An: thought I should put out a lighthearted chapter. We put here justifyingthe friendship tag on my fic.
/-/
Life was ultimately good to Jasper Greene, especially for someone who wasn't ultimately good to life itself. Second highest in his assasination cell at Scorpio, his skills only inferior to Martin Kane. Jasper remembered seething in jealousy when Martin was assigned a very high profile target as his first contract, Greene however, was given the task to escort the rest of his cell to assassinate a local politician who wouldn't accept Zodiac's bribes.
Sure he wasn't the best compared to more seasoned assassins, but his true talent lay in leadership and management. Jasper impressed his supervisors so much that he was instantly made manager of small projects done by different Zodiac branches. Just recently he was bestowed the honor of managing imports of Hercules in Vale, everything was going great and no authority was going around sniffing for clues.
"Ay boss where should we put these crates?"
So then why did someone blow a hole in his operation and his shipping container? Maybe it was just a poor stroke of luck, at the very least he was alerted before any police or gods forbid huntsmen found the shipment.
"Just set them there boxes right over there boy, make sure none of 'em stay in sight." Jasper had a deep southern Valean accent, sort of like the cowboys that were seen on TV.
"Boss, someone's here to see you."
Perfect, another client making a big purchase, he was waiting for one of them. Hercules hadn't been selling all too often, maybe he could start promoting it to the White Fang so they could level the playing field against humans. Would they even accept a drug by a human?
"Send 'em over here then."
"Yes boss." The soldier marched off. Ever since the security of his operation was breached, Jasper had hired a handful of soldiers trained from one of Zodiac's other branches. He couldn't get as many as he wanted as some Zodiac branches were heavily crippled a year or two back. Now though, they were back in the rise and nothing was going to stop them.
A brown haired man with a limp came hobbling up to the transaction site.
"Ah, Mr. Morris, here to do business?"
"You can say that." Mr. Morris let out a small his and rubbed his knee, it had been acting up for the past few months. "More of a complaint actually. The stuff you gave me was incredible, I've never felt such power in a long time. But I want to ask…" Mr. Morris gestured to his knee. "Is it supposed to leave you with broken bones? Because I'm 110% sure I didn't break anything before I took the serum."
Jasper's eyes narrowed, this might've had something to do with the punk or punks responsible for exposing his shipments.
"How did you wake up?"
"Craziest thing, I woke up in a hospital room and the doctor tells me I got run over by an ambulance. Then the doctor tells me that my leg was broken before I even got hit by the ambulance!"
Strange… even huntsmen would have a bit of trouble fighting off the enraged form of Hercules user. Only someone that knew what they were up against could incapacitate the mindless beings pumped full of the drug. It could have been the same person who uncovered the shipment in Vale's eastern dockyard. Well whoever it was, Jasper would take care of them with his ace in the hole, something that gave him an edge in battle since he hadn't seen combat ever since he started managing more important things for Zodiac.
"I offer you my deepest apologies." Jasper put a hand to his heart. "Please do not hesitate to call me the next time you find yourself in trouble." What Gemini needed to ensure returning buyers was good customer service. "I'll come down personally to sort whatever problem you have concerning our business."
Mr. Morris confidently nodded at Jasper. "I'll take you up on that Greene." The two shook hands in agreement before Mr. Morris turned away to leave.
"Would you like to purchase any more merchandise?" Jasper kindly asked.
"I'm fine for now, have yourself a good night Greene."
"I see, well I asked because some fellows from the White Fang came by earlier offering to buy up all my stock."
Mr. Morris' interest had piqued, he turned back over to Jasper. "Really?"
"Sure did, went and threw out a pretty penny just for me to consider the deal." Jasper eyed the man before him, Morris was deep in thought trying to gauge the situation. He was unknowingly being fed lies by Jasper. To sell to your customer, one must first know their customer.
"Why are you asking me? Why didn't you take the deal?" Mr. Morris was suspicious of anything that involved the faunus, after all, he was a major figure in the animal control hate group.
