Muchas gracias for all the reviews! They're very encouraging, and some of them actually made me laugh out loud..although I don't reply personally to reviews, rest assured, they really make my day :) And thanks for pointing out any mistakes; it's very much appreciated. Here's the next chapter, as promised!
Warning: Violence, swearing, and will probably have some girl-on-girl action in the future. All the good stuff. ;)
Disclaimer: Don't own a single darn thing, either James Bond or Mai Hime. T'is a shame, really..
Buenos Aires, 8:00 AM
Mai woke up with a start in an unfamiliar hotel room, completely naked under Egyptian cotton sheets. She looked around frantically before remembering what had transpired the night before and grinned in delight. She settled back into the goose feather pillow with a little fwump and gave out a sigh of satisfaction. A crinkle from underneath her and a sharp edge poking into her backside alerted Mai to a small, handwritten note that had been laid on the pillow.
'Last night was fun. We should do it again sometime. Let's meet for coffee?'
—N
An address was scribbled below the message.
Mai sighed. Well, the fun had to end sometime.
-000-000-
Natsuki sipped her cup of coffee. To an average passerby, she looked like any other tourist enjoying breakfast in the morning sunshine, in what seemed to be another beautiful Argentinean day. A more observant pedestrian may have noticed that Natsuki was surreptitiously scanning the passing crowd, and an eagle may have noticed her looking at the building that Reito Kanzaki had just entered through the reflection of her spoon. A plaque on the building proclaimed it was called the Repsol-YPF tower. What a creative name, she thought dryly.
A woman in a lavender sundress elegantly sat down in the seat across from Natsuki. Natsuki glanced up to see Mai smiling merrily at her.
"You seem to be in a good mood," Natsuki commented.
"I usually am, after a good night's sleep."
Natsuki smirked, and Mai returned it. Picking up a muffin, Mai asked, "To business, then?"
Natsuki nodded. "What have you learned?"
Mai's expression turned serious. "Kanzaki has recently been preoccupied with First District, an Argentinean nuclear power plant company. He's a heavy investor in the development of this relatively new company; it was formed only in the past five years. While the Japanese Secret Service doesn't know for sure what he's going to do with a bunch of South American nuclear power plants, I'm thinking that Kanzaki building up his own personal collection of nuclear missiles. We know for sure that he possesses at least one medium-range ballistic missile equipped with a nuclear warhead, and I think he plans to make more. During this week, he will be meeting a variety of business associates concerning the future of First District."
Natsuki furrowed her eyebrows. "How do you know he's meeting with people?"
Mai's face took on a smug look. "'Reito' has a tendency to babble during the afterglow, if you know what I mean."
Natsuki laughed. "Ah, a woman after my own heart." Her face grew solemn. "Is that all you got out of him?"
Mai nodded disgustedly. "Unfortunately, Kanzaki is somewhat of a misogynist. Whenever I pressed him for more information about his job, he'd only laugh and say, 'It's man talk, dear. You wouldn't understand.' He rarely talked about his job, and I didn't find much information at his penthouse in Retiro."
Natsuki scoffed in disgust. "Psychotic and misogynistic? This guy's a real catch."
Mai shrugged. "I've told you all I know. My cover here is getting shaky, so JSS is pulling me out. Good luck, Natsuki."
Natsuki shook her hand and winked. "It's been a pleasure."
"Likewise."
Mai melted away into the crowd without another glance back. Natsuki sighed and left a few bills on the table. She glanced at the building that Reito Kanzaki had disappeared into. It was time to do what she had come here for.
London, 1:00 PM
Haruka stood up and slammed her fists on the long table. All of the leaders present in the conference room jumped at the sudden sound, except for Midori, who was calmly sitting in the chair next to Haruka with a serene smile on her face. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs looked exasperatingly at the furious blond.
Maria Graceburt sighed. "Chief Armitage, I understand your frustration at the delay—"
Haruka glared. "With all due respect, Madame Secretary, I am feeling a lot more than just frustrated. We have let VCS do as they please for long enough! We must propose an international statute to the United Nations and its members to severely diminish or eradicate VCS once and for all."
