Author's Note: For some reason, when I uploaded chapter nine last week, I never got the alert from FF saying that I had posted a new chapter. Odd.
I tried not to be too explicit in the beginning of this chapter, but well, as I've said before; as characters that I'm writing, Gin and Sherry do not cooperate at all.
On a different note, the ending bit of this chapter is the main reason why I had to split "Three Days With Heiji Hattori" into three parts, and it's actually for a plot-related reason. Yes, shockingly, there's plot in the filler chapter.
Three Days with Heiji Hattori: Part 3
"My god, woman! Was that drug you took an antidote for the Apoptoxin or an aphrodisiac?" Gin gasped and threw his head back on the bed, panting heavily.
With a smug smile on her face, Sherry wiped her mouth clean with the back of her hand and crawled forward over Gin's handsome, sweat-soaked body. "There might be a slight aphrodisiac effect associated with the antidote, but it's difficult to say since it's only been used three times now and twice by me. Kudo did take Ran out to a fancy dinner with the intent of confessing his feelings to her, but unlike me, he's still a virgin," she purred, low and sultry, and covered his mouth with hers, kissing him slow and sensual, tasting every inch of him she could reach.
Gin moaned beneath her and she felt his large hands come up to her shoulders, but then found herself pushed away until she was sitting upright on his stomach, straddling his waist. "You're like a cat in heat," Gin said with a wry chuckle. His hands glided smoothly down her body until they reached her hips wherein he squeezed them and started to sit up. She slid further down his body as he moved forward until she was sitting in his lap and he was gazing lovingly down at her. "But you have to give me a chance to recharge first or else I'll pass out with exhaustion long before the night is over. I don't have a chemically-enhanced libido to match you."
Sherry blushed, but rolled sideways off of him and let him slide off the bed where he knelt down next to his long coat haphazardly discarded on the floor. As soon as she saw the cigarettes and matchbox in his hands, Sherry laughed outright, "Your two greatest vices! If it's not sex, it's smoking!"
Gin ignored her outburst and slotted one of the cigarettes between his teeth then deftly struck a match and lit the end. He extinguished the tiny flame with a flick of his wrist as he took a long drag on the cigarette.
"Does your twin smoke?" she asked as she watched him.
He chuckled and shook his head. It was a bit of a game between them, her trying to learn what she could of Gin's little sister since he refused to reveal her name, even her code name if she had one. "No, she doesn't, and our parents weren't smokers either," he answered.
"You really should cut back on it. It's not healthy," Sherry pointed out.
"I have," he said.
Sherry gave him a skeptical frown. "Since when?"
He glanced over at her and grinned, holding up the cigarette pack for her to see. "Since our last reunion. I used to go through one of these a day. Now I'm down to half a pack."
She raised an impressed eyebrow. "You've cut your chemical consumption in half? Not bad, but what made you finally decide to reduce your smoking intake? You've always been a heavy smoker all five years that I've known you."
"Well…" Gin said with a sly smile on his face, crossing his arms and casually leaning against the dresser directly across from the bed. "A fetching young lady that I am madly in love with may have proposed to me back then and I may have decided I didn't like the idea of cutting my life with her short because of something as stupid as lung cancer if she was being serious."
"Edward…!" she gasped in amazement, her cheeks blushing red of their own accord.
The corner of his lips twitched at the use of his real name. "But once you finish perfecting the Apoptoxin antidote, the next drug you make should be a cure for nicotine addiction."
Her starry-eyed expression disappeared in an instant and she gave a disdainful sniff. "As if it were so easy. Starting from scratch to create such a drug would take years, if it's even possible."
"This coming from the woman who created a drug with the ability to shrink the bodies of adults into those of children," Gin snickered as he turned away from her, looking at the top of the dresser.
"It was a fluke that I made a drug with that effect, and you know it. Besides, creating a drug to combat nicotine addiction would take longer than breaking the habit yourself. You've come this far under your own power, you can go the rest of the way without my help," Sherry insisted, stubbornly not looking at him.
"Do you want anything to eat?"
Her greenish-blue eyes snapped open and she looked back at him. "What?"
Gin, for his part, was staring intently at a long, laminated paper he must have picked up off the dresser. His cigarette pack had taken the paper's place. "I'm ordering room service, so do you want anything? It's not that late in the evening yet, and I imagine your cells use up a lot of energy for the transformations, so if you want any real food before tomorrow morning, now's the time to ask."
"You can't just order room service looking like that!" she protested, but hopped off the bed to join him and read the menu over his shoulder.
He snorted. "Obviously, I'm not going to answer the door while naked, sweet Shiho."
"Ooh, careful, Gin. You're going to make me all hot and bothered again at this rate," she said in a low, teasing purr, stroking her fingers through his long, fine hair.
"Food first, Sherry," he said sternly, however a slight smile tweaked his lips. "After we place the order though, I should have enough time to finish you off as an appetizer before our meal arrives," he murmured seductively.
He was so cruel forcing her to wait. Her loins were already throbbing with renewed lust, and the promise of his head between her thighs making her orgasm wasn't helping at all. "I'm looking forward to it," she said in a husky whisper and stood on tiptoe, planting a soft kiss on his scarred cheek. "Well, I suppose I'll just have this," she said pointing it out on the laminated paper.
Gin sighed in fond exasperation. "Of course you want one of the most expensive items on the menu. Why would I expect otherwise?"
Sherry hummed with a satisfied air. "Aren't I lucky to have such a rich lover? You're the one who said money is no issue," she reminded him.
"As the lady wishes then," he said and left her side for the phone at the desk. "Yes, this is Jin Haido from Room 602. I'd like to order room service…"
It was much colder without his warm body pressed against hers and she was only half paying attention to Gin's phone conversation with the desk worker as she returned to the bed and pulled the top blanket around her shaking shoulders. The sun had long since disappeared behind the mountains, but the moon and the stars had come out in its place and the soft white glow streamed through the balcony window. It glistened magnificently off of Gin's ash-blond hair, revealing the hidden silver strands within. The nightly luminescence also made it possible to see decently without artificial lights. She was glad for it. The nightly solar bodies offered a sort of tranquil serendipity that no man-made light could ever reproduce and Gin never looked finer than under a moonlit sky. If she was the fiery red sunset, then he was the pale silver moon.
"Yes… yes… understood, thank you," Gin said and set the phone back down on the receiver. He started walking back towards the bed and smirked when he saw her bundled up in the blanket. "Cold, Sherry?"
"My furnace walked away from me," she replied.
Gin chuckled and climbed onto the bed with her. "How terrible. I suppose I better warm you back up, shouldn't I? I reckon we have anywhere from ten to twenty minutes until we're interrupted."
"You better get started then," she said with a matching smirk as she shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and laid back down on the bed, spreading her legs for him.
"So demanding," he sighed fondly.
()()()()()
"Oh my god, please, no more," Sherry gasped breathlessly, her fingernails raking his shoulders.
Gin chuckled as he sat up and leaned over her, caressing the side of her face and tucking her sweaty hair behind her ear. "I should hope you've had enough for now, Sherry. Twice in ten minutes is a lot for you," he said gently, though did nothing to mask the smug pride he felt. "Just relax and recuperate with me for a while. We're not going anywhere, you and I."
