From: "David A. Tatum" desaix@anifics.com
To: "David A. Tatum" desaix@anifics.com
Subject: Fw: [MPPatlaborML] [fanfic] Patlabor: Personal Files, Episode 21
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2003 1:44 PM
My Apologies for the delay. I'd intended to take just 3 months off back
last year (2002) for the summer to work on something original. At the
end of that period, however, my father passed away and my family and I
had to move suddenly. We're only JUST starting to get settled down, and
I'm still having some problems (including one with the router connected
to my new cablemodem -- the hardwired firewall is preventing me from
updating my homepage at the moment, so I haven't been able to fix my
e-mail or update my web page in ages)
If anyone who does anything related to fanfiction (runs a major
archive\review site, writes it, etc.) and will be attending AnimeUSA
(Nov. 21-23 2003 in N. Virginia (Tyson's Corner, technically -- about
20 minutes from my new home)), please let me know. I'm moderating
the fanfic panel there, and I'm VERY desperate for panelists -- I've
only got two tentatives, and I'd like to have 4 panelists and 4
alternates.
If I can't get at least two more panelists, I'll have to cancel the
panel...
which'd be a shame, because while I've been a panelist myself several
times, this is the first time I've moderated one.
Contact me, if interested, at my (relatively) new e-mail of
desaix@anifics.com
Well, anyway, on to the (much delayed) fic.
Enjoy!
Patlabor: Personal Files
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 21: An Old Friend Returns
April 13, 2000
Asuma sighed. "I'm not sure 'slumber party in the labor' is quite what
I had in mind when I suggested this," he muttered as he snuck into the
kitchen after-hours. He had a mission -- to find the appropriate snacks
and drinks for his and Noa's plan to spend the night in Alphonse. His
only problem with the plan was that they would be staying up most of the
night 'chatting,' before they'd finally be able to go to sleep... and
that they had an unexpected visitor to this night.
He had the idea that Noa initially wanted the same sort of evening he
had planned- a little necking followed by a midnight snack and then...
well, since they didn't really need to stay awake for this plan to work,
a long night's sleep. Cuddled together... but fully clothed, in case
something did actually happen.
Instead, they'd have to entertain a visitor. Natsume Kawai had
overheard them talking about their plans, and had asked if she could
come. Not wanting to reveal that the planned watch was doubling as a
make-out session for the two of them, Noa and Asuma agreed to let her
come. Natsume had also invited both Shige and Joudo, while Noa (who
figured the whole seduction scheme she had planned was now blown)
invited Hiromi. They'd both decided, after their scheme looked more and
more party-like, to invite Takeo along as well, but she wasn't able to
show. She was planning to head downtown to headquarters in the early
morning to take care of some paperwork, and so couldn't afford the loss
of sleep time.
And since it was their idea, he and Noa would have to get the
entertainment and the food. "It's like something out of high school,"
Asuma continued grumbling to himself. "Or even junior high. Perhaps a
little more adult, though, considering Noa's grabbing some booze."
There'd been some debate as to which of them should go. Asuma was
better able to keep out of trouble if he got caught by his superiors
making the hour-long drive down to the liquor store, but Noa- being the
daughter of a liquor store owner, herself- was better at selecting it.
Asuma hadn't been aware of this particular trait of hers until they'd
started their informal dating, way back before he even realized
consciously he was attracted to her. After all, he wasn't exactly naive
when it came to alchohol himself, and so he'd never gotten into an
argument over beer or wine, before, until he'd taken her out to dinner
one night... and discovered just how picky she was about it. She could
drink him under the table, much to his surprise, and her level of
knowledge on drinks was almost as complete as his was on labors.
She'd been given a budget, so she likely wouldn't get anything too
outlandish, and she knew that she had to get drinks for six. He
doubted, though, she'd go for sake or beer. Especially since they'd
learned that Natsume hated beer.
They couldn't get the appropriate foodstuffs for their party at a liquor
store like the one she was going to, however, so it had been his job to
find something. Considering how poorly stocked the SV2's pantry's
usually were, this would be something of a challenge.
Opening up the refridgerator, he blinked. There was almost nothing in
there except a moldy piece of cheese and an open (and likely flat)
bottle of soda. Things weren't usually that low. Then again, they had
been unable to 'supplement' their diet for some time. The mechanics had
been much too busy to go fishing, the last batch of tomatos Hiromi
picked had long since rotted from age, and (perhaps worst of all) no-one
had been able to go down to the convenience mart since... well, since
before they had left for the Academy. Oddly, only Gotoh's division and
the mechanics ever really bothered to keep things stocked in
headquarters.
Unknown to those in said division, the remaining members of the SV2 were
slowly learning the truth of the warning Asuma always gave new members.
Daily life was, indeed, a struggle for survival -- and so perhaps the
mechanics obsession with fishing and the peculiarities of some members
of division 2, such as Hiromi's tomato gardens and chicken farms,
weren't quite the eccentricities most outside observers believed them to
be.
Regardless, that left Asuma with the problem of securing food in a
food-scarce environment. To the best of Asuma's knowledge, however, the
only place he could possibly find food outside of the kitchen (which
further investigation showed was bare save for the standard rice
dispensers... and even they were starting to run low) was the officers
lounge. A place only Gotoh, Shinobu, Gomioka, and Chief Fukushima were
technically allowed to enter.
'Well,' he thought casually. 'Doesn't seem as if I've got much choice,
now, does it? I'll need a lookout, though....'
"Asuma!" Noa's rather loud whisper exclaimed. He spun around, smiling
to see her there holding a couple of bags.
"Noa! How'd you get back here so quickly?"
She shook her head. "Haven't left yet. Your car won't start!"
Asuma nodded once in thought. Something had been acting funny in his
car ever since he'd come back from his birthday 'celebration,' so this
hadn't come as any great shock. Still, it was a problem. "Can you fix
it?"
She shook her head. "Not until we get a replacement part. The
serpentine belt broke. It's in too bad a shape to even make temporary
repairs, I'm afraid. I doubt even Shige or Sakaki could do anything for
it."
Asuma sighed. "Well, we'll worry about that later. The kitchen's got
nothing in it -- we're going to have to raid the officer's lounge."
Noa gaped. "Asuma, you know that's just about the only thing you can do
to get Gotoh mad at us for throwing this little sleepover, right?"
"I know," Asuma sighed. "But it's that or we deal with just plain
boiled rice. We couldn't even season the rice, either -- we're out of
salt, vinegar, sugar, sesame seeds, and all of our usual spices."
Noa pouted in thought. "Actually, I think I know where there's another
stash of food. The engineers won't take too kindly if they find out
we've taken it, though...."
"Where?" Asuma asked.
"Records room. It's actually one of their porno stashes -- a bunch of
porn tapes, popcorn, and beer. It's not much, but then again we don't
really need much, do we?" Noa asked.
Asuma had wanted a little more than that, but he was somewhat desperate.
"Well, beggars can't be choosers. It might solve both our problems --
we can take the beer while we're at it. I'll leave a note promising to
buy new stuff for them when we can -- hopefully, they'll understand.
Now, lead the way."
Noa sighed and started leading him to the engineers' stash of food.
This was bound to get the in trouble with them again, and maybe spark
another spate of sabatoge towards Asuma... and she'd likely get caught
in the crossfire this time. Why did she always listen to Asuma, anyway?
Oh, right -- she loved him. Well, maybe she was a bit on the submissive
side, too. She'd have to think about that later.
Just as they got to the door, a soft crash resonated from inside the
room.
Noa paled. "Somebody's in there," she whispered. "We'll have to come
back later!"
Asuma frowned. "That's odd. It's after curfew -- the mechanics should
all be in bed by now. I know that Shige's more relaxed than Chief
Sakaki used to be, but I thought curfew was the one thing he was pretty
strict about. Something he said about not wanting people to be asleep
on the job...."
Noa nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I remember that. But someone's obviously
in there, so we have to leave and come up with some other way to get the
snacks."
"But who is it who's in there? I mean, even if they did decide to break
curfew, I can't imagine one of the mechanics staying up just to take
care of some paperwork...."