"Customer loyalty is very important to me, I'd hate to lose a returning buyer to cater to someone who's only going to buy once." Jasper plastered on the fakest smile he could muster.
"You know I won't let those animals win this war! Name your price!"
That, ladies and gentlemen, was how you do business.
/-/
Kaiser went for a light jab and followed up with a low kick to Pyrrha's leg. Both strikes were blocked, Pyrrha responded with a low kick of her own then switched it up to a high kick.
"This is all about focus and balance, you don't have to hit hard just yet." Kaiser blocked Pyrrha's high kick with his arm. "This will help you get used to switching between offense and defense, it also helps you start with stringing together combos by instinct."
Jaune stood back to observe the practice drill in front of him, nodding along. The blond boy was back in the gym with Pyrrha and Kaiser, it was quickly becoming routine. He was coming along just fine, now he needed to start this practice drill to help him with muscle memory.
"Alright", Kaiser said as he blocked another kick. "Your turn, show her what you got." Kaiser stepped off the makeshift ring the three made with their duffle bags.
Pyrrha hit Jaune with a kick to the torso, it easily connected since Jaune didn't have his hands up. Jaune let out a soft grunt at being hit at full contact.
Kaiser observed the two in their light physical exchanges, soon enough, Kaiser would have to really fight Jaune to show him the principles of battle. He just hoped that the blond boy wouldn't get his hopes up and think he was invincible, or else the spy might have to humble him with a beating.
"Come on. You guys should just go all out already!" Sun excitedly cheered, he was doing hanging leg raises on the exercise bar.
Sun didn't really have anywhere to stay ever since he made it to Vale, Beacon hadn't yet opened its visitor dorms to teams from other schools yet. Everybody came to an agreement that Sun should stay in Kaiser's dorm. Well not exactly everybody, Kaiser somehow didn't really have a say in this decision. Luckily, the spy didn't really have any qualms about sharing his dorm. What Kaiser did have qualms with was Sun immediately picking up the KA-BAR fighting knife that was gifted to him a long time ago. After Sun lost interest in it and put it down, Kaiser put the knife in his drawer and resolved to buy a display case for it.
"We shouldn't do full contact sparring yet, he has to learn the motions first."
"Why don't you try sparring with Pyrrha to give Jaune a sense of how battle really goes?"
"I don't know, why don't you do an exercise other than abs?" Kaiser retorted.
Sun finished his 11th set of leg raises, he shot a questioning look at the boy. "Because I'll probably die doing it."
Kaiser pressed his lips into a thin line. "Exactly why I would in no circumstance think of fighting Pyrrha."
Sun nodded in agreement as they watched the patient girl help Jaune up after he fell.
"Hello!" A voice boomed. Kaiser jolted with a start at the loud noise, everybody else turned toward the origin of greeting.
At the gym entrance, stood Yang in yellow workout clothes. She grinned widely as she waved at the gym occupants.
Kaiser offered a polite smile and nodded at her.
"So what's this?" Yang gestured to Pyrrha and Yang going through the drill.
"Teaching Jaune unarmed combat." Kaiser answered. "Keep your arms up!" He instructed as Jaune took another kick to the body.
"Neat, pretty soon Vomit Boys gonna start scrapping with everything that moves." Yang set down her duffle bag next to Kaiser.
The white haired boy quietly laughed to himself. "I don't think so, he seems a lot more peaceful and level headed than you or I."
"I guess so." Yang knelt down and unzipped her bag. "Well since you and I are just some battle crazed huntsmen by comparison" Yang pulled out a pair of black boxing gloves. "You wanna go for a round?"
Kaiser looked down at the girl and her gloves. "What do you mean?"
"Just some good ole Atlesian boxing." Yang gave the boy her signature grin.
Kaiser considered it for a moment, he wasn't too familiar with just regular boxing. If this was going by the Marquess of Queensberry rules then Kaiser wasn't allowed kicking, grappling, or throwing. Basically what he depended on most in unarmed combat was unavailable.
"Sorry, I'm not too fond of picking fights I'm likely to lose." Kaiser crossed his arms as he watched Jaune slowly start blocking in sync to Pyrrha's strikes.