With a heavy thwump, he fell sideways next to her and pulled her halfway across his chest, cradling her shoulders and idly stroking her short reddish locks. Sherry sighed contentedly and laid her head down over his heart. Her body was still warm and flushed from her orgasm, but she finally seemed to have calmed down from her sexual high. He felt her right hand start lightly tracing patterns across his skin.
"You've changed, Gin," she murmured at last.
He raised an eyebrow in response. "Ohh? How so?"
She smiled and nuzzled her cheek into his chest. "I'm not sure really… you always seemed so formidable and stoic, like a walking ice sculpture able to freeze anyone with a glare. I started developing a crush on you after you and Vodka saved me from that alien that wanted to eat my reproductive organs, but when I realized you were interested in me, I was both thrilled and terrified. No one had ever before looked at me as you did back then, but you were like an impenetrable fortress. I couldn't see how a little girl like me could ever reach you, and a part of me was convinced it would all end horribly for me. Even now, you still give off a bit of that same aura, but it doesn't seem as sharp anymore and it melts away more quickly around me when you don't need it."
"So, what? You're saying you melted my frozen heart?" Gin teased.
"That's ridiculous. Your heart was never frozen," she said with a mock scowl and a playful slap to his shoulder, but the soft smile was quick to reform and she replaced her head back on his chest. "Well-guarded maybe, but not frozen. Even as recently as when I took the Apoptoxin in my lab, you were affectionate with me, but not excessively so, you very rarely lost composure, and it was often difficult for me to tell what you were thinking or feeling."
His treacherous heart skipped a beat and his mouth went dry. He suddenly felt rather light-headed. This… This was no ordinary expression of her feelings. "And now…?" he whispered, his voice hoarse after finally managing to unstick his mouth and form proper words.
"Now…" Sherry began and she raised her head to gaze directly into his eyes. A light blush dusted her pretty face and she smiled shyly. "Now... with me anyways... you're more affectionate… more expressive… and more demonstrative of your feelings, even in public. It doesn't seem so unusual of you to be clingy anymore. Rather than melting a frozen heart, it's more like you've finally allowed me unrestricted access to it."
Gin's sharp green eyes softened into an unmistakably tender expression and his hand that had, until that point, been absently stroking her lovely reddish-brown hair, caressed the length of her neck up to her face and covered her cheek, his thumb smoothing over her fair skin. His heart was light and a gentle warmth was spreading throughout his body that had absolutely nothing to do with Sherry half-laying on top of him. Yes, he supposed she was right. He had sought her first, but through her own merits, this beautiful, perceptive young woman had skillfully weaved her way into the very core of his being and he had allowed her, welcomed her even. She had earned, as she put it, 'unrestricted access to his heart'.
"You've changed too, Sherry," he said quietly.
At once, her fingers stilled and her eyes became guarded. Her brow was furrowed with confusion. "How do you mean?" she demanded.
A playful smile crossed his face. "What, you think I'm the only one capable of change? There's no need to be so defensive, love," he said soothingly, sliding his hand around and massaging the back of her head with his hand, holding her close. "I was just thinking about your behavior today. You were more reckless, yes, but you also seem more light-hearted and playful than you used to be. You're still full of sarcastic comments and your wit is as sharp as ever, but you used to be downright acerbic in the past, if not a tad cruel. Vodka was terrified of you for the longest time because of that wicked mouth of yours."
Sherry's eyes lit up with realization. "Ahh, so that's why he used to clam up whenever he saw me close by! He was really that scared of a thirteen-year-old girl?"
Gin gave her a deadpan glare and flicked her forehead with his finger. "You know how low Vodka's self-esteem is. That thirteen-year-old-girl may have had the face of an angel, but she had the attitude of a queen and her words carried the venom of a viper for all who were unworthy of her highness's favor." He smirked. "You were quite the troublesome little brat back then."
"And you were attracted to that?" she said skeptically.
"More intrigued that such a nice girl as Akemi could have such a little hellion for a sister, especially since she always spoke so fondly of you. I wanted to learn why you were so different from her, but in doing so, I unexpectedly ended up falling in love with you."
Sherry sniffed in amusement and the corner of her mouth quirked into a slight smile. She crossed her arms on his chest and rested her chin upon them. "Well, I guess it only makes sense that I've changed since you last saw me; a lot has happened since then. I've had Vermouth hunt me down and come within seconds of killing me, I've finally come to terms with why I was always so distant with Ran, and I've had time to grow even more attached to those kids than I ever would have thought possible." Her eyes softened and her smile widened into a fond expression. "Maybe their innocence and joyful outlooks are rubbing off on me."
Gin's eyes slowly widened and he stared up at her in amazement. "Could it be...?" he exclaimed. She startled out of her reverie, looking bewildered. "Sherry, you have friends!"
"What?"
"Yes, finally!" he insisted excitedly. "Real friends that you made all on your own without Akemi or I as the instigator! I never thought it would happen, I'm-!"
His tongue froze in his mouth and his joyful expression faltered, his mind already extrapolating to the future the way only he could.
"Hey, Gin, what's wrong? Why are you making that face?" Sherry asked worriedly, her brows contorted with anxiety.
Gin's mouth closed as he stared helplessly at Sherry's pleading expression. She had new friends... but they were outside of the MiB's domain. 'Why can't you have any happiness without suffering for it?' he thought.
"GIN!" She had pushed herself off his chest and her hands were tightly gripping his shoulders, trying to demand answers from his unresponsive form.
There was no happy ending to this situation and Sherry was the one who had to pay for it.
"I'm sorry, Sherry…" he said quietly.
"Huh? Why?!" she snapped, confused and irritated. She didn't understand, but she would shortly.
"When your mission is over… when you finally finish creating the Apoptoxin antidote and can come back home… your friends' memories of you will be erased… because Ai Haibara does not exist."
He could see it, the dawning comprehension and growing horror in her eyes. "No…!" she gasped, her right hand flying to her mouth, her left drawing back to her chest. "No, they can't… I only just… Damn it, why?!" she screamed and harsh, angry tears streamed down her cheeks.
She backed away from him and her hands came up to the sides of her head, tearing at the roots, her expression wild and her eyes unseeing. Only pure, ragged noise escaped her throat until she nearly choked on her tears and bent over her legs in a fetal position, moaning in anguish. It tore his heart to see her like this. He had only seen her in such terrible, raw pain once before, back when she discovered Akemi had been killed. Then, just as now, he had been unable to do anything significant to ease the unbearable agony she was suffering from. The only thing he had been able to do then was hold her and let her cry as he shared her grief over Akemi's death. Now though, he didn't know if she would even want him to touch her. Maybe she hadn't made the connection yet, but she would only have two options available to her when her mission was over. Sherry would either have to return to him in the Men and Black and lose her friends, or she could keep her friends, but only if she gave up the Men in Black forever, which meant forgetting everything... even him...