"They could be after the same stuff we are," Noa suggested. "Or it
might not even be a mechanic. Captain Gomioka could be filing some
papers or something."
"True," Asuma admitted. "But I find it highly unlikely. With the
increasing rise in labor crimes these past few weeks, even Captain Gotoh
is refusing to leave his desk for fear of a call coming in, so all three
of them are avoiding their paperwork." He paused. "I wonder if
headquarters is going to look at all of this and consider adding that
fourth unit they were talking about a while back. Labor crime is rising
faster than we can deal with it, it seems."
"But it still could be a mechanic getting at the stash before us," Noa
reminded him.
"Maybe. But I have a funny feeling about this. Come on, let's
investigate and see who it is!" Asuma suggested.
"But... oh, never mind. You'll convince me to look no matter what I
say, just like you always do, won't you?" Noa sighed, exasperated.
Asuma smirked at her. "Of course. When was the last time I steered us
wrong, anyway?"
"Well, there was the time you said-"
"Shut up and help me look into this," Asuma growled, obviously
pretending to be annoyed. Noa smirked -- she loved it those few times
he let her 'win' a teasing session like this.
"Yes, dear," she said, kissing him on the cheek before getting serious,
and quietly getting into position at the records room doorway. After
all this time with him, a lot of it sneaking around, she knew just what
he wanted her to do to 'investigate' whoever this supposed intruder was.
She watched as Asuma carefully slid the door open, trying to keep it as
quiet as possible so as to not disturb whoever was behind it. When the
opening was wide enough, Noa slipped in. Asuma tagged along a few
seconds later.
They didn't immediately find anyone. At first, they wondered if maybe
they'd been mistaken -- it certainly didn't appear as if anyone was
here. Then, they heard the noise again -- papers rustling somewhere in
the vicinity of the personnel files....
Using hand signals, Asuma directed Noa to mirror him as they flanked the
desks, and raised his hand. Counting down on his fingers from three...
to two... to one....
They leaped. Noa got their first, tackling the intruder -- who, from
their clothes, was obviously not a police employee -- and grabbing her
in a wristlock. 'Hmm... those hand-to-hand spars Ohta helped me with
when Asuma was hurt last year have really helped,' she thought.
"All right, there!" Asuma snapped authoritatively. It was his best
'cop' voice, and Noa recognized it as the one he used to give orders
which were to be obeyed without question. "Tell us who you are and why
you're here!"
The person slowly raised their head. "Eh, heh. Hello," they said,
wincing slightly.
"Momoko!?" Noa and Asuma chorused.
* * * * *
Sitting around the foot of Alphonse, sipping from a distastefully warm
beer and munching on stale potato chips, Noa, Asuma, Natsumi, Shige,
Hiromi, and Joudo surrounded Momoko Sakurayama, the star reporter on a
variety of news programs who's fate had entertwined with the SV2 on
occasion. The would-be romantic rendezvous-turned party had instead
become an impromptu interrigation. At that point, the Unit 2 officers
were trying to determine whether or not Momoko deserved to be turned in
or not.
"Well, your head office wouldn't even give me a press packet on the new
team members!" Momoko was explaining. "I've been trying for months to
gather information about the new unit, but I haven't been able to get
anything on the new people. I was getting desperate!"
Joudo blinked. "We aren't really THAT interesting, are we? I mean,
we're just police officers. What's so special about that?"
"But you're in SV2!" Momoko exclaimed. "SV2! That alone is newsworthy.
And ever since the new additions, SV2 has appeared to smooth out most of
the rough edges which gave it such a bad reputation. You're still the
police unit with the most collatoral damage in the world, but at least
it's down to a reasonable level, now. We in the press want to know
why!"
"Well, part of it is that we get enough sleep, now," Asuma muttered out
of the side of his mouth.
Momoko caught it, however, and immediately whipped out a notepad and
scribbled it down. "Get... enough... sle- hey!"
"I don't think Asuma would appreciate being assessed that quote," Joudo
said, holding the paper he'd just snatched away from her.
"Oh, let her have it," Asuma sighed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Momoko's one of the few reporters who actually treats us halfway
decently, and she's actually helped us out once or twice. She won't use
my name, if I'm not mistaken, and maybe it'll help the boys at HQ
realize that they need to give us more vacation time."
Uncertainly, Joudo handed the pad of paper back to the reporter, who
grasped it like a golden treasure and glared at the offending policeman.
Quickly finishing her note, she turned back to Asuma.
"Thank you," she said, smiling winningly. "Is there anything else you
can think of for your improved performance?"
"Well, we've always done the job well," Asuma noted. "The collatoral
damage was mostly inevitable, when you consider the kinds of assignments
we've been given. And civilian casualties, as you know, are almost
always negligible."
Momoko frowned. "That's not what the stats say. New York, Osaka,
Kanazawa, Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Moscow, and Berlin
have all had active patlabor forces for more than two years, and dozens
more cities have built up some as well. Yet this particular section of
Patlabors has always had the most collatoral damage. Are you saying
those others haven't had the same problems you have?"
"Well, there was the Phantom, and the Griffin, and the war that Kai
started, and the whole HOS scare with the Ark, and probably a few other
things which seem to have happened uniquely to us. And the patlabor
forces in Berlin, New York, and Moscow are all much larger than ours is
and so they have an easier time answering calls."
"Still," Momoko argued, "That damage isn't what most of the complaints
are about. Usually, the complaints were about something more mundane --
like breaking up a fight between a couple of drunk labor operators or
the like. Every other city with patlabors has the same problems, but
rarely is as much damage dealt as it is when your unit in particular is
involved. Or at least, that was the case before the new unit was
added."
"Still, the third unit is old news," Asuma noted. "Just how long have
you been trying to get info on them?"
Momoko blushed. "Er, well...."
Noa got a little worried. Had this reporter discovered her and Asuma?
They'd assumed they were safe, since most of the people in SV2 had no
interest in ruining their careers by blabbing out about their
relationship, but a reporter might find it quite interesting. Not
giving her a chance to answer Asuma's question, she added one of her
own. "Um, just how much have you seen, anyway?"
"Well, a few juicy bits," Momoko admitted reluctantly. "A few people
I've identified have some rather interesting backgrounds. Like, say,
that Yamane Seiroku kid? Well, that's not his real name -- or, well, it
is, but it didn't used to be. He was born Yamane Gohojo -- the brother
of Seiji Gohojo. Who, as you may or may not know, was the Beach House
terrorist who murdered Captain Gotoh's wife."
Asuma and Noa simultaneously spit out their beer, covering Momoko,
Hiromi, Shige, and Joudo. Natsume was covered from the spew by the
bodies of Shige and Joudo, who seemed to be especially soaked in it.
Everyone turned to glare at the couple, but their dumbfounded expression
seemed to be all that was needed to show it was unintentional.
Once his mouth started working again, Asuma exclaimed, "He was
MARRIED?!"
Momoko blinked. "Um, yes, didn't you know? It was his investigation of
his wife's death that lead to the police purchasing the first patlabors.
I would've thought you knew that."
Asuma shook his head. "No. Not a clue."
"I knew that it was Captain Gotoh who first lobbied for the creation of
a special patlabor division," Noa added, "But I didn't know about him
ever being married. He... doesn't seem the type."
"And why not?" Gotoh asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere to
intervene in the group. "There's a certain woman I know, now, who I'd
marry in a heartbeat if she'd have me." There was no need to explain,
as everyone, even Momoko, knew who he was talking about. "So, do we
routinely have parties and invite member's of the press along?"
"We caught her snooping around the records room," Asuma explained, using
his formal voice. "And we've been questioning her since."
"I see," Gotoh's voice rumbled. "And just how long has she been
snooping, anyway?"
"Er... off and on since Unit 3 was formed?" Momoko admitted hesitantly.
Gotoh grinned. "Oh! So then it was you who's been going through all my
papers for the past several months. I knew we had a spy -- I'm just
glad to know it wasn't anyone with malicious intent. Well, no more
malicious intent than anyone in the press has towards the SV2."