"Aww c'mon Kai, it'll be fun!" Yang pestered him by poking his cheek.
Probably one of the most annoying things anybody has ever done, Kaiser hated when people poked him like that. Really only one person ever got close enough to do so, but now he added Yang to that list.
"I'd rather you not do that." Kaiser lightly tapped her finger away.
"Do what?" Yang sarcastically asked as she poked him on the side of the neck.
"Fine." Kaiser snatched the gloves out of her offered hands. He snatched the gloves from her hands as she smirked at him. Yang got to work rearranging some duffle bags to make their own makeshift ring, Kaiser strapped his gloves tight.
"You got this bro!" Sun encouraged as he did a different ab workout.
"No I don't." Kaiser muttered as he settled into a southpaw stance.
Yang settled in orthodox stance before banging her gloves together.
"Glove up or shut up!" Yang slid to the side as Kaiser lunged at her. The spy barely turned around when he received a quick jab to the face, he shrugged it off before establishing his footwork.
Kaiser took two more lightning quick jabs to the face, they were just to test the waters before going into anything too complicated.
Yang threw a jab which was blocked, her haymaker was then deflected. She tried for a left uppercut and cross, both of which were denied their target.
Having stopped Yang's four punch combo Kaiser went in with a cross of his own, only for it to hit nothing but air. The boy turned around in time to strike away Yang's punch, the two danced around each daring the other to strike.
Kaiser went in for a jab, Yang ducked and countered to his stomach. Kaiser once again tried for a jab but was knocked back by a counter to the face.
Yang kept her footwork perfect and rhythmic, she shuffled around Kaiser with her right arm hanging low in front of her. "What's wrong I-Spy, can't keep up?"
Kaiser kept his eyes tracked onto Yang while in a southpaw stance. "Not really, I'd do better if it weren't for the Queensberry rules."
Kaiser went for another jab but missed as Yang gracefully ducked out of the way. Kaiser tried for a haymaker and received an uppercut to the stomach. It's a good thing the boy was a glutton for punishment; Yang hit like a truck.
Yang tried for a right hook, but Kaiser managed to deflect it once more. Yang was surprised when Kaiser managed to get her with a left hook to the face before she could hit him with a haymaker.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Yang laughed, she waited for Kaiser to make the next move.
Kaiser didn't fall for the bait and only gestured for her to come forward.
Yang lunged at him with a jab, which was struck away.
Kaiser went in with his own five hit combo, each of them being either blocked or dodged. Yang countered with an uppercut to the chin which sent Kaiser stumbling backwards.
Yang closed in on the boy for a cross, Kaiser regained his balance just in time to counter with a haymaker.
Yang slugged the boy across the face, only to hit him with a hard jab as he got closer again.
Kaiser managed to land a body shot, he completely missed Yang when trying to hit her with a haymaker. He tried hitting her with an uppercut, her defense was too tough for that
Yang back stepped to avoid Kaiser's left hook, she countered with a heavy cross to his temple.
That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back as Kaiser weakly stumbled backwards. Yang charged in as Kaiser kept a high guard, the boy took countless shots to the arms and body. Yang was getting frustrated as with no matter how many punches she landed, Kaiser guard didn't break.
Kaiser was panicking, he'd been in this situation before. At 15 years old, he faced off against a retired boxing champion Hank Hammer who went off the grid. The boy's breathing quickened as he recalled the way Hank managed to cut Kaiser's lip wide open with a single punch. Albert Ross put the boy through multiple surgeries until there wasn't any trace of a scar left. He wasn't going through that pain again.
Kaiser's opened his guard as soon as Yang finished her third combo, the boy let his arms fall and hang from Yang's shoulder. In that split second, Kaiser let out a vicious ankle kick. The girl crumpled onto the floor as a result.
"Yang!" Kaiser snapped out of his haze as soon as he saw Yang on the floor.
Yang clutched her leg before letting out a hiss. "What the hell was that?!"
"Sorry! It was a force of habit!" Kaiser scrambled towards his duffle bag where he pulled out a cold water bottle, he tightly pressed the bottle against the bruise that was quickly forming on Yang's leg.
