voice from the communicator.
"Go check out the control room. I think something's wrong."
Ginji fried the security camera at the display room. Iarra, who had followed the Get Backers as they went in, looked at him in amazement.
Ginji grinned at her. "I can generate electricity", he said.
"Wow. Really?", Iarra said, still in awe.
"Yep! Like an electric eel!"
"Ginji", Ban interrupted. "How about if we put off the getting-to-know-you hoopla AFTER we get the sword?"
"Sorry", Ginji answered. He took a look around. "Woooow. This Karekawa guy is REALLY rich."
The display room that they were in seemed to have an Asian theme. There were several rows of display cases. One row contained porcelain cups, vases, and plates from the Ming dynasty. Other rows contained golden Buddha statues as well as sculpted figures of Brahma [3].
"Heh", Ban said. "Don't be so impressed, Ginji. A lot of the stuff here are stolen."
"Eh?", Ginji sweatdropped. "How'd he get all these?"
"You don't wanna know how, Ginji. Trust me."
Iarra, who was following behind, pointed at one of the rows of display cases along one of the walls of the room. "That's the sword collection", she said.
The Get Backers looked at where she was pointing. Ginji smiled at her and said, "Thanks, Iarra-chan".
Iarra smiled back. She watched them as they made their way through the aisles between the display cases towards the wall to start looking for the Mikazuki Munechika.
"Ban-chan", Ginji said softly.
"Hmm?"
"If the things here are stolen, shouldn't we get them back?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Ban sighed. "First of all, we can't possibly carry all these stuff", he said. "And second of all, we didn't come here for them, Ginji. We were hired to get the Mikazuki Munechika and nothing else."
"Oh, right", Ginji said, a bit of sadness evident in his voice.
After a few moments of searching, Ban's heart almost stopped. There it is, he thought. "Ginji, get over here." As Ginji made his way over to him, he looked around the display case for any security device that might trigger an alarm. The moment he saw one, he pointed it to Ginji. "Go fry that one."
Ginji did as he was told. As soon as Ban was sure that it was safe, he plunged his hand into the glass case and picked up the sword.
Nimoto, the security guard, opened the door to the control room. He saw his two fellow guards unconscious on the floor and gasped.
He held up his communicator and said, "Akita, security's been breached."
With the sword in Ginji's backpack, Ban and Ginji walked quickly back the way they came from, with Iarra following closely behind. They passed the unconscious guard who was unfortunate enough to meet the Get Backers earlier. Just as they reached the end of the hallway, they froze.
Three guards were on their way up the stairs. The first guard spotted them and yelled, "Stop right there!"
The Get Backers didn't usually follow orders from guards, and this was no exception. They both charged at the guards, who soon became victims of 200 kilograms of pressure and 100,000 volts of electricity.
The ruckus attracted the attention of more guards downstairs. One of the guards fired at Ban. But Ban ducked just in time, letting the bullet hit the wall behind him.
"Run!", he yelled.
Iarra ran back into the hallway, with Ginji and Ban at her heels. The end of the hallway branches to the right, where she turned just as a bullet sailed over the Get Backers' heads.
Iarra opened one of the doors along the hallway and got in. The two retrieval agents followed her. As soon as Ban and Ginji are inside, she locked the door.
"Like THAT'S gonna help", Ban muttered.
The room they entered seemed to be one of the guest rooms. Ban ran to the big glass window and pulled the curtains. Ginji broke the glass and motioned for Iarra to follow them. Then the two retrievers quickly jumped out of the window.
Iarra ran to the window and looked down. She saw Ban and Ginji holding the curtain to be used as a makeshift trampoline. She hesitated.
"Jump, Iarra-chan!", Ginji said encouragingly. "We won't let you fall!"
She gasped as somebody shot at the door. Mustering up her courage, she took a deep breath and jumped down. Once she was down on the ground, the three of them began to run as quickly as they could towards the woods.