"Hey! I treat you guys fairly!" Momoko protested. "I tell people of
your successes just as much as I tell them of your faults! Well...
okay, there's that Ohta guy who I occassionally give bad press. But
only after he attacked me when I was trying to cover that first major
battle with the Griffin!"
Noa shuddered at the reminder of perhaps the worst period of her life.
She'd almost lost everything to the Griffin -- Asuma, Alphonse, and
possibly even her own health. It took months for her to mentally
recover from it, and really it took her final defeat of the thing months
later for her to get over it. "Trust me," she said. "It was for the
best that he escorted you out of there. It wasn't a very pleasant place
to be. That thing nearly made me lose everything I value in life, and I
wouldn't be surprised if it would have done the same to you if you'd
stayed there."
Momoko looked at Noa blankly. "Huh? What would it have done to me?
After all, who attacks the press?"
Asuma cleared his throat. "Do I have to remind you of the time Noa had
to rescue you from --"
"Yes, yes, but that was a special case," Momoko sighed, waving her hands
dismissively. "Most of the time, no-one attacks the press."
"So," Joudo said, not following much of the conversation and trying to
get it onto something he could join in on. "What are we going to do
with her, anyway? I mean, what she's been doing is a bit illegal, you
know...."
Momoko blinked. "Hey, I'm the press! I have the right to be here!"
"Er, no you don't," Asuma noted. "This is government property, after
all, and there are classified documents here. Restricted access areas
and all that, so you're only allowed here if invited."
"But... I'm the press!"
"Forget it," Gotoh sighed. "Don't worry about it. Ms. Sakurayuama, I
think it would be best if you left. I'm not going to bother asking you
not to report anything you've already found out, but if we catch you
again I think we'll have no choice but to arrest you."
Everyone was a little startled by Gotoh's pronouncement -- Joudo because
he hadn't expected Gotoh to take it so easy on the reporter, Hiromi,
Noa, and Asuma because he was speaking so harshly to her, Natsume
because she hadn't expected anything to happen at all, and Momoko
because she hadn't even considered the chance that she could be
arrested.
"Uh, okay," Momoko meekly agreed. "I guess I'll leave now."
Gotoh nodded. "I'll escort you out," he said, grabbing her arm as they
moved away.
Noa frowned, leaning into Asuma. "You think there's something wrong
with the captain? He's not acting like he does normally."
Asuma pursed his lips in thought. "I dunno," he whispered back. "Maybe
the fact that his late wife was mentioned has something to do with it.
I know I get that way, sometimes, when someone mentions my brother...."
"Still, he didn't seem upset by that. At least, not at first," Noa
noted.
"True," Asuma agreed. "I have a sneaking suspicion...."
"So, what are you two whispering about?" Natsume cut in, giggling
loudly. "Anything fun?"
"Er, no," Asuma said. "Just... stuff. So, who's up for another beer?"
With that, the party atmosphere returned, and they all spent the night
talking about silly things. Asuma was glad when Hiromi finally became
the last one other than himself to nod off at around 4 in the morning.
While it might not be safe for much with everyone else asleep, he was
able to give Noa the customary good-night kiss they'd been giving each
other since coming back from the engineers convention all the way back
in January. Admittedly, like tonight, he hadn't always been able to
give it to her when she was awake to enjoy it, but he nevertheless had
to do it for his own peace of mind.
Knowing he was going soft towards the girl he loved, and not caring, he
gave her that kiss before heading off to sleep -- able to wrap her in
his arms as they slept, since everyone was more or less wrapped together
in the confined space they chose to have their party. After all,
Natsume, Joudo, Shige, and Hiromi were all tangled together, too, and
surely no-one would suggest anything about the three of them!
It was the best nights sleep both he and Noa had ever had. Even if it
didn't last nearly long enough.
* * * * *
April 14
Takeo stepped off of the bus, and started heading towards the central
headquarters building for the police department in Tokyo. To her, it
had been a relatively uneventful commute, starting with a dull ride to
the nearest bus station via taxi. For some reason, she seemed to be the
only person in all of Tokyo who could get a taxi to show up at the
Patlabor facility on the reclaimed lands, but she never realized quite
how unusual it was until she saw Momoko standing on the street corner at
the exit, complaining that she'd been waiting for her own ride for over
nine hours. Apparently, she'd called every taxi company in the phone
book, but not one of them would come down to the SV2 headquarters
regardless of how much money she'd offered them. She'd called one of
her co-workers to pick her up, but upon seeing Takeo pick up a taxi of
her own so easily the reporter complained loudly about an expose she'd
be doing on the lousy service of the taxi cab companies as soon as she
got back to her office.
Takeo had not been surprised to see Momoko, considering she'd heard all
about her capture in the records room during breakfast, but was
surprised when she'd offered to share her taxi at least as far as the
nearest bus station. However, it appeared the reporter didn't want to
'stand up' the man who'd already been dispatched to pick her up, and
Takeo could understand that.
Takeo mused on the situation back at SV2. Apparently, things had gotten
out-of-hand in the past few weeks. Gomioka was going crazy and taking
everyone he could with him, the mechanics were worked nearly to death
trying to deal with tiny bits and pieces of sabatoge, and labor crime
had increased almost a hundredfold in the past three weeks -- what
normally was just one crime every week or so had turned into multiple
major incidents on a daily basis.
And her unit was nowhere to be found in that period. Or, more
precisely, her unit was in Fuji working with the Academy and unavailable
to help. That said, interesting developments were happening there as
well. She'd let herself be goaded by the American woman again, dammit,
and it lead to her starting to develop an affinity for teaching. Maybe
she'd apply for the Academy... sometime after the next academic year,
however. Maybe she'd try and aim to succeed Kanuka, assuming there was
an adequate replacement for herself in the upcoming students. It would
give her a chance to work one-on-one with Captain Gotoh's niece, who
she'd found to be a rather brilliant young woman. By the time she
finished her training in three years, she'd probably be the most
heavily-sought after rookie patlabor officer in Japan... and she had a
funny feeling she knew who would get her.
Furthermore, Unit 2 was also disrupted by what seemed to be a growing
tension between it's two brightest stars -- Asuma and Noa. It wasn't
that they were growing apart, or showing visible signs of having had any
recent fights or anything. Rather, it appeared as though they were
having a rather difficult time maintaining the cover which gave their
relationship plausible deniability. Takeo was slightly worried for
them -- she'd done a personnel records update, recently, and had found
in her background investigation something which could be awfully
damaging if it were known to the public. Apparently, a dowry had been
arranged between the Izumi's and the Shinohara's. Takeo hadn't been
aware the relationship had reached that point, but she wondered with
this new piece of information just how long the couple were planning to
stay in the force. Her guess was, within a couple of years or so --
likely whenever it was Alphonse was finally declared obsolete by the
police hierarchy and retired from active duty -- they would both resign,
get married, and take over the reins in Shinohara Heavy Industries...
given that they'd own it when they got married. Takeo hadn't wanted to
hasten that departure, however, and so quickly did what she could to
cover their tracks. If someone knew to look for it, they'd probably
still find the same evidence she'd found, but it was unlikely someone
would be able to see the same documents she had anymore unless they were
specifically looking to see what communications were being made between
their parents -- which would not be something a routine background check
would likely do.
However, there was even yet another bit of drama slowly developing in
her unit, and Takeo wasn't sure what to make of it. Asuma and Noa were
practically joined at the hip, Hiromi always seemed to her to be either
attached or interested in someone -- who, she hadn't discovered, yet --
and Gotoh had that blatantly obvious not-quite-one-sided thing for
Shinobu, but the members of her own team were safely unattached. For
the moment. However, it looked like something interesting was starting
to develop between Natsume Kawai and Joudo Ishikawai... and the new head
of the mechanics unit, Shige. At any rate, the romantic triangle --
which Takeo had thought she'd seen evidence of earlier but couldn't be
certain -- appeared to be taking on a new twist. Recently, instead of
being completely oblivious to everyones attention like she had been
since joining their unit, Natsume seemed to be taking a notice in her
two suitors as well. No-one could possibly know but Natsume, herself,
but her actions seemed to indicate that she was gradually becoming aware
of things. For example, when she'd demanded that both Shige and Joudo
dance with her at Chief Sakaki's retirement 'party,' she had rejected
all the other potential dance partners.