"It's fine… I guess, do you think you can carry me to my dorm?" Yang put her hand over the bottle to take over.
"Yeah, ok sure." Kaiser was internally cursing himself, he didn't have many friends and here he was hurting one of them! Without hesitation, he lifted the back of Yang's legs while settling his other arm on her upper back.
"Up we go." Kaiser grunted as he lifted the previously downed girl, Yang wrapped her arm against Kaiser's neck before using her other arm to grab her duffle bag. Good thing she grabbed onto his neck because he sped off the moment he got her bag.
The two rounded the corner before Yang tapped the back of his neck to get his attention, Kaiser just slowed to a stop.
"Relax Kai, don't go so fast."
"Sorry!" Kaiser closed his eyes in frustration. "And sorry again for kicking you!"
"You don't have to apologize for anything." Yang flashed him a cheeky smile. "Wanna know why?"
"Hmm?" Kaiser was silent as Yang hopped out of his arms and stood with no problem at all.
"Surprise!" Yang tossed her hands up as if Kaiser was supposed to be in awe, really he was confused about the whole situation.
"I took the fall when you kicked me so I could have an excuse to leave." Yang winced when she put weight on her leg. "Still hurts a lot though, might still need you for support."
Kaiser adjusted Yang so that she could lean on the lockers. "You could've just asked me." He was sort of irritated that he thought he hurt Yang only for her to play it off as a joke. "I don't think you needed to play up the dramatics if you needed to go." Kaiser finished curtly.
"Well if I just straight up told you, I'd look suspicious and I need to keep what we're going to do a secret." Yang adjusted her duffle bag around her neck. "I had you carry me so Pyrrha could see what she was missing out on by not asking out her knight in shining armor."
"What's so secret that you need me for?"
Yang only slung her arm around Kaiser's neck to bring his head down to her level, she leaned in to talk to the boy. "Today is Ruby's birthday. I feel we should have a party between all our friends."
Kaiser just nodded. "Sounds like a pleasant idea."
"I just have two favors to ask of you." Yang finally let go of the spy to pick up her bag properly. "First, I need you to go down to the Beacon chicken farm and grab me two eggs."
"But those eggs are used for Professor Peach's research, also they're sometimes guarded if Peach really wants to make sure that the eggs are not affected by outside variables." The scholarly professor, in fact, had Beacon have multiple facilities installed to meet her scientific needs such as a laboratory, incubation chamber, and the chicken farm.
"Come on Kai, you're telling me you can't sneak your way past some people to get some eggs." Yang put on an almost pitiful pout. "If you won't do it for Ruby, at least do it for your old pal Yang."
Kaiser stopped to consider his choices as he stared into Yang's lilac eyes, those same eyes pleading for him to infiltrate a chicken farm.
Well… he did still owe her…
"I'll take care of it." He was about to turn around and set out on his mission before remembering she asked for two favors. "What else did you need?"
Yang instantly perked up knowing he'd agreed. "I was wondering, since you have a lot of space in your dorm, could we hold the party in your room? Ruby would be suspicious if the others tried to keep her away from our room, and team JNPR's room doesn't have enough space since they all have their stuff crowding their room."
Kaiser was alright with this infinitely easier task, all he had to do was arrange the beds and set up his desk and shelves like a snack table.
"Yeah that's okay, I'll just need a bit of time to get my room ready."
Yang only pumped her fist in response, glee was apparent on her. "Good man, I knew you wouldn't let me down!" The blonde brawler slung her duffle bag around her shoulder. "Meet me in the cafeteria kitchens when you have the eggs, you're the best Kai!"
With that, Yang ran off for her preparations.
/-/
Everybody called it the chicken farm, but it was more like a glorified shed deep in a forested part of Beacon academy. Since it was on school grounds, there was an unlikely chance of grimm appearing.
Kaiser's mask zoomed in on to his target of choice, giving the boy a close view of the large wooden shed despite being in a tree 200ft away.