Gin sat up and shifted to sit on his knees. He caught her arms at the elbows and gently lifted her up. She raised her head and glassy, swollen red eyes set above blotchy cheeks gazed helplessly up at him. He was no idealist; he would not promise everything would be alright. Without a word, he pulled her into his arms and crushed her petite form tight against him. Her arms slipped under his and clung to him desperately. Her body shook terribly from her heavy sobs and his bare shoulder was soon wet with salty tears, but he would never let her go, not ever. Not until the day came when she finally chose what was best for her and pushed him away. He was not convinced that he was the best choice and this new social circle she had become a part of was merely a reminder of that.
She had intrigued him all those years ago from the first moment he laid eyes on her that fateful snowy afternoon and the more time he had spent in her company, the more addicted to her he had become, like finding a rare wine with a taste he simply couldn't get enough of. In his obsession and desire, despite the warnings from Curaçao, the threats from Akemi, and the questionable legal implications involved, he had pursued Sherry, a young teen barely old enough to be a woman. Not too much to be considered either forceful or demanding, but enough to establish he was both undeniably present and equally interested. Young and too innocent to know better, flattered by the affections of a much older man, and flush with the first stirrings of sexual desire, it was inevitable, even natural, that she would choose him. How could she not when he had lured her to him every step of the way? Yes, he had snared the black lamb of the Men in Black: the blossoming, quick-tongued little spitfire that had first intrigued him with her hellish ways.
He was truly an awful person. Manipulative, controlling, possessive, twisted, some might even say evil.
Yet, was it not, in fact, the other way around? That she had captured him instead? It would be apt to describe his love for Sherry as a prison of which she was the sole jail warden. The power she had over his heart was incredible and she had the power to leave him any time she wished. His only power had been to convince her not to, to create the illusion that he was all there was. He had lived on the outside once and he had chosen the Men in Black, but little Sherry had not been given that choice, having been submerged into its existence from the moment of her birth. While the Men in Black was by no means a crime syndicate, it was just as isolated and secretive as the Black Organization it pretended to be. In her time away from him, truly living on the outside mostly untouched by the Organization for the first time in her life, Sherry was slowly peeling back the veil and exploring another way to live, crushing the carefully-crafted illusion between her fingers. Her new friends and her deep attachment to them were proof enough. He was so selfish. He needed her, desperately, but she did not need him. Did not need to choose him. He supposed it wouldn't be long that she would be forced to make her choice and decide between her old life and her new one. Until that time came, he would continue to hold on to this fragile, broken girl who was still trying to pull her life back together in the wake of her sister's passing.
()()()()()
Next morning…
A violent surge of pain threw Sherry forcefully from her previously peaceful sleep with a yelp. "What?" she gasped in shock. "What was- AAH!" she shrieked as another explosion blasted through her and she violently tore out of Gin's arms, curling around her aching, screaming body.
"Sherry! Sherry, what the hell's going on?!" Gin demanded. She distantly felt his hands on her shoulders.
"I-I don't know!" she exclaimed, panting heavily. "I just- just woke up- Aiie! -to this!"
"But this… Isn't this the Apoptoxin symptoms?"
"Ngnh! Impossible!" she protested, but she could feel her panic taking hold. "It hasn't- It hasn't been twenty-four hours yet!" Another jolt shot through her and she clenched her teeth.
"Sherry, it has to be the Apoptoxin! Nothing else makes you scream like this!" he was trying to keep calm, but she could still hear it, the fear edging its way into his deep voice.
"You think I don't know that! Damn it, why's it still so dark?! Gin, what- Grah! -what time is it right now?!"
She was too incapacitated to see his movements, but she felt his long hair brush along her back when he turned his head. "It's 5:56 AM."
"No way…! So early?" she gasped. "I should have had about four more hours-!"
Her words were cut off with another body-shattering vibration from her heart and she felt sweat break out across her forehead. It was no wonder, her body felt so hot and feverish already. But wait, that couldn't be right! That was one of the symptoms, especially for the transformation back to her child form, but it was supposed to come later in the process. She shouldn't be experiencing it just yet! She screwed her eyes shut and focused on just breathing, even as the white-hot inferno built up along with the familiar sensation of melting bones, and burst outward, evicting a tortured scream from her throat. The pain faded fast and she was still breathing, still conscious. She glanced upward out of the corner of her eye up at Gin. He briefly swam out of focus, but her vision righted itself quickly. He looked bigger… taller… and just as bewildered as she felt. So... she really was… back to being Ai Haibara.
"Gin… time?" she asked tiredly.
He quickly glanced over at the clock on the night stand. She saw his mouth thin and his brow furrow before answering. "It's… only 6:15…" he said slowly and looked back at her, his pensive expression unchanging. "That's only twenty minutes."
Haibara nodded slowly and shakily pushed herself up into a sitting position with her small, weakened arms. "Ten minutes shorter than last time… four hours before I should have changed back…"
Soft fabric brushed against her bare back and a blanket came around her shoulders. She gripped the edges and held them around her, giving Gin a silent nod of thanks. He moved to sit next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her snug against his side. She leaned her head against him, her cheek only coming up to rest on his elbow, and closed her eyes, relishing in his warmth and his solid, unwavering presence.
"Why do you think that happened, Sherry?" Gin asked softly, referring to the shorter drug duration.
She'd started thinking through that the moment she'd finished returning to Ai Haibara. "Kudo told me… before I met him… that when he discovered the baijiu had been responsible for returning him to his original form… he had tried to use it a second time later, but was unsuccessful." Her breathing was still quite shallow, but she kept on talking. "His body… had already developed an immunity against the growth properties of baijiu on Apoptoxin victims. And people who take recreational drugs… they often end up using more or resort to the more powerful ones… because their bodies start building a resistance to the type and amount they had been using… and they can't obtain the same effect as when they first started. It can happen with medical drugs too… I think… that might be what happened. My body is building a resistance to the antidote… and if I keep using it to transform, as long as the antidote is only temporary… I'll eventually be unable to return to my adult body."
A heavy silence fell between them after her pronouncement, her words hanging over them like a death sentence. If she continued to use the incomplete antidote with reckless abandon, then she was doomed to remain as Ai Haibara for the rest of her life, regardless of what she wanted… which life she wanted to choose. Maybe it was because the silence was so prominent that the sudden ringing that broke it sounded so loud and made her jump. The only reason she didn't end up falling sideways off the bed was because of Gin's arm still holding her.
"Hm? That's my phone. Who's calling me so early?" Gin muttered under his breath and released her. He slipped off the bed and knelt down next to his coat once again. From within, he retrieved his ringing cellphone and though his back was to her, she saw him hold it up and glance at the screen showing the caller ID. "Curaçao?" he said, sounding surprised.
Haibara's level of alertness increased. Curaçao? She didn't know anyone by that name and it didn't sound like a typical English or Japanese word. Was it another alcohol codename?
Gin answered the call and brought the phone up to his ear. "Yes, it's me, why are you calling? You know I'm not supposed to be working today… I was woken up early by circumstances that were beyond my control, now what's this about? … A Grade A double- but that requires at least a Class 2-D license to own and operate… Let me guess, they don't have one… That's the fifth one this month! Okay, Sherry and I will take care of it. I'll call you back in bit for the rest of the information." With that, Gin hung up and turned to her. "Get dressed. There's a Gorda nearby in illegal possession of a high-class weapon and we're the closest operatives around to deal with it."