The older gray-haired woman glared back. "As I said, I understand your frustration. However, it is likely that several countries will veto this preposition due to the lack of evidence of VCS' global transactions and corruption within their own governments! We will need more evidence before we proceed, Chief Armitage."
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Nagi Dai Artai hummed in acquiescence and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Not to mention, the funding that will be required to undertake this global operation is immense, and quite frankly, burdensome." The small white-haired man looked over the rim of his glasses at the fuming Haruka.
Haruka opened her mouth to retaliate, but Midori interrupted smoothly. "Perhaps we should postpone this talk for another time. The Prime Minister seems to be tired." The entire table stopped to look at the head of the table. Prime Minister Sakomizu was holding his head up with his hand, snoring lightly with a bit of drool collecting at the corner of his mouth. The entire table sweatdropped.
Secretary Graceburt lightly coughed. "Yes, perhaps we should. Until the next meeting, ladies and gentlemen."
Everyone pushed back their chairs and stretched. As chatter started to fill the room, Midori grasped Haruka's elbow.
"A call from Kruger. She said to return it ASAP."
Haruka curtly nodded. Haruka and Midori made their way to the door, but Haruka was stopped momentarily by a hand gripping her shoulder. She glanced back to see Chancellor Nagi Dai Artai looking at her with a pleasant smile on his face.
"A moment, if you please, Chief Armitage." He continued after receiving a curt nod. "Although we are going to continue the discussion on the statute against the Viola Crime Syndicate in the next meeting, I urge to you reconsider proposing this statute. For every cockroach you see, there are hundreds you don't."
Haruka gave a tight smile and shook his hand off her shoulder. "Perhaps, Chancellor, but that sure as hell won't stop me from trying. Have a nice day."
She and Midori exchanged looks before making their way through the building and emerging onto Downing Street. A nondescript black sedan pulled up, and they got in.
"To headquarters," Haruka commanded the driver.
As the car started driving away, Haruka turned to frown at Midori. "I smell a rat in the Cabinet."
Midori raised her eyebrows in amusement. "So you noticed, too? They're not being very subtle about their efforts."
Haruka snorted. "That's what worries me. The Violas can't hope to hinder the proportion of this statute to the U.N.; it's too important, and I doubt if even VCS has enough clout to hold enough influence in the U.N. So what are they planning?"
Midori ignored the malapropism. "We must also take into consideration which side this snitch supports. Is he or she working for the benefit of the entirety of VCS, or are they working for a specific person?"
Haruka shrugged. "There's not many people who would benefit directly from having an insider in the Cabinet; I can only think of Reito Kanzaki, Shizuru Viola, Akio Viola, and some other higher-ups in VCS. Although the thought of having one of those people intimately know England's affairs is still disturbing."
She added offhandedly, "By the way, keep an eye on Dai Artai."
There was a silence, until Midori asked, "Did you ever speak to her again after she left after graduation?"
Haruka dryly responded, "Well, I did encouter her on one of my first missions. It wasn't exactly a happy reunion, though; she'd already started working with her father then."
She sourly frowned. "The parting was pretty bad, too. I nearly got killed on that mission."
Midori's face grew sad. "Ah, Shizuru, what the hell happened to you?"
An aura of quiet contemplation and angry sadness lingered in the air, until finally Midori cracked a small smile.
"Your malapropisms are getting better each time."
"Shut up."
-000-000-
Haruka settled herself down in her office chair and picked up her phone. Dialing a number, she impatiently waited for Natsuki to pick up.
"Kruger."
"007. What have you learned from Agent Tokiha?"
A slight snicker was audible. "Well, I found out that she's a natural redhead."
Haruka furrowed her brow. "What? How did you get that piece of—" It hit her with the force of a speeding train.