The spy wore a simple green T-shirt to blend in the foliage of the trees, making for simple yet effective camouflage.
Kaiser jumped from branch to branch until he was near the chicken farm, it had minimal security. Minimal security meaning Professor Port was sitting at a wooden picnic table a couple meters away from the simple oak shed. The spy watched as Port ate breakfast on this particular Sunday morning.
"Gotta love that man's dedication to work." Kaiser softly muttered. From where he stood, there were two approaches he could take to getting the eggs.
Option 1: The diversionary route. One should always make sure that there is no danger in their surroundings, so what happens when you hear something strange. Well you go investigate the noise! Most of the times this involved starting a fire or planting some small charges to create panic. Unfortunately, Kaiser didn't carry any materials with him to start one. So the spy might have to consider his other option, no matter how much risk that carried.
Option 2: The confidence route. Nobody questions someone who looks like they know what they are doing, this strategy all depended on Kaiser's confidence. The spy would casually walk up to the chicken farm and probably get stopped by Port, he'd give off the excuse that Professor Peach sent him to fetch some eggs. A major disadvantage to that was if Peach had explicitly told Port that nobody was to go in the farm except herself, then Port might make a call asking if she really sent somebody. If Peach picked up, then Kaiser would really be in trouble.
Kaiser idly wondered if he could take Port in a fight, he dismissed it as he didn't want to be rude to the jovial Professor. Instead, Kaiser traveled through the branches to circle around the clearing while still hidden. Late nights of parkour and freerunning practice have done wonders for his spatial awareness while moving at a quick pace.
Eventually Kaiser settled himself on a tree with a wide trunk and solid foundation of roots, he was going to need a good grip to stay still for his plan. The boy aimed his left arm that was equipped with Great Escape and fired the hook straight into a thin tree all the way across the clearing. The hook embedded itself all the way through the tree.
Now came the hard part, Kaiser let the cable expand a bit as he went behind the tree trunk he was on and wrapped his legs around it. He pressed one of the buttons on the underside of his wrist to retract the cable, the hook was slowly pulling the trunk it was through out of its roots. It was tough as the more it tried to pull the tree the more it strained on Kaiser's arm.
Finally after seven minutes, the tree was completely loose and falling over. Great Escape tore through the trunk and quickly retracted back into the firing mechanism. The thunderous noise was enough to startle Port as he went to investigate the commotion going on behind him.
"Well now, it seems I have another volunteer for my next class." Professor Port brandished his battle axe to fight whatever managed to knock the tree down.
Now was Kaiser's chance as he dove from the tree and rolled onto the ground, the boy kept low as he rushed towards the shed's door. He swiftly opened and entered before Port returned.
Upon entering, Kaiser was met with rows and rows of shelves holding nests. Chickens ran amok as they explored every square inch of the wooden shed.
The spy zeroed on the middle row of nests checking to see if they had any eggs worth grabbing, some of them were already hatching so it didn't seem worth it. Kaiser soon found a nest of eggs that seemed pretty new, his hand reached out to them only for it to be violently pecked away by a hen.
Kaiser drew back his hand and rubbed it as it was a bit sore, maybe he'd need to do this when the mother hen was away. Kaiser picked up the hen and relocated it to another side of the shed.
"Sorry but I owe a friend a favor." Kaiser said as he went back for the eggs, he forgot that one should never turn their back on an opponent. That fact was evidently supported by the hen attacking the boy's head with a flurry of pecks.
The hen's pecking was extremely irritating, Kaiser had to back away from the nests. The spy stared down the mother hen as she guarded her eggs. Kaiser resigned himself to a corner of the shed while calculating his next move.
Low crunches of freshly cut grass could be heard outside, Port must have given up on his little investigation.
If the hen saw him take the eggs, he'd surely be attacked again. That would be a problem if Kaiser didn't have a semblance that affected sight. Settling himself near the nest, Kaiser leaned against a wooden shelf. The boy shut his eyes and tried to force his semblance to activate, nothing happened.
Maybe his semblance only reacted with how he was feeling at the time. Kaiser tried remembering how defeated he felt against Neo's onslaught, still, nothing came of it.