Despite the potential danger involved, Haibara happily threw back the blanket and retrieved her child clothes from the bag she'd brought in with her. It'd been so long since she'd done a field assignment like this, she couldn't help being excited. That caller though... She'd heard of a lot of codenames even if she hadn't met the person attached to them, but Curaçao was one she was unfamiliar with.
"Hey, Gin, who was that Curaçao person you were talking to just now? They seemed surprised that you were awake early," she said, half-turning to look at him as she finished pulling her shorts on. Gin himself was already half-dressed and in the process of slipping his green turtleneck on when she asked the question.
"Oh, Curaçao? She's Rum's confidante and a very high-ranking member. I suppose the best way to describe her role is that of a multi-purpose secretary. If Rum needs something done, she's generally the one he sends to carry out his will," he said with a slight huff, looking mildly annoyed.
His head disappeared amidst the green fabric then reappeared through the shirt collar. Both hands reached up to the back of his neck and pulled his hair out, flipping it backward from the constraints of his shirt. He no longer annoyed, but then his eyes met hers and his mouth thinned slightly. What did that expression mean?
Before she could ponder on it though, he opened his mouth and said, "Curaçao is my twin sister."
Haibara gaped at him. "Your…?"
She'd known she would learn the name of Gin's twin eventually, even figured she probably had a codename given how highly-ranked her older brother was, but she never expected she'd learn of the woman's identity so suddenly.
"Sherry, don't just stand there, we have to hurry. Time is of the essence." Gin said. He was already sliding his arms into his long black trench coat.
His words brought her back to reality and she jumped. "Right, right," she muttered distractedly, scrambling to grab the clothes Gin had torn off her last night.
She slung the bag over her shoulders, grabbed the other bag that had her adult clothes from yesterday, and joined Gin waiting for her at the door. "Is that everything?" he asked.
"Do you have the room keys?" she asked. He held them up. "Then yes. Let's go."
They left the room quickly and headed straight for the elevator halfway down the hall. Of course, being that it was not quite 6:30, it was still very quiet all around them, almost stifling so. Haibara shifted her shoulders to adjust the bag straps as she watched the numbers on the screen steadily count down. It was difficult to believe that she hadn't been awake for even an hour yet, and she had already transformed back into a kid, was going to help Gin with a field assignment, and had finally learned the elusive name of his sister. The elevator dinged and opened for them. Gin's long legs carried him out first, but she just managed to catch hold of his coat before he walked too far away from her. He peered down at her from beneath his long bangs.
"Give me your car keys," she said without preamble. "I can get the car started up while you check us out."
A smirk flitted across his face. "Hmph. Divide and conquer, I like it."
From within his coat, he pulled out the keys and dropped them into her hand. She caught them and headed straight for the front doors while Gin turned left at the hotel reception desk. The sky was already beginning to lighten, though the sun had not yet crested the peaks, and Haibara ran straight to the black Porsche. She shoved the key into the lock and turned it. Hearing the click, she opened the door and clambered inside. She haphazardly threw both her bags over the seat into the back and slotted the key into the ignition. The driver's seat was set so far back to accommodate Gin's legs that even as Shiho Miyano, she didn't think she'd be able to reach the pedals without first moving the seat forward. In her current state, she didn't even try.
Clinging on to the steering wheel with one hand and the key in the ignition in the other, Haibara walked her feet forward until she felt the three pedals, the gas, the brake, and the clutch. She supposed most of the modern Porsches were probably automatic models these days, but Gin's was a true vintage from the late 1950s where automatic wasn't an option. Fortunately for her, not only had she learned how to ride a motorcycle, but Gin had taught her how to drive his car 'in the event of an emergency'. That being said, she had never driven his precious baby on any roads, him not having trusted her with it outside of an empty parking lot under the supervision of either himself or Vodka.
It'd been so long since she'd driven it though that she couldn't remember if the clutch needed to be pushed in to start the car or if it just needed to be pushed when shifting from the brake to the gas and when changing gears. Well, better safe than sorry. She pushed in the clutch as far as it would go with one foot, pushed on the brake with her other foot, and turned the ignition. The car roared to life and she took her foot off the clutch now that it was definitely not needed. She peered over the edge of the window and saw Gin striding briskly out the front door.
"You made good time," she complimented as he opened the door.
"Then maybe Curaçao won't be too annoyed at me for once," he said with a smile and replaced her foot on the brake with his. She moved over into the passenger's seat and he slid in, closing the door behind him.
"What are we going to do about my motorcycle?" she asked.
"It'll have to stay here at the hotel for the moment. I'll have someone pick it up and take it to Chianti's villa later," he said. From within an inside chest pocket of his coat, he pulled out his cellphone, dialed a few numbers and then gave it to her. "Hold this for me while I drive. I'm calling Curaçao back."
She could hear the other end of the line ringing without holding the phone to her ear and realized he must have put the call on speaker phone. "Wait, Gin, does she know I'm-?"
She didn't get the chance to finish her question before the woman answered, "Good morning again, Gin. Are you ready for the rest of the information now?"
It was her first time hearing the voice of Gin's sister, the woman codenamed Curaçao, and her first impression of her was that… she sounded like she was related to Gin. They didn't have the same voice at all, but the smooth, rhythmic inflection of her speech and the business-like tone were shockingly similar. Her voice also carried the slightly playful intonation that Haibara recognized as sibling teasing.
"Yes, Sherry and I are in the car, so tell us where we're going first."
"I'll upload it to the GPS in your car."
"Understood," he said and pushed a button on the dashboard.
Immediately, the top of the dash flipped up to reveal a small screen that came to life with a flash of blue light and a map appeared. On the map, there was a blue triangle indicating their position, but nothing else. Seconds later, a red circle appeared on the map and a purple line connected the triangle to it.
"Hm. About ten minutes away. You weren't kidding; that's not far from here at all," Gin muttered as he observed the map.
"Told you so," Curaçao said with a teasing lilt to her voice.
"Right then…" Gin shifted the car into first gear and started driving out of the parking lot. "So, we're confiscating a Grade A, double-shot plasma rifle from an unlicensed user, a Gorda whose native name is Chisenvaal, but goes by Riku Masaki here on Earth. Is that right?"
"A concise and accurate summation."
Gin frowned slightly. "The name doesn't sound familiar to me, but Gordas are semi-common. Any previous criminal record to speak of?"
"Not really. Just a few cases of petty theft and shoplifting-"
"-But nothing that suggests illegal high-class weapons possession is part of their usual fare," Gin finished.
"We also have reason to believe that the weapons dealer Chisenvaal purchased the gun from is close by."
"Eh? Why, was the gun still tagged?" Haibara asked in disbelief before she could stop herself. She'd been letting Gin do all the talking at this point because as she still hadn't been officially introduced to the woman, she had felt awkward about the idea of butting in.
"Ahh, little Miss Sherry, four years since Gin started dating you, and at last we meet, in a sense. Since I don't hear him protesting, I suppose this means my big brother has finally let you in on my identity, though I don't know why he kept it a secret for so long. Really Gin, I know you're paranoid, but this was ridiculous, even for you."