Much more blatant, however, was she scene she witnessed when she came
down the steps that morning to see the sight of several sleeping
officers at the foot of Alphonse. Noa and Asuma were cuddled up in such
a cute way it was almost sickening, but nevertheless they could still
maintain their 'plausible deniability' thanks to the other members of
the party.
From the wrinkles in the sheets, Takeo could tell that Hiromi, Shige,
Joudo, and Natsume had all been bundling up together when they went to
sleep that night. Somehow, Hiromi had detached himself from the bunch,
and maneuvered his way into a little ball on his own. Natsume, however,
had somehow managed to grab each of her two suitors and maneuver them so
that each was resting their head on her chest. It was a rather
compromising position -- or would have been, had it not been so obvious
that none of them had started out sleeping that way.
Regardless, it appeared obvious now that everyone in Special Vehicles,
Section two, unit two, had a romance going on. Everyone except for
Takeo, that was. She seemed to be the lone fish out, free from any
romantic entanglements at all. What a bitter pill to swallow that was.
She hadn't made a serious consideration towards a romantic partner since
Hong Kong and...
Takeo was startled out of her thoughts, however, by a high-speed
collision with another pedestrian. She stumbled back, reassembled her
thoughts, and looked up to apologize.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I- YOU!" She exclaimed.
Looking stunned himself, Richard Wong, Takeo's one-time lover and the
mastermind behind several major labor crimes over the years, could
barely articulate anything, either.
"YOU!" Wong echoed himself, unable to believe his eyes either.
It was a standoff for a few seconds as both couldn't help but stare at
each other in disbelief. Who would have guessed that they would run
into each other on the streets of Tokyo like this? Neither was quite
sure what to do.
Richard finally relaxed somewhat, and smiled at her. "Well, this is a
pleasure, I must say. What are you doing here in town, anyway?"
That broke Takeo from her trance, as well. Reaching into the rear
pocket of her uniform, she pronounced, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to
place you under arrest immediately, Richard. I can't afford to slip up
this time, so we can't talk."
Wong's smile remained on his face, however. "Come on, now -- we both
know that I'll escape if you try. I don't have anything to do today
which cannot be postponed -- surely you have a moment as well. What do
you say we go have a brunch or something at a local cafe? I haven't
eaten, yet, today, and I'm starving."
Takeo's eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to pull, here? I'm trying
to arrest you, dammit!"
He sighed. "Do you want me to explain exactly how I can escape you, no
matter what you try, or will you just agree to sit down and talk. It's
been ages, and the last time we met was a rather... distracting time.
I'd love a chance to try and catch up -- I mean, I bet you don't even
know that I'm not working for Shaft any more!"
That brought Takeo up short. Thinking about it, she realized that he
was right -- there probably wasn't a reasonable way to arrest him
unsupported and on her own like this. He was a master of disguise, a
much more athletic man then his appearance implied, and a brilliant
escape artist. She was athletic and fairly skilled in a number of
areas, as well, but in a public place like a crowded sidewalk, it was
unlikely those skills would help her to capture him on her own.
Besides, she still loved him, despite knowing what he had done. And she
was legitimately interested in what he had to say. Her paperwork could
wait. She just wanted to renew a license, and she had more than a month
to do it in, anyway. She might even manage to deal with it after their
talk.
"Okay," Takeo finally said.
"Okay?" Wong replied, clearly not expecting that answer. "You mean, you
will?"
She nodded. "Yes. I'd love to hear all about what happened between you
and Shaft. I knew you weren't exactly in favor with the management, but
I always heard that you were too valuable for them to fire. And I know
you couldn't just leave them... or if you could, then you abandoned me
in Hong Kong for no reason."
"No, it was kind of a... mutual agreement that we go our seperate ways,"
Wong explained, taking her arm and guiding her down the road. "I hated
them and wanted to leave. They hated me and wanted to live. When I
managed to threaten them with their deaths if they refused to let me go,
I got my release."
Takeo sighed. Why wasn't she surprised? "I see. Shame you couldn't
manage that a few years ago, when it might have mattered to me."
Wong nodded. "I agree. That was perhaps my biggest regret out of all
the things I've done for Shaft." He paused. "I doubt I'll ever be able
to clear my name enough so that I can risk trying to make it up to you.
You'd pretty much have to arrest me before we could reconcile, right?"
"Well, if you did something to get yourself a full pardon, I might
consider trying things again." Takeo paused, smiling bitterly. "I've
been so lonely without you. But I don't think I can deal with you, now.
It's too painful... even this conversation we're having now is
bittersweet."
They entered a small coffee shop and took their seats. Richard placed
an order for both of them, remembering Takeo's preferences much to her
surprise, before he responded.
"Well, my new employer is trying to see if he can do something to clear
my record," Richard noted abruptly. "He's a good man. I believe your
Captain Gotoh knows him -- in fact, I think he is, or at least was, on
my boss's payroll."
"Oh, really? Who is he -- I might know him," Takeo said, surprised.
People powerful enough to pardon the man behind the Griffin and who knew
Captain Gotoh didn't number all that many, as far as she knew.
"His name wouldn't mean anything to you," Richard said, waving her
question off. "Suffice it to say, he was someone who needed a security
officer who understood labors and labor development as well, and I was
perfect for the job. He's working on a plan which should wipe out my
criminal record, too, so I'm extremely grateful to him."
Takeo half-smiled. "I've seen your record -- he'd pretty much have to
be the prime minister to do that. Then again, even he might have
trouble -- if we were in the days of the Shoguns, then maybe one of them
might have enough power, but...."
"Well, he seems to think he can do it," Wong said.
"If he does," Takeo said slowly, "And if you're sincere about staying
within the law, call me. I... I loved you, you know. I might be able
to again, some day."
Richard froze, then nodded slowly. "I will. You know, I lo-"
Takeo immediately stood up, not allowing him the time to finish his
sentence, and checked her watch hand -- cursing herself for not
remembering her watch today. "Oh, my -- I'm going to be late. I've got
to go, bye!" Without even glancing at him, she retreated... before he
said something that would really hurt.
Wong watched her go with a sigh. "Well," he muttered to himself. "That
was interesting. But I've got a job to do."
He started to get up when his cell phone rang. Smiling in surprise, he
pulled it out. "Utsumi," he answered it.
The other end of the phone said something which made him smile. "Ah,
good, so our young friend is here. Well, tell Bud that level four is
coming soon. Now, don't call me again -- I've got a meeting with our
little spy, and I'm already late."
He stepped off into the bathroom of the little cafe. He reached the
third stall door and knocked on it in a particular sequence.
"Good," a muffled voice, disguising its owner, said from the other side.
"You're finally here. I was about to leave."
"It wouldn't have been a good idea," Wong noted. "Takeo Kumagami was
out in the cafe, eating breakfast. You would have been seen."
"Doesn't matter at this point," the voice on the other side said. "I'm
pretty sure this'll be my last report -- I doubt I'll be able to get
into the records again before the game starts."
"Well, let me have it," Wong said impatiently. "I haven't got all day,
and the bathroom is not my favorite place to loiter."
"Here," the voice said as a small packet slid under the stall.
"There're some records, a copy of the personal journal of Captain Gotoh,
and a copy of an Ingram movement disk. Not Ms. Izumi's,
unfortunately -- she's guarding her labor too heavily."
Wong grinned. "Thank you. That'll just have to do. Phase one begins
on May Day. You should hold off on your part of this until the third,
however. Good luck, and when we see each other again... well, let's
just say we'll be well on our way to having control of our own destiny.
I'll make sure the boss gets these, you just get into position. We
don't have long now."
