Disclaimer: I am back! I changed my username…xP. So, I apologize for lack of updates. I'm going to try making this one really long, to make you peoples happy!
I own nothing; just volumes one and two of Project: BAKUTEN on DVD!
Her blue eyes stared up at the epitaph engraved upon the marble above the revolving doors of the New Tokyo International Bank. The letter she had picked up in the alley had told them that the first clue was located in a safe box inside the Tokyo International Bank.
But why make it so obvious?
Meg sighed softly. Sei, being the worrywart she was, made her go incognito. A white fur coat was pulled around her, normal clothes and holsters carrying Jo's spare Desert Eagles on her hips hidden. A funky cell-phone was what Sei had given her for communication; the kind where you hook the earpiece to your ear, and then clip the microphone on that, so all you had to do was push the little keypad with all the numbers on it. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun on the back of her head, hurting the roots that were attached to the skin of her skull.
"Meg," Sei told her through the earpiece, "Be discrete. We don't need a commotion."
"Right," the redhead responded, gulping nervously and hurrying into the bank.
Arriving at the counter, she blinked at the blonde-haired woman at the desk.
"Welcome to the New Tokyo International Bank! How may I help you!" She smiled broadly; it was like her lips were frozen into the huge grin. Meg shivered, and passed a key to the clerk.
"I need to get into safe box 983389," she told the clerk, flinching slightly.
"Of course! Follow me!" As if a board was stuffed into her clothing, the woman walked stiffly out from behind the counter and lead Meg into a room where there had to be thousands upon thousands of safe boxes.
After what seemed like an eternity, the woman pulled a sleek metallic box of the shelf and set it on the table, unlocking it and sliding open the lid.
"Take your time!" she said cheerfully, exiting the room and closing the door behind her.
Meg waited until the door was closed and then gagged. "Why couldn't you do this, Sei?"
"Because, you had the key." Right. They all had access to the key. But, that was Sei.
The safe box was filled with papers. She shuffled through a few, noticing most of it was pornography and making faces when she saw it. Finally, she shoved a few more pictures away, and noticed a manila envelope on the bottom with a big bold M on it. That was all she could see on the slick paper.
She gave a forceful tug and stared, wide-eyed at the thick piece of paper. On the front of the envelope, was written "TO MEG" in big, bold sharpie.
They got Jo to talk, she thought incredulously. They got her to talk.
Stuffing the papers back into the box, she slid it shut, left the bank, and then ran down the street to Sei's car.
"Open it, Meg," Amy pushed her, peering over the edge of the couch. This kind of thing never happened before; and instead of being furious at Meg, she was intrigued.
"Fine…" came the distant reply. She reached over and picked up the yellow paper and bent the two metal clips back and pulled open the top, dumping to contents of the envelope on the table.
"…What is it?" the eleven-year-old asked.
"Directions. To Jo's location…in riddles…" Sei murmured in response.
It was so. On a sheet of paper were small pictures of each location, paper-clipped to the riddle that described the address. They were toying with them. The men who captured Jo knew they wouldn't make it in time if they made them riddles, inside of a forthright answer.
"What are we going to do!" Amy wailed, burying her face in her hands.
Meg picked up the first picture, and tugged its riddle off. She read it:
Go to the square where the sky is blue, and it's as bright as day even at night.
She read and re-read it a couple of times before she got a look in her eyes that told her she realized something. "Guys. It's the main square; the square in the center of Tokyo! The one where the sky always looks blue and it's bright all day because of the neon lights!" She looked at the picture. "And you can see the corner of the giant TV screen, and the corner of Kyohei's school!"
Sei took the piece of paper and read it. So it was. Looking up and smiling at Meg, she said, "Try the second one."
The second read: Hide your weapons, dear maiden, because the hunting dogs with fangs of steal will not hold back for a beauty like you.
"This one is RAPT headquarters. So from Shinjuku we go past RAPT headquarters…. then number three." She took the picture and riddle, peeling off the paper and reading it:
After the dogs comes the underground distance to the world with the ink-black sky and the blood red moon.
She looked at the picture curiously for a moment. She knew the underground distance was the subway, but where was the place with the ink-black sky and the blood red moon?
Sighing softly, she read the riddle again. "…. I got it! It's the shortest route to Shibuya; the next riddle is Shibuya, and the last riddle…"
The railroad will lead you to your destination, a pharmacy where impossible things have happened and more are beginning. Then there was a picture of a canyon with a burnt-down, dome-shaped building.
"Remember that? It's the Hinode Pharmaceutical headquarters. They took over the Hinode headquarters for their own!" Meg looked genuinely excited, and she was glowing with accomplishment.
"Let's put it together," Amy exclaimed, punching the air.
After hours and hours of staring at Amy's bunny and much arguing, they had the final instructions completed. They were as follows:
1) Arrive in Shinjuku.
2) Go past RAPT headquarters.
3) Go into subway that will take you to Shibuya.
4) Get directions from there to the old Hinode building.
So simple, but so complex. It was ingenious. And Meg, being the nail-head she was, knew it all along.
That night, after Amy was in bed, Sei and Meg were sipping coffee with a lemon squeeze to it, compliments of Kyohei. After he heard about Jo, he knew about the stress, and made them coffee before he left; not to mention an up-side-down cheesecake he made, and hid it from Amy; they each had a piece of that, but the rest was in the freezer.
"Tomorrow's the day," Meg said.
"Bring Jo's extra things; you use the handguns."
Meg stirred the coffee around in her cup.
Jo would be the glory girl once more…
…and Meg would be back in the shadows.
And for that, she wished she didn't have to save Jo.
MWUAHAHA!
I want to thank my faithful reviewers! There's only going to be two chapters after this, and then I'm moving onto my other fics. If you people want, you can read them; next is a Yu Yu Hakusho one. Anyways, thanks!