Haibara wasn't sure whether the oddest thing was hearing Gin actually being called 'big brother' or hearing someone else poke fun at him. No wonder he'd known how to handle her attitude when she was younger. He'd been putting up with that kind of behavior for about twenty years already.
"So, you know about me and Gin, Miss Curaçao-?"
Gin snorted loudly and laughed not at all quietly to himself. "Her? A 'Miss'? Ha!"
"Don't be an ass!" Curaçao snapped. When she spoke again, her tone was back to being calm and polite. "You don't have to call me 'Miss', Sherry. Just Curaçao will do just fine, but yes, I know about you and Gin. To be fair, I've known about you since my creepy, evil twin started obsessing over you when you were only thirteen, buuut since you haven't been scarred for life and run from him in terror, I suppose he must be doing something right." Haibara could practically hear her rolling her eyes in skepticism.
"Oh, and I suppose Rum was soo much better," Gin bit out with unusually venomous sarcasm.
"I was already eighteen and Rum still waited until I was twenty."
"He was double your age!"
"You were the one walking a fine line between legal and illegal! Fifteen, Gin! You couldn't have waited until she was at least eighteen?!"
"Hey, hey, guys, don't fight!" Haibara protested. She had the distinct impression that this was not the first time they'd argued about this. "Curaçao, it's okay. Even if legally, it was a little questionable..."
It was more than 'a little', but Gin had plenty of opportunities to seduce her before the night she finally lost her virginity to him, and he'd always been the one to hold back in their relationship. It wasn't his fault she had been too young and stubborn and aggressive to take 'no' for an answer.
"... Gin's been really good to me these past five years," she continued. "You don't have to worry; he's never once broken his promise to Akemi."
Silence fell briefly between the occupants in the car and on the phone, and it was broken by Curaçao who released a heavy sigh. "Okay… I'm sorry Sherry. I was only acquainted with your sister through Gin, but he always had nothing but good things to say about her. I actually thought that they might start dating before Akai came into the picture, but when I learned he'd started pursuing you, young as you were, I was furious. Mama and Papa had raised us better than that. But when Akemi didn't interfere, then I decided I wouldn't either. As long as she was okay with his actions, then so was I. Regardless of the circumstances then, your relationship is legal now, so if you're still happy with Gin after all this time, then I guess I'll let it go. You hear that, Gin? I'm letting this go, so don't make me regret it or I'll pummel you into dust, twin or not!"
"I hear you, I hear you," Gin sighed wearily.
"Right, maybe we should start over. I'm Emma, the good Kuroda twin, codenamed Curaçao. It's nice to finally meet you, Shiho Miyano."
"Ah, no, the pleasure is all mine, Emma Kuroda. And… it's not much, but thank you for thinking of me back then."
"Any time, Sherry," she said gently and Haibara didn't have to see her face to imagine she had the same slight smile that Gin often wore.
"Alright, I let you two get off-topic because this is your first time interacting with each other, but we have a job to do," Gin reminded them. "Curaçao, why does the Organization believe the weapons dealer is close to where Chisenvaal is?"
"You already know about the four other instances of illegal weapons usage this month alone. Well, the Organization has been following up on leads regarding their original source, and the best we'd been able to narrow it down until now was in the mountain range you're currently driving," Curaçao explained.
"Fair enough, but what changed that you called me so early?"
"A local convenience store's outdoor security camera caught Chisenvaal on video with a large, suspicious-looking chrome case and the MiB's National Surveillance System picked up on it and alerted the proper persons. The investigation of the footage of the case's size, strength, and material type suggests the Grade A double-shot plasma rifle I mentioned earlier, but also, it looked like the vacuum seal was still unbroken."
"But plasma weapons aren't vacuum-sealed at all unless they're being prepared for interplanetary or intergalactic space travel," Haibara said.
"Exactly."
"I see," Gin said, smirking slightly. "An alien, whose only criminal history is petty theft, just carrying around a high-powered and still vacuum-sealed plasma rifle in the open? Sounds like a smuggling operation to me."
"That's what the Organization believes too."
"So, we're to apprehend Chisenvaal, confiscate the plasma rifle from her possession, and see if we can interrogate her for information about this smuggling operation," Haibara summarized.
"You got it, little Sherry!" Curaçao said brightly.
"Thanks for the briefing. Be sure to have people on stand-by ready to respond in a moment's notice. This may turn out to be bigger than the two of us can handle. I won't call you back, but I'm sure you'll hear everything from Rum or 'that person' himself after Sherry and I have done our part," Gin said.
"Okay, bye Gin, and take care, Sherry."
"I will, Curaçao. Thank you," Haibara said and hung up.
Almost immediately, Gin grumbled, "Damn talkative pest."
Haibara smirked as she handed Gin's phone back to him. He took it from her and repocketed it. "That's the job of a younger sister, to get their older sibling in trouble with the significant other. You wouldn't believe how often I embarrassed Akemi in front of Akai with something I said."
"I can believe it," he retorted with a knowing look.
"Well, she definitely sounds related to you. And who'd have thought just a few minutes of conversation would be so insightful?" she said with a teasing glint in her eyes. "I guess your sister and Rum are in some kind of relationship and you're still not happy about it?"
He just glared at her out of the corner of his eye and she giggled.
"Well, that answers that question. I already knew your mother was German, but I didn't expect for you to call your dad by the English 'Papa', rather than the German 'Vater' or the Japanese 'Otou-san'. Your sister respected mine and she was unhappy about our relationship forming, not because she didn't like me, but because she was afraid I would get hurt by you. And best of all, her real name is Emma. Emma and Edward Kuroda. Kinda predictable that twins would be given the same first initial like that."
"That was our mother's doing."
"I figured as much. On a different topic, Curaçao mentioned four other instances of illegal weapons usage this month?" she said, changing the subject.
"Yeah, the others were all in possession of similar Grade A and AA plasma weapons, but were a lot more skillful than our current culprit in both hiding them and using them. We were honestly lucky to catch the ones we did, but that's what bothers me."
"Oh? How come?" she asked, surprised.
"Successful smuggling relies on proper timing and planning with a bit of luck, and this is especially true if large quantities of items are being smuggled in illegally. There's a risk that a small portion of the cargo will be found and confiscated, but most of it will probably safely make its way through the security measures, particularly in countries with more lax regulations. Speed by itself is not a critical aspect of successful large-scale smuggling operations. The fact that we've caught so many of these high-powered weapons suggests only one thing: the original source is carrying them in bulk."
"And does our catching them in such a short timeframe mean anything as well?"
"It does," he said darkly. "Whoever's behind this is feeling bold enough that they don't care about the law enforcement."
Haibara smirked. "Then let's make sure we remind them why they should care about us." She pushed one of the buttons just below the radio and the clock.
The dash in front of her flipped over 180 degrees and revealed two shiny silver handguns on a velvet cushion. They were similar in shape to a Glock pistol, but more rounded and with dull blue streaks all along the barrels and in the bottom left corner of the cushion were two large fluorescent blue cartridges. Set in the right bottom corner was a completely different-looking cartridge in fluorescent red.
"I'll just borrow one of these 'Firestorms' as a safety precaution if you don't mind," she said as she picked one up and loaded one of the blue cartridges into it. Instantly, the dark blue lines along the barrel of the gun lit up with the same brightness of the cartridge. "Do you want to use the other one for this operation or would you rather use the plasma converter for the Beretta like you usually do?"