-------------------------
Next Episode: Things start really heating up as we lead into the season
finale of Patlabor: Personal Files! The animosity between Gomioka and
Ohta takes a new turn, while the Griffin makes a new first strike. (And
I may get around to doing one of the OAVs -- Gotoh's OAV -- since all
that I needed to reveal before writing that one has now been revealed)
-------------------------
David A. Tatum
http://davecon.anifics.com
desaix@anifics.com
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To: "David A. Tatum" desaix@anifics.com
Subject: Fw: [MPPatlaborML] [fanfic] Patlabor: Personal Files, Episode 21
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2003 1:44 PM
My Apologies for the delay. I'd intended to take just 3 months off back
last year (2002) for the summer to work on something original. At the
end of that period, however, my father passed away and my family and I
had to move suddenly. We're only JUST starting to get settled down, and
I'm still having some problems (including one with the router connected
to my new cablemodem -- the hardwired firewall is preventing me from
updating my homepage at the moment, so I haven't been able to fix my
e-mail or update my web page in ages)
If anyone who does anything related to fanfiction (runs a major
archive\review site, writes it, etc.) and will be attending AnimeUSA
(Nov. 21-23 2003 in N. Virginia (Tyson's Corner, technically -- about
20 minutes from my new home)), please let me know. I'm moderating
the fanfic panel there, and I'm VERY desperate for panelists -- I've
only got two tentatives, and I'd like to have 4 panelists and 4
alternates.
If I can't get at least two more panelists, I'll have to cancel the
panel...
which'd be a shame, because while I've been a panelist myself several
times, this is the first time I've moderated one.
Contact me, if interested, at my (relatively) new e-mail of
desaix@anifics.com
Well, anyway, on to the (much delayed) fic.
Enjoy!
Patlabor: Personal Files
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 21: An Old Friend Returns
April 13, 2000
Asuma sighed. "I'm not sure 'slumber party in the labor' is quite what
I had in mind when I suggested this," he muttered as he snuck into the
kitchen after-hours. He had a mission -- to find the appropriate snacks
and drinks for his and Noa's plan to spend the night in Alphonse. His
only problem with the plan was that they would be staying up most of the
night 'chatting,' before they'd finally be able to go to sleep... and
that they had an unexpected visitor to this night.
He had the idea that Noa initially wanted the same sort of evening he
had planned- a little necking followed by a midnight snack and then...
well, since they didn't really need to stay awake for this plan to work,
a long night's sleep. Cuddled together... but fully clothed, in case
something did actually happen.
Instead, they'd have to entertain a visitor. Natsume Kawai had
overheard them talking about their plans, and had asked if she could
come. Not wanting to reveal that the planned watch was doubling as a
make-out session for the two of them, Noa and Asuma agreed to let her
come. Natsume had also invited both Shige and Joudo, while Noa (who
figured the whole seduction scheme she had planned was now blown)
invited Hiromi. They'd both decided, after their scheme looked more and
more party-like, to invite Takeo along as well, but she wasn't able to
show. She was planning to head downtown to headquarters in the early
morning to take care of some paperwork, and so couldn't afford the loss
of sleep time.
And since it was their idea, he and Noa would have to get the
entertainment and the food. "It's like something out of high school,"
Asuma continued grumbling to himself. "Or even junior high. Perhaps a
little more adult, though, considering Noa's grabbing some booze."
There'd been some debate as to which of them should go. Asuma was
better able to keep out of trouble if he got caught by his superiors
making the hour-long drive down to the liquor store, but Noa- being the
daughter of a liquor store owner, herself- was better at selecting it.
Asuma hadn't been aware of this particular trait of hers until they'd
started their informal dating, way back before he even realized
consciously he was attracted to her. After all, he wasn't exactly naive
when it came to alchohol himself, and so he'd never gotten into an
argument over beer or wine, before, until he'd taken her out to dinner
one night... and discovered just how picky she was about it. She could
drink him under the table, much to his surprise, and her level of
knowledge on drinks was almost as complete as his was on labors.
She'd been given a budget, so she likely wouldn't get anything too
outlandish, and she knew that she had to get drinks for six. He
doubted, though, she'd go for sake or beer. Especially since they'd
learned that Natsume hated beer.
They couldn't get the appropriate foodstuffs for their party at a liquor
store like the one she was going to, however, so it had been his job to
find something. Considering how poorly stocked the SV2's pantry's
usually were, this would be something of a challenge.
Opening up the refridgerator, he blinked. There was almost nothing in
there except a moldy piece of cheese and an open (and likely flat)
bottle of soda. Things weren't usually that low. Then again, they had
been unable to 'supplement' their diet for some time. The mechanics had
been much too busy to go fishing, the last batch of tomatos Hiromi
picked had long since rotted from age, and (perhaps worst of all) no-one
had been able to go down to the convenience mart since... well, since
before they had left for the Academy. Oddly, only Gotoh's division and
the mechanics ever really bothered to keep things stocked in
headquarters.
Unknown to those in said division, the remaining members of the SV2 were
slowly learning the truth of the warning Asuma always gave new members.
Daily life was, indeed, a struggle for survival -- and so perhaps the
mechanics obsession with fishing and the peculiarities of some members
of division 2, such as Hiromi's tomato gardens and chicken farms,
weren't quite the eccentricities most outside observers believed them to
be.
Regardless, that left Asuma with the problem of securing food in a
food-scarce environment. To the best of Asuma's knowledge, however, the
only place he could possibly find food outside of the kitchen (which
further investigation showed was bare save for the standard rice
dispensers... and even they were starting to run low) was the officers
lounge. A place only Gotoh, Shinobu, Gomioka, and Chief Fukushima were
technically allowed to enter.
'Well,' he thought casually. 'Doesn't seem as if I've got much choice,
now, does it? I'll need a lookout, though....'
"Asuma!" Noa's rather loud whisper exclaimed. He spun around, smiling
to see her there holding a couple of bags.
"Noa! How'd you get back here so quickly?"
She shook her head. "Haven't left yet. Your car won't start!"
Asuma nodded once in thought. Something had been acting funny in his
car ever since he'd come back from his birthday 'celebration,' so this
hadn't come as any great shock. Still, it was a problem. "Can you fix
it?"
She shook her head. "Not until we get a replacement part. The
serpentine belt broke. It's in too bad a shape to even make temporary
repairs, I'm afraid. I doubt even Shige or Sakaki could do anything for
it."
Asuma sighed. "Well, we'll worry about that later. The kitchen's got
nothing in it -- we're going to have to raid the officer's lounge."
Noa gaped. "Asuma, you know that's just about the only thing you can do
to get Gotoh mad at us for throwing this little sleepover, right?"
"I know," Asuma sighed. "But it's that or we deal with just plain
boiled rice. We couldn't even season the rice, either -- we're out of
salt, vinegar, sugar, sesame seeds, and all of our usual spices."
Noa pouted in thought. "Actually, I think I know where there's another
stash of food. The engineers won't take too kindly if they find out
we've taken it, though...."
"Where?" Asuma asked.
"Records room. It's actually one of their porno stashes -- a bunch of
porn tapes, popcorn, and beer. It's not much, but then again we don't
really need much, do we?" Noa asked.
Asuma had wanted a little more than that, but he was somewhat desperate.
"Well, beggars can't be choosers. It might solve both our problems --
we can take the beer while we're at it. I'll leave a note promising to
buy new stuff for them when we can -- hopefully, they'll understand.
Now, lead the way."
Noa sighed and started leading him to the engineers' stash of food.
This was bound to get the in trouble with them again, and maybe spark
another spate of sabatoge towards Asuma... and she'd likely get caught
in the crossfire this time. Why did she always listen to Asuma, anyway?
Oh, right -- she loved him. Well, maybe she was a bit on the submissive
side, too. She'd have to think about that later.
Just as they got to the door, a soft crash resonated from inside the
room.
Noa paled. "Somebody's in there," she whispered. "We'll have to come
back later!"
Asuma frowned. "That's odd. It's after curfew -- the mechanics should
all be in bed by now. I know that Shige's more relaxed than Chief
Sakaki used to be, but I thought curfew was the one thing he was pretty
strict about. Something he said about not wanting people to be asleep
on the job...."
Noa nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I remember that. But someone's obviously
in there, so we have to leave and come up with some other way to get the
snacks."
"But who is it who's in there? I mean, even if they did decide to break
curfew, I can't imagine one of the mechanics staying up just to take
care of some paperwork...."