When Neo was approaching a heavily injured Kaiser, he felt resigned to his own death. Maybe Kane might've been joking around when he claimed that Kaiser had saved Remnant at one point, but the boy did enough fighting to feel like he did. After all his services, Kaiser felt like he deserved some rest. The boy remembered feeling relaxed in knowing that nobody could ask anything more of him after death.
Kaiser slowly cracked his eye open to see the area surrounding him had darkened considerably. No chicken had dared to approach the shadow Kaiser surrounded himself with, the eggs were quickly swiped from the nest in their confusion. The shadows dissipated into nothing as the spy risked a glance outside by peeking through a small gap in the wooden planks of the shed, Port was dutifully watching the farm. Kaiser wouldn't be able to step outside without Port seeing him exit.
Kaiser would have to cause another diversion it seemed, the boy placed the eggs into a small pouch he brought along with him. Chickens fluttered around without a care in the world, it was time to change that.
Kaiser started by grabbing a handful of seeds from a sack out of the chicken's reach. Then, the boy carelessly threw seeds at different parts of the shed. Countless birds flocked to the seed while loudly clucking, all the birds making noises in unison would make someone think something was going on in the chicken farm. One more peek through the small gap showed that Port was walking towards the shed.
Kaiser climbed up the shelves right next to the doorway, he waited as Port swung the door open and proceeded to inspect the commotion occurring inside the shed.
"Now ladies, I think you should all settle down now lest you end up like to boy who cried beowolf." Port stood tall in the doorway, he soon walked up to the chickens and started separating them from the area. "Actually that reminds me of a time when I saved a boy from a beowolf."
Like numerous other times when running a stealth operation, Kaiser kept his breathing to an absolute minimum. As long as he stayed completely still with no sound at all out of Port's view, then he'd make it out without a trace.
Just as Port kneeled over to place chickens in their nest, Kaiser dropped down from the ceiling onto the floor. His knees bent so he'd be down to a full squat to minimize the noise from his landing.
Kaiser was out the door before port put the second chicken in its nest.
It took 20 minutes to arrive at the kitchens, it was empty since the staff took weekends off. Yang had changed back in her regular clothing, she also wore something over her regular clothes.
"Is that my old coat?" Kaiser asked as he set down the eggs next to the other ingredients Yang had on the table.
Yang, who definitely was wearing Kaiser's old coat, only smirked at him. "Didn't think you'd mind seeing as you got a new one."
Kaiser wore his new coat a lot more frequently, it was a fair bit larger and easier to move in. His old coat was practically hanging in the closet collecting dust, guess some people found more use for it.
"How did you even get in my dorm to take it?"
"Sun let me in while you were gone." Yang easily replied.
"Hmm… alright I guess. Mind passing it back to me?"
A devious smile appeared on Yang's face. "I think I'll keep it for now, you don't seem to be using it."
Kaiser just sighed. "That's a very advanced piece of military technology utilizing stealth, movement, and protection."
"Well, now it's one of the coolest coats I own." Yang stuck her tongue out at the boy, she was amused with how he hadn't made an attempt at getting it back. "Can you preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit?" Yang asked as she plopped a stick of butter into a stand mixer.
Kaiser wordlessly followed her order and set the oven, he was then told to spray a round pan with cooking spray before lining it with parchment paper. When he was done he watched as Yang carefully measured out two different sugars before adding them to the mixing bowl.
"You see Kai." Yang cracked the eggs Kaiser brought, she slowly incorporated them one by one. "I want Ruby's first birthday here to be a memorable one." A cap of vanilla extract was slowly dripped into the mixing bowl. "What could be more memorable than a giant cookie cake?"
Kaiser softly grinned. "I don't think you can top that anytime soon."
"I'll find a way, I love her too much not to." Yang poured in the rest of the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and let it mingle with the wet ingredients.
"You really go above and beyond for everyone, don't you Yang?" Kaiser made himself useful by washing the empty dishes that used to hold the flour and such.