Gin tsked in annoyance. "I'll go with the Firestorm this time."
Haibara's eyes widened. "That's new," she muttered as she picked up the left-handed model and loaded the other plasma cartridge into the gun. "Any particular reason?"
He reached into his jacket and removed his signature weapon from its shoulder holster, placing it carefully in her hand. "Yeah, something went wrong the last time I used the plasma converter." She put the Beretta on the cushion the Firestorm had previously rested on and held the Firestorm out for Gin to take. He did so and replaced it in his shoulder holster while he continued talking. "Fortunately, I didn't see any damage with the functionality of the Beretta itself when I serviced it, so the problem's likely in the conversion process, but I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to take the cartridge to the labs and troubleshoot it."
"Poor you," she teased. "I presume you already have a game plan?"
"I want this guy apprehended as quick as possible. Just one warning to surrender peacefully and that's it and we should bring the portable dehydrator pods for temporary containment until we can bring her in for processing. Gordas look a lot like gray potatoes on tree-stump-like legs. In general, they aren't that smart, but they're very resilient to make up for it, so don't be afraid to shoot. It'll take more than a few shots of plasma to accidentally kill one, no matter where you strike it. Don't try and engage it in close-combat either. You won't win and you'll end up flying with half the bones in your body broken from one punch."
"So you're saying that if Chisenvaal gives us trouble, then we have to shoot to subdue her?"
"Pretty much. They don't have any weak points per se, but if you concentrate fire in the middle of their bodies, you can compromise their core and throw off their center of gravity."
"And after we've done that?"
A wide, maniacal grin spread across Gin's face. It was not unlike the one he'd worn when confronting her on top of the Haido City Hotel when he thought she was an alien imposter. Not even his expressions at the shooting range yesterday could compare to that of the monster lurking behind his eyes that caused a shiver to run down her spine. Then he said in a low, savage voice, "I squeeze her for everything she knows about the one who illegally sold her that plasma rifle."
She supposed this was the reason Curaçao called him the 'evil' twin. "Since I'm not officially supposed to be taking part in such field assignments, I'll stay hidden out of the way and offer you support cover."
"I appreciate it. Oh, and take this too, just in case."
From another inside pocket of his coat (she swore, the man's coat must be made of nothing but pockets), he pulled out the neuralyzer and tossed it in her direction. She caught it with ease then popped open the middle storage compartment and fished around for a bit. As soon as her hand brushed against a smooth cloth, she grasped it and pulled it out, revealing it to be a long black sash, exactly like the one Gin used to tie his coat shut. The event that had given rise to the necessity of him storing a spare belt in the middle compartment of his car had been horrifically embarrassing at the time, but today, it would serve her well in holding on to the neuralyzer while keeping her hands free. If there were any civilians around when they caught up to and apprehended Chisenvaal, then it was her responsibility to make them forget everything. Gin would be too preoccupied with the Gorda. Haibara was hoping that the early morning hour would work in their favor and she wouldn't have to worry about needing to erase anyone's memories. She wrapped the black fabric around the handle of the neuralyzer then looped the sash around her waist and up across her chest, tying it off at her shoulder.
"Okay, we're getting close now," Gin murmured.
Their triangle on the screen was almost on the dot. Instead of carrying through with the rest of the drive though, Gin parked the car off to the side. Haibara got out when Gin stopped the car and rejoined him at the trunk. He popped it open and she quickly scanned the interior. Finding exactly what she was looking for, she picked out one of the foot-long dehydration pods and the alien-tuned infrared tracker while Gin pinned an energy displacement shield to the front of his turtleneck in the center of his chest. She tapped a few keys on the control panel to specify Gorda physiology and adjust for the current search area. After a few seconds, the screen adjusted and a red blip appeared some kilometers southwest of their current position. She handed the tracker to Gin and he accepted the offering, nodding silently at the information and handed it back to her. They both got back into the car without a word and Gin resumed driving. Haibara kept her gaze fixed on the tracker screen and gave him directions about Chisenvaal's location in relation to them while he made sure they didn't go off the road.
"Gin, we're less than 500 meters away," she warned him after a while.
"How has the target's speed been?" he asked.
"Is a Gorda's normal walking pace usually slow?" she countered.
"Surprisingly for their size, no."
"Then Chisenvaal's speed has been normal. She's not on the run and doesn't appear to suspect that law enforcement is chasing after her already," she answered. "So, are we going to pull up in the car, full-stop, right in front of her or are we going to approach stealthily on foot?"
"The latter," Gin said immediately. "I don't want my Porsche totaled by a rampaging Gorda."
"Can't have that, now can we?" Haibara said with a teasing smirk as Gin once more pulled off to the side of the road and parked his car.
They got out and double-checked they had all of the necessary equipment before looking at the other and nodding once. It'd be really bad if they were caught unprepared without any chance for back-up arriving quickly. Looking at the screen of the infrared tracker, it told her that Chisenvaal was still moving along the direction of the road, but was a good way 'off-the-path' in the nearby forest so to speak. Was she on her way to a hiding spot or in-transit to the next town over? Either way, the possibility of needing to use the neuralyzer on anyone had just gone way down. Gin had just drawn his gun from the shoulder holster when she handed the tracker to him once more. This time when he took it, he didn't give it back, but held it in his right hand close to his chest as he quickly stalked forward, his left hand pointing the loaded gun down at the ground.
Haibara fell into step several meters back, keeping one eye on him and the other on their surroundings as they moved. It was both nostalgic and refreshing how easily she slipped back into the old rhythm of working on a field assignment with Gin. By training and preference, she was a biochemist and most of her work for the Organization had focused around that, but there were times she'd had to help out with field assignments and even as Sherry, Gin had always taken up front position, his greater experience enabling him to react and take advantage situations much quicker than she could have. Being further back also let her cover his blind spots while reducing the danger risk to herself.
Gin slowed down abruptly and she halted too. He was crouched slightly and his shoulders were tense with anticipation. His right arm moved and Haibara knew he'd shoved the tracker into his jacket, stuffing out of the way. His right hand free, he silently pointed to his ear and made a motion as if to cup it, then waved his hand forward. 'Listen and follow'. He didn't wait for a response from her (and wasn't expecting one either) and resumed moving forward at a slower pace. Haibara strained her ears trying to hear what Gin had while trying to keep as quiet as possible. But then she eventually heard it, a sound so low it was almost infrasonic, a heavy thrumming sound. Was that the Gorda? She didn't see any sign of it yet and Gin's description of the species had left her with the impression that they were at least human-sized, if not bigger. Well, Gin knew better than she did what they were looking for; she would just follow his lead.
The pair of them stalked quietly through the slightly brighter forest (the only sign that any real time had passed) when Gin stopped again and pointed to something a little off to his right center. This time she saw it: the uninteresting figure of a tall human woman. Haibara knew full-well that it was probably Chisenvaal, or rather her legal alias Riku Masaki, especially considering the large, strange-looking case she was carrying without apparent difficulty in only one hand, but she'd still been hoping to see the alien's true form.