"They could be after the same stuff we are," Noa suggested. "Or it
might not even be a mechanic. Captain Gomioka could be filing some
papers or something."
"True," Asuma admitted. "But I find it highly unlikely. With the
increasing rise in labor crimes these past few weeks, even Captain Gotoh
is refusing to leave his desk for fear of a call coming in, so all three
of them are avoiding their paperwork." He paused. "I wonder if
headquarters is going to look at all of this and consider adding that
fourth unit they were talking about a while back. Labor crime is rising
faster than we can deal with it, it seems."
"But it still could be a mechanic getting at the stash before us," Noa
reminded him.
"Maybe. But I have a funny feeling about this. Come on, let's
investigate and see who it is!" Asuma suggested.
"But... oh, never mind. You'll convince me to look no matter what I
say, just like you always do, won't you?" Noa sighed, exasperated.
Asuma smirked at her. "Of course. When was the last time I steered us
wrong, anyway?"
"Well, there was the time you said-"
"Shut up and help me look into this," Asuma growled, obviously
pretending to be annoyed. Noa smirked -- she loved it those few times
he let her 'win' a teasing session like this.
"Yes, dear," she said, kissing him on the cheek before getting serious,
and quietly getting into position at the records room doorway. After
all this time with him, a lot of it sneaking around, she knew just what
he wanted her to do to 'investigate' whoever this supposed intruder was.
She watched as Asuma carefully slid the door open, trying to keep it as
quiet as possible so as to not disturb whoever was behind it. When the
opening was wide enough, Noa slipped in. Asuma tagged along a few
seconds later.
They didn't immediately find anyone. At first, they wondered if maybe
they'd been mistaken -- it certainly didn't appear as if anyone was
here. Then, they heard the noise again -- papers rustling somewhere in
the vicinity of the personnel files....
Using hand signals, Asuma directed Noa to mirror him as they flanked the
desks, and raised his hand. Counting down on his fingers from three...
to two... to one....
They leaped. Noa got their first, tackling the intruder -- who, from
their clothes, was obviously not a police employee -- and grabbing her
in a wristlock. 'Hmm... those hand-to-hand spars Ohta helped me with
when Asuma was hurt last year have really helped,' she thought.
"All right, there!" Asuma snapped authoritatively. It was his best
'cop' voice, and Noa recognized it as the one he used to give orders
which were to be obeyed without question. "Tell us who you are and why
you're here!"
The person slowly raised their head. "Eh, heh. Hello," they said,
wincing slightly.
"Momoko!?" Noa and Asuma chorused.
* * * * *
Sitting around the foot of Alphonse, sipping from a distastefully warm
beer and munching on stale potato chips, Noa, Asuma, Natsumi, Shige,
Hiromi, and Joudo surrounded Momoko Sakurayama, the star reporter on a
variety of news programs who's fate had entertwined with the SV2 on
occasion. The would-be romantic rendezvous-turned party had instead
become an impromptu interrigation. At that point, the Unit 2 officers
were trying to determine whether or not Momoko deserved to be turned in
or not.
"Well, your head office wouldn't even give me a press packet on the new
team members!" Momoko was explaining. "I've been trying for months to
gather information about the new unit, but I haven't been able to get
anything on the new people. I was getting desperate!"
Joudo blinked. "We aren't really THAT interesting, are we? I mean,
we're just police officers. What's so special about that?"
"But you're in SV2!" Momoko exclaimed. "SV2! That alone is newsworthy.
And ever since the new additions, SV2 has appeared to smooth out most of
the rough edges which gave it such a bad reputation. You're still the
police unit with the most collatoral damage in the world, but at least
it's down to a reasonable level, now. We in the press want to know
why!"
"Well, part of it is that we get enough sleep, now," Asuma muttered out
of the side of his mouth.
Momoko caught it, however, and immediately whipped out a notepad and
scribbled it down. "Get... enough... sle- hey!"
"I don't think Asuma would appreciate being assessed that quote," Joudo
said, holding the paper he'd just snatched away from her.
"Oh, let her have it," Asuma sighed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Momoko's one of the few reporters who actually treats us halfway
decently, and she's actually helped us out once or twice. She won't use
my name, if I'm not mistaken, and maybe it'll help the boys at HQ
realize that they need to give us more vacation time."
Uncertainly, Joudo handed the pad of paper back to the reporter, who
grasped it like a golden treasure and glared at the offending policeman.
Quickly finishing her note, she turned back to Asuma.
"Thank you," she said, smiling winningly. "Is there anything else you
can think of for your improved performance?"
"Well, we've always done the job well," Asuma noted. "The collatoral
damage was mostly inevitable, when you consider the kinds of assignments
we've been given. And civilian casualties, as you know, are almost
always negligible."
Momoko frowned. "That's not what the stats say. New York, Osaka,
Kanazawa, Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Moscow, and Berlin
have all had active patlabor forces for more than two years, and dozens
more cities have built up some as well. Yet this particular section of
Patlabors has always had the most collatoral damage. Are you saying
those others haven't had the same problems you have?"
"Well, there was the Phantom, and the Griffin, and the war that Kai
started, and the whole HOS scare with the Ark, and probably a few other
things which seem to have happened uniquely to us. And the patlabor
forces in Berlin, New York, and Moscow are all much larger than ours is
and so they have an easier time answering calls."
"Still," Momoko argued, "That damage isn't what most of the complaints
are about. Usually, the complaints were about something more mundane --
like breaking up a fight between a couple of drunk labor operators or
the like. Every other city with patlabors has the same problems, but
rarely is as much damage dealt as it is when your unit in particular is
involved. Or at least, that was the case before the new unit was
added."
"Still, the third unit is old news," Asuma noted. "Just how long have
you been trying to get info on them?"
Momoko blushed. "Er, well...."
Noa got a little worried. Had this reporter discovered her and Asuma?
They'd assumed they were safe, since most of the people in SV2 had no
interest in ruining their careers by blabbing out about their
relationship, but a reporter might find it quite interesting. Not
giving her a chance to answer Asuma's question, she added one of her
own. "Um, just how much have you seen, anyway?"
"Well, a few juicy bits," Momoko admitted reluctantly. "A few people
I've identified have some rather interesting backgrounds. Like, say,
that Yamane Seiroku kid? Well, that's not his real name -- or, well, it
is, but it didn't used to be. He was born Yamane Gohojo -- the brother
of Seiji Gohojo. Who, as you may or may not know, was the Beach House
terrorist who murdered Captain Gotoh's wife."
Asuma and Noa simultaneously spit out their beer, covering Momoko,
Hiromi, Shige, and Joudo. Natsume was covered from the spew by the
bodies of Shige and Joudo, who seemed to be especially soaked in it.
Everyone turned to glare at the couple, but their dumbfounded expression
seemed to be all that was needed to show it was unintentional.
Once his mouth started working again, Asuma exclaimed, "He was
MARRIED?!"
Momoko blinked. "Um, yes, didn't you know? It was his investigation of
his wife's death that lead to the police purchasing the first patlabors.
I would've thought you knew that."
Asuma shook his head. "No. Not a clue."
"I knew that it was Captain Gotoh who first lobbied for the creation of
a special patlabor division," Noa added, "But I didn't know about him
ever being married. He... doesn't seem the type."
"And why not?" Gotoh asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere to
intervene in the group. "There's a certain woman I know, now, who I'd
marry in a heartbeat if she'd have me." There was no need to explain,
as everyone, even Momoko, knew who he was talking about. "So, do we
routinely have parties and invite member's of the press along?"
"We caught her snooping around the records room," Asuma explained, using
his formal voice. "And we've been questioning her since."
"I see," Gotoh's voice rumbled. "And just how long has she been
snooping, anyway?"
"Er... off and on since Unit 3 was formed?" Momoko admitted hesitantly.
Gotoh grinned. "Oh! So then it was you who's been going through all my
papers for the past several months. I knew we had a spy -- I'm just
glad to know it wasn't anyone with malicious intent. Well, no more
malicious intent than anyone in the press has towards the SV2."