"Just for those that are near and dear to me, count yourself lucky." Yang mixed in the chocolate chips with a spatula, the dough was ready.
"Can you pass me the pan, we're gonna be putting it in evenly." Yang started off by putting the large clump of cookie dough into the pan, she passed Kaiser the spatula.
Kaiser pressed the dough down into the pan, his attempt of making everything even.
"When's your birthday, Kai?"
"Why?" Kaiser didn't really see much point in knowing that bit of information, it had been deleted along with his file.
"Why else, we should do something that day. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll get you a balloon." Yang chuckled as she put the pan in the oven, she had Kaiser hold the oven door open for her.
"God's no, If a balloon pops around me I'll probably get a heart attack."
"Alright then, no balloons. But still, when's your birthday?" After the cookie cake was placed in the oven, Yang headed for the fridge. She tossed Kaiser a green apple, he caught the fruit effortlessly while he leaned against a wall.
"January 1st." Kaiser decided to humor the girl. The first of January was actually the date Kane had chosen for Kaiser's birthday upon learning that the boy didn't have one. While Kane couldn't attend due to a mission, he still made sure to write a card for the boy.
"Clear your calendar because you're going to have birthday plans that day." Yang flashed him a bright smile, the boy couldn't help but smile lightly himself.
"Yeah." Kaiser bit into the apple, it was sweet.
/-/
Martin Kane had completed his mission, though, not without many scars and bruises. He spent most of his time recovering in the hospital until he was in prime form again, which would be for like one more week until he was released. At the moment he'd just got done briefing an agent about his mission.
"All of this is quite extensive Kane, is there any way we can shorten this down?"
Kane aimed an incredulous look at the agent. "That was a whole year of my life, how the hell am I supposed to shorten that down?" The agent just shrugged at Kane.
"What have I missed since I died?" Kane tapped through a couple contacts on his scroll, he'd given up the device to be completely discreet about this undercover operation. The ex-Zodiac assassin lay in bed looking through a years worth of notifications.
"Not much, Albert Ross is supposedly thinking about promoting you."
"Nice! I might get payed more, or I might finally get car insurance discounts." Kane looked through some documents on his scroll. "I don't necessarily have a car but having the choice is nice."
"Once you are released from the hospital, Albert Ross would like to set up a meeting with you." The agent informed Kane, they were unamused so far. Whispers throughout the IPS painted Martin Kane as a grizzled veteran of war, not some wise-cracker in his mid-thirties.
"Hey, do you know where that little twerp Kaiser is?" Kane booted up a game in his scroll.
"The blank canvas?"
Kane severely disliked that alias, it really showed how their agency viewed the boy they used. "Sure…"
"I'm afraid he's no longer with us." The agent replied.
Kane's stomach dropped, had he heard right? Shit! He knew that one day, either Kane or the boy were going to bite the bullet. But he didn't think it would be this soon! The blond assassin gulped before asking, "How did he die?"
The agent immediately realized their mistake, they backtracked. "I mean he quit, he left the IPS quite some time ago!"
Kane let out a relieved sigh, so Kaiser isn't dead. Curiosity got the better of him as he pulled up the young boy's IPS file. Most of it was redacted, but it indeed say Kaiser was inactive.
What could you be doing?
/-/
"Can you lean back a little for me?" Coco asked after Velvet snapped another photo.
Kaiser leant back for the camera, he wore a light blue cardigan over a white button up shirt. A bright red scarf was carefully wrapped and tied around the young boy's neck, it was hard getting used to it as it felt like he was being strangled. The spy had taken up Coco on her modeling offer, she was planning to keep the photos for a portfolio on the different outfits she made.
"Do a little lip bite." Coco ordered, she muttered something under her breath. "I know some people who'd pay top dollar to see you do that."
"What?" Kaiser didn't quite catch that second part.
"Lip bite, now! Also, run your hand through your hair." Coco snapped her fingers rapidly.
Kaiser did so, Coco inspected his face to see if there was any way to improve his look.
"SHEESH" Yatsuhashi exclaimed as Velvet snapped another shot. Fox alistair burst out into boisterous laughter, Kaiser was thoroughly confused on what was so funny.