"Chisenvaal!" Gin shouted clear through the trees to the Gorda. Haibara quickly scrambled behind a tree before she was seen and set the containment pod on the ground next to her. "This is the Men in Black! You are under arrest for illegal possession of a restricted weapon! I'm giving you only one chance to surrender the weapon now and come quietly or else I'm bringing you in by force!"
What happened next wasn't so much a roar as it was a blast of noise that pounded directly into her skull. She belatedly realized it was laughter and then Chisenvaal spoke in a deep, booming voice. "WITH ONLY ONE MAN? I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY, MIB SCUM!"
"Okay, Sherry, you heard her, get ready…!" Gin warned.
The ground beneath them literally started shaking in a rapid, rhythmic pattern. Alarmed, Haibara glanced around her hiding place and her jaw fell open in shock. The human skin had been discarded and in its place stood a four-meter-tall, oblong-shaped, stone-gray behemoth with thick legs carrying it forward straight towards Gin at an alarmingly-fast rate. Gin, on the other hand, planted his feet and aimed directly in the center of the Gorda's massive bulk, unfazed by the several tons of alien charging like a bull elephant. Three shots of crackling hot blue plasma blasted out of Gin's gun in quick succession, straight at the Gorda. The first shot landed on-target and didn't appear to do anything and neither did the second, but when the third made impact, the Gorda's forward motion faltered and she stumbled, but her tough skin was still undamaged. Gin wasn't kidding when he said Gordas were tough.
"We have to wear her down. I'll keep her focus on me and you attack from the rear," Gin explained quickly and darted right, away from her position and out of the path of the rampaging Gorda.
The Gorda may have had incredible strength, a body like a fortress, and could run fast, but she was too big to be able to keep up with Gin's sudden change of direction and, as she skidded to a halt, tossing huge swaths of dirt up into the air in the process, Haibara observed that it took her quite a while to slow down enough to turn at all. The task of wearing her down long enough to compromise her core no longer seemed like quite such an impossible task as long as the two of them managed to stay out of her trajectory. Even if Chisenvaal did get too close to Gin and he took a hit, the energy displacement shield he'd armed himself with should be strong enough to protect him, she hoped…
Chisenvaal took off once more in Gin's direction, away from her and Haibara took her chance to move out from behind the tree to take aim at the center of the Gorda's unprotected back. She waited… taking into account the Gorda's natural running gait, the distance, the lack of wind… and squeezed the trigger three times. Blue plasma shot out and just like Gin's first shots, only the last one seemed to have any effect. She quickly fired another one, and this time the Gorda grunted in pain, as if she'd actually felt that one, but then an explosion of blue struck her from the front and she roared. She had definitely felt that. Gin moved into view once more and the Gorda, again, had to slow down to change direction and go after him. Together, she and Gin tag-teamed against Chisenvaal in this way and the Gorda surprisingly never once tried to change tactics (Gin was right, they weren't that smart) until at last, something changed. A small crack had appeared in the center of her back.
"Gin, her back is starting to crack!" she called out to him.
"Her front too!" he shouted back. "One more triple volley should be enough to end this, especially if we both hit her at the same time!"
Haibara moved sideways into a more open area and fixed her aim on the crack. "Okay, I'm ready!"
"On three then! One, two, three!"
She fired off three shots and they struck her target right in the center of the crack at the same time Gin's reached their mark. Upon impact, the single crack Haibara had aimed for widened into a network of crevices expanding outward and the Gorda released a blood-curdling shriek of agony. She came to a halt, bent forward slightly, and then toppled sideways. Haibara literally felt her feet leave the ground from the vibration of the fall.
She exhaled in relief and went back to the tree she'd originally hidden behind to retrieve the containment pod. She first made another loop in the black sash as a makeshift holster for the Firestorm and then picked up the containment pod. Haibara opened up the back panel and punched in the activation code to prime the device for criminal dehydration. The light sensor at the top part of the panel above the numbers keypad lit up with a yellow light and the pod hummed in her hands. It would take about a minute or two to warm up and the light would turn green when it was ready, but she wasn't worried. Gin still needed to interrogate Chisenvaal on what she knew about the weapons smuggling and she had no idea how long that would take.
She turned around to start walking back to Gin and the Gorda when she faltered mid-step, taking in the scene before her. Chisenvaal was still laying sideways on the ground and Gin was standing next to her with the confiscated chrome case in one hand and his gun in the other pressed right into the heavily-cracked, smoking gray flesh of her belly with a cruel, twisted smile on his face.
"PLEASE! HAVE MERCY! MERCY!" Chisenvaal begged in her deep, booming voice. Haibara guessed that was just how Gordas naturally sounded.
Gin chuckled darkly. "Oh, but I already offered it, remember? I gave you the option to surrender without making a fuss and you rejected it. Even so, surely even you can appreciate this kind of mercy. Instead of killing you, I'm letting you live. Isn't that nice of me?"
Haibara clutched the containment pod instinctively, staring fearfully at the scene before her. It was not the first time that she had seen Gin interrogating a criminal for information like this and it gave her no pleasure to witness it again. Pretending to be a ruthless murderer was one thing. Gloatingly threatening someone's life with intent was another matter entirely.
"Make no mistake though; your life means nothing to me and I have no hang-ups about killing pitiful small fry like you if you waste my time and don't give me the information I'm looking for."
The irony of Gin calling something over four meters tall and weighing several tons 'small' was not lost on Haibara.
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE," Chisenvaal said bravely, but even Haibara could hear the uncertain trembling in her voice.
Gin looked frighteningly amused. "Ohh? You believe that, do you?" He lowered the pitch of his voice and it became all the more sinister for it. "Then let me fill you in on who exactly I am, so that you'll understand perfectly just what kind of 'MiB scum' you chose to antagonize today. I am not your average MiB agent. I don't place much stock on the rules and laws agents must stick to when handling alien criminals. If you try and attack me, you can be damned sure I'll retaliate in kind and pay you back tenfold, regardless of the laws. You see, Chisenvaal, I've made a bit of a name for myself among Earth's resident alien population. You may have even heard of it. Does the name Jynnan Tonnyx sound familiar at all?"
Haibara frowned slightly. She was pretty sure she was mistaken, but it sounded like he'd said 'gin and tonic', which made no sense because it was one of the few Earth-based (or any) cocktails she actually knew.
Interestingly, the Gorda's response to the word was far more dramatic. The tiny black dots that served as her eyes doubled in size and the gaping maw that was her mouth fell open. It could only be described as an expression of open-mouthed horror. "Y-YOU'RE…! YOU CAN'T BE…!"
"I promise you, I very much am, so unless you want to end up like my other victims, I suggest you start talking if you don't want me shatter your core into a thousand fragments," he said in a savage growl and pressed his gun even deeper into the Gorda's stomach, making her cry out.
Haibara jolted forward in alarm with a mind to intervene when Chisenvaal shrieked, "NO! I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"
"From where and whom did you get the vacuum-sealed Grade A double-shot plasma rifle?" Gin demanded.