"DAMN IT, KRUGER, THIS IS NO TIME FOR JOKES! How many times do I have to tell you, IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE TO SLEEP WITH YOUR CONTACT!" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "If I have to field any more phone calls from the disgruntled heads of various intelligence agencies complaining about your libido, I'm going to inform the entire spy community that you suffer from a plethora of STDs—"
"Sorry H, I couldn't resist either one; no need to get violent. Anyways, Kanzaki is investing heavily in an Argentinean nuclear power plant company, called First District. Its headquarters is located here in Buenos Aires. Should I infiltrate and collect information?"
Haruka frowned and pulled her computer towards her. "First District?" Locating a file on First District, she read it quickly. "It says here that First District is a privately-owned company, but has affiliations with the government. Considering all the red tape I've been running into recently, I doubt I can get permission from Secretaría de Inteligencia in time. Officially, you would be acting of your own accord. If you infiltrate tonight, you're on your own," Haruka warned.
"That's fine. I can handle it."
"Be careful, 007. If you get caught, you know the chances of us rescuing you."
"I have a chance of being rescued?"
"No, which is precisely my point. If you do not contact headquarters by midnight tomorrow, I'm sending in 008 to replace you. This is extremely important for international safety."
"That wet shirt? You should've made his code name "Double O stick-up-his-ass—"
"Good-BYE, 007."
Haruka placed the phone in its receiver and cradled her hands in her head with a sigh.
She called out, "Yukino, I need some Advil." Glancing at the thick pile of papers in front of her, she changed her mind. "Actually, bring the whole damn bottle."
Unbeknownst to her, a miniscule transmitter had been carefully placed on the underneath of her jacket lapel, too inconspicious to be seen at a casual glance. On the receiving end of the transmitter, thin lips smiled cruelly.
Unidentified location, 2:00 PM
Chie dropped onto her back, gasping. Nao flopped down next to her. They had just finished a brutal obstacle course, including a twenty-mile hike with nearly thirty pounds of supplies strapped to their backs and a 50-foot vertical rope climb up to a plateau without any assistance. The instructor looked back and forth between his stopwatch and the two trainees gasping on the ground.
"Good job Hallard, Yuuki. Both of you have new best personal times."
He scribbled something on a clipboard and walked over to another victim. Nao dragged herself up using a rock, while Chie just attempted to get up once before giving up and flopping back down. Nao scrutinized the other trainees coming in from on top of the plateau. She squinted her eyes at one of the stragglers, a strange woman with teal hair named Tomoe Marguerite. She nudged Chie with her foot.
"Hey, what do you think of that Marguerite girl?"
Chie rolled onto her stomach and looked to where Nao's attention was directed. "Weird hair cut. It may be an attempt to stand out. She seems to be vindictive and manipulative, when you see the way she acts sweetly in front of you, but then stabs you in the back after." Chie frowned. "She's sneaky enough to be a very convincing liar, which is a good trait for a spy, but her weakness is her fitness. She's in good shape, but not the greatest, so I don't think she's cut out to be a "Double O" agent. Every single actions she's done after coming here convinces me that everything she does has an ulterior motive, and I don't understand what she's doing at a place like MI6, when she'd probably benefit a lot more in a political career or anything else that requires the ability to spew convincing bullshit."
Nao blinked once in surprise and then said in half-jest, "You're good at profiling. You should become a psychoanalyst; I heard MI6's Psychology Department is in need of more trainees."
Chie snorted. "I'd never become a shrink. Those mind-games they come up with to use in interrogation and torture are terrifying."
"But they win every MI6 poker tournament," Nao pointed out. She shuddered in memory. "They all seem to have no souls. It can't be humanly possible to stay expressionless for four hours."
Chie laughed. "Anyways, it's not so much profiling as it is gossiping. I heard from the grapevine that she got into a fight in a bar and completely slashed this guy's face with a broken glass bottle. MI6's psychologists could probably make a case study out of her."
Nao narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I've seen her coming out of H's office once before, when H wasn't there. I didn't think much of it though, because she didn't have anything in her hands."