"Uhh…"
"Ignore them, they're just messing around." Coco handed Kaiser a thick envelope, his eyes lit up when he felt just how stuffed the white envelope was. "Go ahead and change in the closet, after that you can go."
Kaiser went into team CFVY's closet to change back into his regular clothes, he was too happy about his payment to pay attention to what was being said behind him.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to spread those photos around?" Velvet asked as soon as she heard the door click shut.
"You need to have the mindset of a businesswoman, Velv." Coco took the camera and uploaded the files to her scroll, her plan was flawless. "You should see the number of freshmen girls thirsting for him, I had to take advantage. Don't sweat it, I even put in a little extra lien for him."
"Ok, if you think so." Velvet was fidgeting as Coco explained the plan.
"The freshmen are fawning over a well mannered, good looking boy with a little danger to him. Not only do I think so, I know that these photos will sell well. I'm going to be making a killing off of these."
Kaiser came out of the closet, the outfit he modeled in folded neatly in his arms. "Where should I put these?"
Coco gestured to the top of the dresser, the outfit was placed there.
"Thank you once again for offering me this opportunity." Kaiser bowed his head towards her.
Coco just slapped the boy on the back, a smirk playing upon her face. "What I'd tell you about formality?"
"To not be so formal?" Kaiser asked.
"You'd better remember that the next time I see you." Coco jokingly pointed a finger at the boy, to which she only received a nod. "Take care of yourself now, kid."
Kaiser left the room pondering why she would call him kid despite being a year apart in age. It didn't matter so much now that he was headed back to his dorm.
It was about 11 minutes when Kaiser finally reached his dorm, seeing as the freshman dorm building was separate from every other year. The boy used his scroll to unlock the door, a cold draft blew through his room.
"Yo, what's happening Kai." Sun lay under the covers of one of the other beds.
"Not much." Kaiser set his scroll down on the dresser, next to it were a few textbooks he might need for the next semester that was starting in a week. "Why open the window if you're going to cover yourself with the blankets?" Kaiser curiously asked.
"My bad, I guess it's just a habit when I lived in Vacuo." Sun fished out his own scroll, he was tapping through some games.
"Ah… I see. Do you miss Vacuo?" Kaiser was arranging his sleepwear: a baggy white T-shirt and sweatpants. He opened his drawer to check if his knife was still there, it comforted him to know the memento was still nearby.
"I guess, really I just miss my team. They should be coming in next week when school starts up."Sun paused for a moment. "I should introduce you to them, I think you'll really like them."
Kaiser pulled a clean towel from his drawer, a cold shower awaited him. "I'd like that, thanks." Kaiser slung the towel over his shoulder. "I'm gonna go ahead and take a-"
Kaiser's scroll chimed, somebody had texted him. The spy picked up the device and typed in the password to see the message. He was sent a document, he'd have to download it.
Once downloaded, the document presented hospital files on a man named Edwin Morris. Morris was admitted into the hospital for a broken leg apparently, other minor details littered the document. The date of admission was around the same time that Cardin told everyone his secret, or more importantly, when Kaiser and Yang fought off someone powered by Hercules.
Kaiser received a notification from the document sender.
We got you a lead, pursue with utmost caution.
Kaiser stared at the message, his grip on the scroll tightened. Mr. Ross' orders were clear, he was to continue this on his own. Kaiser let out a frustrated exhale, his day was ruined by the old man leading the IPS.
"You good man?" Sun asked.
Kaiser snapped out of his frustration, he didn't want to trouble Sun with his problems.
"Yeah, I'm good." Kaiser gave a convincing smile, his temporary roommate was fooled by this. "Just got spoiled for that new James Blond movie. Anyways, as I was saying, I'm going to take a quick shower."
Sun only nodded. "Yeah, I hear ya. I'm hoping to watch the movie with my team without spoilers."
"Good luck with that." Kaiser entered the bathroom, his mind filled with the next steps of his operation.
/-/
An: Didn't mean to get edgy with the chicken scene. Reviews are welcome.