"TWO MILES INTO THE MOUNTAINS NORTH OF A SMALL TOWN CALLED NANBUSHI ABOUT TWENTY MILES NORTHEAST OF HERE! THE ONE WHO SOLD IT TO ME WAS NAMED Y'KRON, BUT I DON'T KNOW HIS SPECIES. HE HAD A WEAPONS DEPOT DEEP UNDERGROUND, BELOW AN EMPTY CABIN AND THAT'S THE ENTRANCE. I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING MORE THAN THAT, I SWEAR!"
Despite the loud volume (or maybe because of it), Haibara found she had a very hard time understanding what Chisenvaal had actually said in response to Gin's question. Her skull was still pounding from the booming soundwaves.
Gin must have been satisfied with the answer though, because he nodded slightly. "Your past criminal history with the MiB has mostly involved petty theft and shoplifting, Chisenvaal. Why the sudden interest in high-powered plasma weaponry?"
A terrified expression took over the Gorda's smooth facial features. "IT'S… IT'S FOR PROTECTION…!"
Gin looked slightly perplexed, but mostly unimpressed. "Protection from what?"
"THERE ARE RUMORS GOING AROUND… OF A POWERFUL EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENTITY THAT HAS LIVED IN THE SHADOWS OF THIS PLANET FOR OVER A HUNDRED YEARS, BEING STIRRED FROM ITS SLUMBER AND IS ON THE MOVE."
"Impossible," Gin said flatly. "Aliens first made contact with humans in America in 1961."
"IT'S TRUE!" Chisenvaal protested, "THIS ENTITY IS RARE, EVEN AMONG ALIENS AND IT WAS HERE LONG BEFORE YOU MEN IN BLACK EVEN EXISTED!"
From the way his eyes were narrowing into thin slits, Haibara could tell that Gin was quickly losing patience, and she ran forward to intervene before his irritation resulted in a fatal outcome for the wounded alien. "If what you say is true, then does this 'powerful extraterrestrial entity' have a name or some kind of identity?" she asked.
Chisenvaal shook her head slowly. "ITS PRESENCE IS SECRETIVE, ITS MOTIVE A MYSTERY, ITS NAME UNKNOWN. THERE IS ONLY ONE THING THAT SEEMS TO BE KNOWN FOR CERTAIN, BUT IT WILL NOT HELP YOU FIND IT OR IDENTIFY IT. THEIR KIND WERE BELIEVED TO BE EXTINCT OVER 300 YEARS AGO WHEN THEIR PLANET'S STAR BURNT OUT."
"Well, what was the name of this alien's species?" Haibara pressed.
"THEY WERE CALLED 'PANDORA'."
"Pandora?" Haibara repeated, giving Gin a wondering look. Was this alien telling the truth? And if she was, what were the chances that their species would have a name that also happened to have significance in Ancient Greek mythology?
Gin sniffed in disdain. "Hmph, I've gotten everything I wanted out of her. You can contain her now."
He pulled out his phone and started dialing buttons, so Haibara walked right up to the Gorda and held the containment pod out front with the opening aimed directly at the alien. The yellow light sensor that had illuminated on the back panel when she activated the priming mechanism had since turned green and she pressed the big white rectangular button underneath the number pad. A beam of blue light streamed outward from the interior of the pod. As soon as it touched the Gorda's skin, it spread out like a grid until it covered her whole body and then she disappeared in a flash of light. Turning the containment pod 180 degrees in her hand, Chisenvaal's form was now dehydrated and no bigger than a child's action figure. Haibara quickly sealed the pod shut and punched the locking code into that same number pad on the back panel. The green light changed to red in response. Now nobody but a registered Men in Black agent would know the key to release the culprit.
She lowered her arms and glanced back up at Gin who was still talking on the phone. Judging from his abnormally deferential speech, he was speaking to 'that person'. "… request a plasma containment field and gravity beam available for use as precautionary measures if the Gorda was telling the truth and it turns out there is a plasma weapons depot at the described location… Yes sir, I'll contact you again once I have ascertained the truth of the Gorda's words." He hung up and pocketed his phone. "Let's go, Sherry."
Haibara fell into step beside him and continued to stare up at him, waiting for him to fill her in on what was happening next.
"We're going to investigate that cabin Chisenvaal mentioned. 'That person' is currently arranging for back-up personnel to meet us up there just in case. I also have plasma containment equipment on standby as a worst-case scenario," Gin explained.
"What do you think about what she said at the end? About that Pandora alien?" she asked.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Like I said, the first alien contact with humans was in 1961 in America. Even if there was some alien that had arrived on Earth before that point, the technological advancements we've made since then mean that we would have discovered such a refugee's existence a long time ago and no such alien exists."
Haibara raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly. "You think she was lying then?"
"Not if she honestly believed it and I can't ignore the fact that something has gotten all these aliens stirred up recently if even small fry are buying up illegal plasma weapons left and right," Gin said with a shrug. "A story with such a rare and powerful being like that though? It sounds like nothing more than occult nonsense."
Haibara narrowed her eyes. "Speaking of stirred up aliens…" she said in a low voice. "What was that word you told Chisenvaal?"
One of his green eyes peered down at her from under his bangs. "Hm? What word?"
"The nickname that the alien communities have given you and terrified Chisenvaal senseless as soon as she heard it? It sounded similar to 'gin and tonic', but I don't think I heard right," she elaborated.
His eye widened a fraction and a tick appeared in his cheek. "Ah, that one. It does sound a lot like that cocktail, doesn't it? I'm just surprised you haven't heard my nickname sooner; I've had it for eight years now. The word is Jynnan Tonnyx."
"I presume it's not a good nickname."
"Yeah. From what I've gathered, it has a cruel, malicious intonation that doesn't translate well into human language, but it very crudely means 'Silver Bullet'." Haibara was about to ask how he'd earned the name when he preemptively answered her, "It's because among the Men in Black, I'm infamous among the alien criminal world for my merciless nature in snuffing out their existence."
Haibara contemplated this in silence as she observed the man next to her. She supposed it was true and from his enemies' perspectives, he probably more than deserved the name. It was interesting that the best translation for such a word was 'Silver Bullet'. Was there some significance there? Surely there was a more obvious or relevant translation than that? And she also couldn't get her mind off of that Pandora alien that Chisenvaal mentioned. Gin was utterly convinced that it was hogwash, but was that all there was to it? Even he accepted the idea that there might be something big going on that had the lower-class criminals in a panic. Was it really so impossible for an alien to have arrived on Earth before First Contact was officially made, and have escaped MiB detection all this time?
Hm, I guess there was more plot to this chapter than I realized. That makes me feel a bit better at least. I didn't plan on Haibara learning Curacao was Gin's sister and I didn't plan on writing any of the alien stuff.
The word 'Jynnan Tonnyx' comes from Douglas Adams' novel "The Last Restaurant at the End of the Universe". I haven't read the book, but I found out about it on the Wikipedia article for the cocktail, gin and tonic. Since it's already an alien word and I thought it looked cool, I decided to use the word here. As for it's translation meaning 'Silver Bullet', that was just me having fun with wordplay. Gin's hair is a silvery ash-blond color and his codename pronounced with a hard 'g' means 'silver' in Japanese. In this way 'Silver Bullet' could be translated as 'Gin's Bullet'.
The next chapter starts the 'Clash of Red and Black' set.