Standing up next to Nao, Chie looked worriedly at the teal-haired figure trekking through the last mile of the hike.
"She seems to hate Natsuki with a passion; her roommate, Shiho Huit, told me that she cut up pictures of Natsuki and everything."
Nao shuddered. "Creepy. Think we should keep an eye on her, for Kruger's sake?"
"Most definitely."
Buenos Aires, 12:30 AM
A pair of green eyes warily peered through the grille of the ventilation duct, carefully noting the security guard passing by below. As soon as the echoes of the guard's footsteps died away, the figure silently opened the grille and dropped down from the ceiling, bending her knees to absorb the shock. The figure stood up, clad completely in black, with her dark hair put up in a ponytail.
Natsuki paused and listened for any indication that she had been caught. Earlier in the day, she had taken a tour of the building by disguising herself as an enthusiastic middle-aged English tourist and surreptitiously joining a whole group of middle-aged English tourists. Natsuki had used the tour as an opportunity to memorize all the pathways leading to the places she wanted to go to; namely, the office of the CEO of First District, Joseph Greer. Hearing nothing but her own breathing, Natsuki cautiously made her way along one of the paths she had memorized.
Left at boiler room; left at potted plant; right at replica of Venus de Milo, and straight down corridor of portraits of creepy old men, Natsuki reminded herself silently. She quickly came upon the door. Upon the frost glass, gold letters written in bold font proclaimed: Joseph Greer, CEO.
Bingo! Natsuki silently turned the knob, but as she had expected, it was locked. She pulled out a lock pick gun and easily opened the door. She quickly glanced around before slipping into the office and closing the door, just as another security guard turned the corner.
She quickly scanned the spacious room. It was a typical CEO's office, with a large intimidating desk, a large computer, plush leather chairs, filing cabinets, large windows, potted plants, and even a small golf putting green. Natsuki silently lambasted Greer's taste in décor. Just another boring business tycoon. She decided to search the computer first.
Natsuki walked over to the desk and plopped herself down in the plush office chair, switching on the computer. Locating the USB port, Natsuki plugged in a small flash drive that Yohko had given her; Yohko had specifically made it for missions requiring electronic infiltration. This small device was extremely useful in that it contained a program, a type of advanced spyware. Natsuki wasn't too sure how it worked, because she wasn't as good with technology as Yohko was, but it apparently searched through the entire computer for any files, including any deleted files, that pertained to any word typed into the search engine of Yohko's program. Natsuki cracked her fingers and went to work.
Ten minutes later, Natsuki frowned. There had been nothing pertaining to "Reito Kanzaki", "Viola", or "VCS" in the entire electronic database. She knew that Yohko had spent countless months perfecting her program, so that meant that there really was nothing connecting First District to the Viola Crime Syndicate.
Natsuki began to whisper curses in every language she knew until she came upon an epiphany. Joseph Greer may be careful with his electronic files, but that doesn't mean he won't leave a paper trail…
She walked over to the metal filing cabinet. Gently sliding open every drawer, Natsuki began to lose hope after seeing nothing but everyday records of business transactions. She tugged on the handle of the last drawer, expecting it to be the same as every other drawer, but to her surprise it was locked. I swear to God, if this drawer has what l need, I'll start donating to the church again! Taking out her manual pick set, Natsuki inserted the torsion wrench and hook pick and opened the drawer in less than five seconds. Natsuki grinned smugly.
She took out a stack of file folders and began to skim through them quickly. Her grin grew wider; the very first folder held typewritten minutes of meetings between First District's Board of Directors and some other businessmen, who were probably in collaboration with or members of VCS, as Natsuki recognized the names of some of the men as known criminals. The date of the first meeting took place last year. Natsuki mentally took note of the date; the first meeting had occurred about two months after the death of Kenji Viola.