"Hey! I treat you guys fairly!" Momoko protested. "I tell people of
your successes just as much as I tell them of your faults! Well...
okay, there's that Ohta guy who I occassionally give bad press. But
only after he attacked me when I was trying to cover that first major
battle with the Griffin!"
Noa shuddered at the reminder of perhaps the worst period of her life.
She'd almost lost everything to the Griffin -- Asuma, Alphonse, and
possibly even her own health. It took months for her to mentally
recover from it, and really it took her final defeat of the thing months
later for her to get over it. "Trust me," she said. "It was for the
best that he escorted you out of there. It wasn't a very pleasant place
to be. That thing nearly made me lose everything I value in life, and I
wouldn't be surprised if it would have done the same to you if you'd
stayed there."
Momoko looked at Noa blankly. "Huh? What would it have done to me?
After all, who attacks the press?"
Asuma cleared his throat. "Do I have to remind you of the time Noa had
to rescue you from --"
"Yes, yes, but that was a special case," Momoko sighed, waving her hands
dismissively. "Most of the time, no-one attacks the press."
"So," Joudo said, not following much of the conversation and trying to
get it onto something he could join in on. "What are we going to do
with her, anyway? I mean, what she's been doing is a bit illegal, you
know...."
Momoko blinked. "Hey, I'm the press! I have the right to be here!"
"Er, no you don't," Asuma noted. "This is government property, after
all, and there are classified documents here. Restricted access areas
and all that, so you're only allowed here if invited."
"But... I'm the press!"
"Forget it," Gotoh sighed. "Don't worry about it. Ms. Sakurayuama, I
think it would be best if you left. I'm not going to bother asking you
not to report anything you've already found out, but if we catch you
again I think we'll have no choice but to arrest you."
Everyone was a little startled by Gotoh's pronouncement -- Joudo because
he hadn't expected Gotoh to take it so easy on the reporter, Hiromi,
Noa, and Asuma because he was speaking so harshly to her, Natsume
because she hadn't expected anything to happen at all, and Momoko
because she hadn't even considered the chance that she could be
arrested.
"Uh, okay," Momoko meekly agreed. "I guess I'll leave now."
Gotoh nodded. "I'll escort you out," he said, grabbing her arm as they
moved away.
Noa frowned, leaning into Asuma. "You think there's something wrong
with the captain? He's not acting like he does normally."
Asuma pursed his lips in thought. "I dunno," he whispered back. "Maybe
the fact that his late wife was mentioned has something to do with it.
I know I get that way, sometimes, when someone mentions my brother...."
"Still, he didn't seem upset by that. At least, not at first," Noa
noted.
"True," Asuma agreed. "I have a sneaking suspicion...."
"So, what are you two whispering about?" Natsume cut in, giggling
loudly. "Anything fun?"
"Er, no," Asuma said. "Just... stuff. So, who's up for another beer?"
With that, the party atmosphere returned, and they all spent the night
talking about silly things. Asuma was glad when Hiromi finally became
the last one other than himself to nod off at around 4 in the morning.
While it might not be safe for much with everyone else asleep, he was
able to give Noa the customary good-night kiss they'd been giving each
other since coming back from the engineers convention all the way back
in January. Admittedly, like tonight, he hadn't always been able to
give it to her when she was awake to enjoy it, but he nevertheless had
to do it for his own peace of mind.
Knowing he was going soft towards the girl he loved, and not caring, he
gave her that kiss before heading off to sleep -- able to wrap her in
his arms as they slept, since everyone was more or less wrapped together
in the confined space they chose to have their party. After all,
Natsume, Joudo, Shige, and Hiromi were all tangled together, too, and
surely no-one would suggest anything about the three of them!
It was the best nights sleep both he and Noa had ever had. Even if it
didn't last nearly long enough.
* * * * *
April 14
Takeo stepped off of the bus, and started heading towards the central
headquarters building for the police department in Tokyo. To her, it
had been a relatively uneventful commute, starting with a dull ride to
the nearest bus station via taxi. For some reason, she seemed to be the
only person in all of Tokyo who could get a taxi to show up at the
Patlabor facility on the reclaimed lands, but she never realized quite
how unusual it was until she saw Momoko standing on the street corner at
the exit, complaining that she'd been waiting for her own ride for over
nine hours. Apparently, she'd called every taxi company in the phone
book, but not one of them would come down to the SV2 headquarters
regardless of how much money she'd offered them. She'd called one of
her co-workers to pick her up, but upon seeing Takeo pick up a taxi of
her own so easily the reporter complained loudly about an expose she'd
be doing on the lousy service of the taxi cab companies as soon as she
got back to her office.
Takeo had not been surprised to see Momoko, considering she'd heard all
about her capture in the records room during breakfast, but was
surprised when she'd offered to share her taxi at least as far as the
nearest bus station. However, it appeared the reporter didn't want to
'stand up' the man who'd already been dispatched to pick her up, and
Takeo could understand that.
Takeo mused on the situation back at SV2. Apparently, things had gotten
out-of-hand in the past few weeks. Gomioka was going crazy and taking
everyone he could with him, the mechanics were worked nearly to death
trying to deal with tiny bits and pieces of sabatoge, and labor crime
had increased almost a hundredfold in the past three weeks -- what
normally was just one crime every week or so had turned into multiple
major incidents on a daily basis.
And her unit was nowhere to be found in that period. Or, more
precisely, her unit was in Fuji working with the Academy and unavailable
to help. That said, interesting developments were happening there as
well. She'd let herself be goaded by the American woman again, dammit,
and it lead to her starting to develop an affinity for teaching. Maybe
she'd apply for the Academy... sometime after the next academic year,
however. Maybe she'd try and aim to succeed Kanuka, assuming there was
an adequate replacement for herself in the upcoming students. It would
give her a chance to work one-on-one with Captain Gotoh's niece, who
she'd found to be a rather brilliant young woman. By the time she
finished her training in three years, she'd probably be the most
heavily-sought after rookie patlabor officer in Japan... and she had a
funny feeling she knew who would get her.
Furthermore, Unit 2 was also disrupted by what seemed to be a growing
tension between it's two brightest stars -- Asuma and Noa. It wasn't
that they were growing apart, or showing visible signs of having had any
recent fights or anything. Rather, it appeared as though they were
having a rather difficult time maintaining the cover which gave their
relationship plausible deniability. Takeo was slightly worried for
them -- she'd done a personnel records update, recently, and had found
in her background investigation something which could be awfully
damaging if it were known to the public. Apparently, a dowry had been
arranged between the Izumi's and the Shinohara's. Takeo hadn't been
aware the relationship had reached that point, but she wondered with
this new piece of information just how long the couple were planning to
stay in the force. Her guess was, within a couple of years or so --
likely whenever it was Alphonse was finally declared obsolete by the
police hierarchy and retired from active duty -- they would both resign,
get married, and take over the reins in Shinohara Heavy Industries...
given that they'd own it when they got married. Takeo hadn't wanted to
hasten that departure, however, and so quickly did what she could to
cover their tracks. If someone knew to look for it, they'd probably
still find the same evidence she'd found, but it was unlikely someone
would be able to see the same documents she had anymore unless they were
specifically looking to see what communications were being made between
their parents -- which would not be something a routine background check
would likely do.
However, there was even yet another bit of drama slowly developing in
her unit, and Takeo wasn't sure what to make of it. Asuma and Noa were
practically joined at the hip, Hiromi always seemed to her to be either
attached or interested in someone -- who, she hadn't discovered, yet --
and Gotoh had that blatantly obvious not-quite-one-sided thing for
Shinobu, but the members of her own team were safely unattached. For
the moment. However, it looked like something interesting was starting
to develop between Natsume Kawai and Joudo Ishikawai... and the new head
of the mechanics unit, Shige. At any rate, the romantic triangle --
which Takeo had thought she'd seen evidence of earlier but couldn't be
certain -- appeared to be taking on a new twist. Recently, instead of
being completely oblivious to everyones attention like she had been
since joining their unit, Natsume seemed to be taking a notice in her
two suitors as well. No-one could possibly know but Natsume, herself,
but her actions seemed to indicate that she was gradually becoming aware
of things. For example, when she'd demanded that both Shige and Joudo
dance with her at Chief Sakaki's retirement 'party,' she had rejected
all the other potential dance partners.