The guards were successful in opening the door. They burst in and ran to the broken window. When they saw the running trio on the ground, one of the guards fired a futile shot at them, while another held up his communicator and said, "They're heading straight to the woods. Don't let them get away."
In the woods, Ban, Ginji, and Iarra were still running when a group of guards appeared right in front of them, causing them to stop. The guards were holding semiautomatic rifles, which were currently being pointed at them.
Six guards, Ban thought. He smirked. Piece of cake. Without taking his eyes off the guards, he whispered to Iarra, "As soon as we make our move, go hide behind those trees."
Iarra nodded. Ban looked at his partner, who seemed to be waiting for his signal. He turned his attention back to the guards and whispered, "Now." He charged, aiming at the shoulder of the nearest guard, and yelled, "Snakebite!"
The unfortunate guard dropped his rifle and fell on his knees, clutching at his "bitten" shoulder. With a quick slap on the head courtesy of Ban, he fell facedown on the ground.
Ginji had deflected the bullets flying towards him with his electromagnetic field. He ran to his attackers, grabbed two of the rifles, and sent volts of electricity. When the two guards fell at his feet, he turned to fry another one.
Ban grabbed the face of another guard and hurled him towards one of the trees. As he watched the human projectile, he noticed the farthest guard aiming at Iarra, as she was running towards the trees. He cursed.
The guard fired. It was a clean shot to the head. To Ban's amazement, Iarra quickly ducked, causing the bullet to miss. Ban charged towards the guard and knocked him down.
After making sure that all guards have been taken care of, he walked over to Iarra. "You okay?", he asked.
She seemed shaken, but she nodded her head.
"Well, we better go", he said. "There might be more guards in this area."
After a few minutes of running, they finally reached the back wall. Ban leaped and landed on top of the wall. While Iarra was looking up at him in awe, Ginji took her in his arms and carried her as he leaped after Ban. Then the retrieval duo jumped down to the other side of the wall.
They continued running towards the direction where the Ladybug was parked, with Ban and Ginji in the lead, and Iarra behind them. Once they were sure that they had lost their pursuers, they slowed down and tried to catch their breaths.
Ginji grinned, "We got the Mizuki Machinka back!"
Ban, too happy to correct him, said, "Yep, that's right! Two million yen, here we come!"
"Yey! Two million yen! Ban-chan, I want a sushi platter!"
"Let's both have one!"
"And some steak!"
"Yeah! Steak! I haven't eaten one in a long time."
While the retrieval agents were busy discussing what they wanted to with their two million yen, something suddenly hit their legs that caused them to drop to their knees.
"What the...??!", Ban said. The world was starting to spin. He looked down and saw a dagger sticking out of his right leg. "Damn" was his last thought before he fell facedown on the ground.
Ginji gasped when he saw his partner fall. He saw the dagger in his leg, pulled it out, and threw it on the ground. He tried to get up, but his body isn't responding. Oh no, he thought. Then he suddenly remembered the girl who was with them.
"Iarra-chan?", he called out. He looked around, but she was nowhere to be found. Somebody must have grabbed her, he thought as his vision blurred. "We're sorry, Iarra-chan", he said before everything turned black.
Notes: Thanks to Wah-Keetcha, limelie, and bffimagine. I really appreciate your feedback =) Hope you liked this one!
[1] Flexeril, or cyclobenzaprine, is used to relieve muscle spasm. Overdosage of this can result in drowsiness, agitation, slurred speech, nausea, cardiac arrest, and a lot of other nasty stuff.
[2] According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the medulla oblongata is "the part of the vertebrate brain that is continuous posteriorly with the spinal cord and that contains the centers controlling involuntary vital functions." Nope, I'm not an anatomy expert. It was mentioned in the GB manga, and I just thought to look it up. Who says you can't learn anything from reading mangas? =)
[3] Brahma is considered as the creator in Hinduism.