Natsuki skipped to back of the file, and saw that Reito Kanzaki had attended the meetings for the past three months. There was definitely something shady going on. Her eyes caught the words "Operation Four Horsemen". Natsuki flipped through the rest of the folders, her brow furrowing in confusion as she kept on reading. As far as she could tell, Operation Four Horsemen involved First District purchasing nuclear power plants in a multitude of different nations around the world. But if First District was theoretically only expanding and creating a business monopoly in nuclear power plants, then why was this operation so secretive? And why was Reito Kanzaki so interested in acquiring these power plants? Reactors in nuclear power plants generally did not produce enough concentrated amounts of uranium to convert them into lethal weapons. Natsuki searched the drawer to see if there were any more files, but instead her eyes landed on an inconspicuous black pad attached to the bottom of the drawer. Natsuki lightly touched it with her finger, causing the middle to depress slightly. Shit on a stick! Silent alarm!
Natsuki looked around. She estimated that about three minutes had passed since she had started reading; considering the fact that most of the security guards whom she had avoided earlier in the night were overweight, Natsuki figured she had about two minutes to make her escape. Hurriedly throwing the files back into the drawer and slamming it shut, Natsuki started to look for an escape route. Using the front door was out, because now the guards were expecting to see someone, and jumping out the window would be stupid, because she was roughly 300 feet from the ground. Natsuki looked up at the ventilation duct. Hopefully she would be able to navigate through the ducts to get to the roof, which was how she got in the first place. Before Natsuki could act, however, the door burst open.
Natsuki whirled around, expecting to see tired, panting middle-aged security guards, but instead three burly men were pointing guns at her. Hmm. Beretta 92FS. These are high quality security guards, Natsuki noted in a detached way. She dived behind the table just as they started firing at where she had been standing. Pulling out her Walther P99, Natsuki took her hairclip from head, releasing her hair from its ponytail, and threw it over the desk after pressing down on the lightening bolt shape of the clip.
–BANG!– Hearing three startled cries, Natsuki vaulted over the desk towards the three disorientated men. She pistol-whipped the first man, rendering him unconscious immediately. Turning towards the other two, who were beginning to regain their bearings, Natsuki aimed a roundhouse kick at the temple of the henchman nearer to her, causing him to black out, and used the momentum from the kick to sharply strike at a pressure point in the third man's neck with her index and middle fingers, also causing him to lose consciousness. Stepping back, Natsuki surveyed the unconscious men with pride. I really have to thank Yohko for the flash-bang grenade hairclip.
Natsuki was confident that she had pretty much eliminated what seemed to be the building's entire security force, and decided to escape through the door. She walked into the hallway, but to her surprise, a fit man with spiky green hair was waiting. He was wielding what looked to be a genuine katana made out of carbon steel, gripping a lacquered black handle with both hands. The dim fluorescent hallway lights gleamed off the katana, accentuating the deadliness of the blade. Natsuki lifted her eyebrow in disbelief. Who's the samurai?
She pointed her gun at the man's head, but he suddenly let out a fierce yell and slashed at her. Natsuki instinctively jumped back, and just in the nick of time: the fabric of the front of her shirt had a tear stretching from her left shoulder to her stomach. Her gun had fared even worse; the silencer had been cut in half, and the pistol lay in two pieces in the ground. Natsuki stared at it with wide eyes. The skilled katana-wielder grimly smiled at her shock, and slashed again without warning. She sprang backwards to avoid being eviscerated by the blade, but before she could even attempt to retaliate, someone from behind pinned her arms behind her back. Natsuki felt a needle being jabbed into the side of her neck, and not too kindly, either.
As her sight began to grow dim, Natsuki heard the green-haired man sheathe his katana and speak with a slight Japanese accent. "Welcome, Kruger-san. Kanzaki-sama has been expecting you."
Natsuki's last indignant thought before succumbing to unconsciousness was, 'Okay, which fucker sold me out?'
I can hear the outraged cries: "Where the hell is Shizuru? Really, Thief, get your act together!" and I duly apologize. The story is progressing more slowly than I had originally anticipated, but I promise to introduce Shizuru Viola in the next chapter... 'Til next time!