Much more blatant, however, was she scene she witnessed when she came
down the steps that morning to see the sight of several sleeping
officers at the foot of Alphonse. Noa and Asuma were cuddled up in such
a cute way it was almost sickening, but nevertheless they could still
maintain their 'plausible deniability' thanks to the other members of
the party.
From the wrinkles in the sheets, Takeo could tell that Hiromi, Shige,
Joudo, and Natsume had all been bundling up together when they went to
sleep that night. Somehow, Hiromi had detached himself from the bunch,
and maneuvered his way into a little ball on his own. Natsume, however,
had somehow managed to grab each of her two suitors and maneuver them so
that each was resting their head on her chest. It was a rather
compromising position -- or would have been, had it not been so obvious
that none of them had started out sleeping that way.
Regardless, it appeared obvious now that everyone in Special Vehicles,
Section two, unit two, had a romance going on. Everyone except for
Takeo, that was. She seemed to be the lone fish out, free from any
romantic entanglements at all. What a bitter pill to swallow that was.
She hadn't made a serious consideration towards a romantic partner since
Hong Kong and...
Takeo was startled out of her thoughts, however, by a high-speed
collision with another pedestrian. She stumbled back, reassembled her
thoughts, and looked up to apologize.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I- YOU!" She exclaimed.
Looking stunned himself, Richard Wong, Takeo's one-time lover and the
mastermind behind several major labor crimes over the years, could
barely articulate anything, either.
"YOU!" Wong echoed himself, unable to believe his eyes either.
It was a standoff for a few seconds as both couldn't help but stare at
each other in disbelief. Who would have guessed that they would run
into each other on the streets of Tokyo like this? Neither was quite
sure what to do.
Richard finally relaxed somewhat, and smiled at her. "Well, this is a
pleasure, I must say. What are you doing here in town, anyway?"
That broke Takeo from her trance, as well. Reaching into the rear
pocket of her uniform, she pronounced, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to
place you under arrest immediately, Richard. I can't afford to slip up
this time, so we can't talk."
Wong's smile remained on his face, however. "Come on, now -- we both
know that I'll escape if you try. I don't have anything to do today
which cannot be postponed -- surely you have a moment as well. What do
you say we go have a brunch or something at a local cafe? I haven't
eaten, yet, today, and I'm starving."
Takeo's eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to pull, here? I'm trying
to arrest you, dammit!"
He sighed. "Do you want me to explain exactly how I can escape you, no
matter what you try, or will you just agree to sit down and talk. It's
been ages, and the last time we met was a rather... distracting time.
I'd love a chance to try and catch up -- I mean, I bet you don't even
know that I'm not working for Shaft any more!"
That brought Takeo up short. Thinking about it, she realized that he
was right -- there probably wasn't a reasonable way to arrest him
unsupported and on her own like this. He was a master of disguise, a
much more athletic man then his appearance implied, and a brilliant
escape artist. She was athletic and fairly skilled in a number of
areas, as well, but in a public place like a crowded sidewalk, it was
unlikely those skills would help her to capture him on her own.
Besides, she still loved him, despite knowing what he had done. And she
was legitimately interested in what he had to say. Her paperwork could
wait. She just wanted to renew a license, and she had more than a month
to do it in, anyway. She might even manage to deal with it after their
talk.
"Okay," Takeo finally said.
"Okay?" Wong replied, clearly not expecting that answer. "You mean, you
will?"
She nodded. "Yes. I'd love to hear all about what happened between you
and Shaft. I knew you weren't exactly in favor with the management, but
I always heard that you were too valuable for them to fire. And I know
you couldn't just leave them... or if you could, then you abandoned me
in Hong Kong for no reason."
"No, it was kind of a... mutual agreement that we go our seperate ways,"
Wong explained, taking her arm and guiding her down the road. "I hated
them and wanted to leave. They hated me and wanted to live. When I
managed to threaten them with their deaths if they refused to let me go,
I got my release."
Takeo sighed. Why wasn't she surprised? "I see. Shame you couldn't
manage that a few years ago, when it might have mattered to me."
Wong nodded. "I agree. That was perhaps my biggest regret out of all
the things I've done for Shaft." He paused. "I doubt I'll ever be able
to clear my name enough so that I can risk trying to make it up to you.
You'd pretty much have to arrest me before we could reconcile, right?"
"Well, if you did something to get yourself a full pardon, I might
consider trying things again." Takeo paused, smiling bitterly. "I've
been so lonely without you. But I don't think I can deal with you, now.
It's too painful... even this conversation we're having now is
bittersweet."
They entered a small coffee shop and took their seats. Richard placed
an order for both of them, remembering Takeo's preferences much to her
surprise, before he responded.
"Well, my new employer is trying to see if he can do something to clear
my record," Richard noted abruptly. "He's a good man. I believe your
Captain Gotoh knows him -- in fact, I think he is, or at least was, on
my boss's payroll."
"Oh, really? Who is he -- I might know him," Takeo said, surprised.
People powerful enough to pardon the man behind the Griffin and who knew
Captain Gotoh didn't number all that many, as far as she knew.
"His name wouldn't mean anything to you," Richard said, waving her
question off. "Suffice it to say, he was someone who needed a security
officer who understood labors and labor development as well, and I was
perfect for the job. He's working on a plan which should wipe out my
criminal record, too, so I'm extremely grateful to him."
Takeo half-smiled. "I've seen your record -- he'd pretty much have to
be the prime minister to do that. Then again, even he might have
trouble -- if we were in the days of the Shoguns, then maybe one of them
might have enough power, but...."
"Well, he seems to think he can do it," Wong said.
"If he does," Takeo said slowly, "And if you're sincere about staying
within the law, call me. I... I loved you, you know. I might be able
to again, some day."
Richard froze, then nodded slowly. "I will. You know, I lo-"
Takeo immediately stood up, not allowing him the time to finish his
sentence, and checked her watch hand -- cursing herself for not
remembering her watch today. "Oh, my -- I'm going to be late. I've got
to go, bye!" Without even glancing at him, she retreated... before he
said something that would really hurt.
Wong watched her go with a sigh. "Well," he muttered to himself. "That
was interesting. But I've got a job to do."
He started to get up when his cell phone rang. Smiling in surprise, he
pulled it out. "Utsumi," he answered it.
The other end of the phone said something which made him smile. "Ah,
good, so our young friend is here. Well, tell Bud that level four is
coming soon. Now, don't call me again -- I've got a meeting with our
little spy, and I'm already late."
He stepped off into the bathroom of the little cafe. He reached the
third stall door and knocked on it in a particular sequence.
"Good," a muffled voice, disguising its owner, said from the other side.
"You're finally here. I was about to leave."
"It wouldn't have been a good idea," Wong noted. "Takeo Kumagami was
out in the cafe, eating breakfast. You would have been seen."
"Doesn't matter at this point," the voice on the other side said. "I'm
pretty sure this'll be my last report -- I doubt I'll be able to get
into the records again before the game starts."
"Well, let me have it," Wong said impatiently. "I haven't got all day,
and the bathroom is not my favorite place to loiter."
"Here," the voice said as a small packet slid under the stall.
"There're some records, a copy of the personal journal of Captain Gotoh,
and a copy of an Ingram movement disk. Not Ms. Izumi's,
unfortunately -- she's guarding her labor too heavily."
Wong grinned. "Thank you. That'll just have to do. Phase one begins
on May Day. You should hold off on your part of this until the third,
however. Good luck, and when we see each other again... well, let's
just say we'll be well on our way to having control of our own destiny.
I'll make sure the boss gets these, you just get into position. We
don't have long now."
-------------------------
Next Episode: Things start really heating up as we lead into the season
finale of Patlabor: Personal Files! The animosity between Gomioka and
Ohta takes a new turn, while the Griffin makes a new first strike. (And
I may get around to doing one of the OAVs -- Gotoh's OAV -- since all
that I needed to reveal before writing that one has now been revealed)
-------------------------
David A. Tatum
http://davecon.anifics.com
desaix@anifics.com
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