Thank you to those who have read and reviewed this story. So far you've given me positive reviews, and that's great! Anyways, this chapter is about Matt and what he does for a living. Hope you like it! If there's any questions you want to ask about this chapter, please write it down in your review and I'll try to asnwer them as best I can.

Chapter 2:

"Hey, Pretty Boy, congratulations on your successful hunt."

Yamato Ishida paused at the door of what served as a meeting room in the basement of an old warehouse of Seekers Inc. and looked at the four men around the conference table through the lenses of his sunglasses and made a superhero pose. "No sweat."

As Koushiro Izumi…or Izzy as his friends call him…past him toward the ton of wires attached to the computer system, he jabbed Matt in the ribs with an elbow. "There's never any sweat with you."

Not that his target made the game of hide-and-seek easy, but once he was concerned, he'd seen that walking out willingly was the best option…especially with the Japan SWAT team surrounding him. Matt dealt with bullies enough to learn a few tricks. Even scum wanted to believe it deserved respect. Matt let them think he gave them what they wanted; then they gave him what he wanted. He was always one for win-win.

Takeru 'TK' Takishi studied the plate of muffins in front of him, took one and smiled his good-old-boy smile. "Better get your share before I finish them."

As Izzy set up the computer for whatever presentation Kamiya planned, he observed Matt up and down. "What happened to you? The dry cleaner ran out of perchloroethylene?"

Matt smoothed the wrinkles on his silk-blen gray blazer. Izzy's always one for deep words. "Couldn't wait to see you guys, so I didn't even stop home."

TK and Izzy smirked.

Matt dropped into a leather chair around the cherry wood conference table, his usual post farthest from the door. Leaning against the wall, Ken Ichioji, with his dark hair and dangerous looks, nodded acknowledgement but didn't speak. He was always the quiet one and only talked when he was asked or he had something important to say. Jyou "Joe" Kido, the new guy, was still feeling his way into the group. He had the same color of hair as Ken, except his was lighter. Matt couldn't figure out why Kamiya hired someone like him.

Taichi Kamiya, or Tai, was the head and leader of Seekers Inc. He walked in and took his place at the head of the table.

As Matt reached for a blueberry muffin in the basket with a lacy doily, he chuckled. "You really ought to tell your sister, Kari, that lace clashes with the macho image we're trying to build here."

"Eat up those blueberries." Tai's feature's remained stiff and formal while he shuffled papers, a small grin on the corner of his mouth. "Kari wanted me to mention that it's part of the presentation effect."

Laughter exploded around the room. Tai finally gave up the serious look and smiled. His younger sister, Kari, seemed to have this sort of power to boss other people around, especially him. But keeping that aside, she was bubbly and caring. She always brings them food and fussed over them all as if they were family. None of the boys minded and treated her like their own sister.

Tai knocked on the table to get everyone's attention. "Okay, bring me up to date."

Grabbing his laptop, Izzy gave the daily security update. Ken did his usual report on the activities of his current tracking cases. Takeru announced he was leaving for China in an hour to follow a tip on the serial killer who marries different kinds of women and hangs them. A Japanese socialite hired Seekers Inc. to find the man who used her daughter to gain access to their fortune. The mother didn't care how long it took or how much it cost as long as the dirty bastard never enjoyed a penny of her family's money.

The screen at the front end of the room went blue, and Izzy said, "Ready when you are."

Tai reached for the remote that controlled the PowerPoint presentation. "Yesterday afternoon we were hired by the government for a new mission…"

"The country's National Service?"

Tai nodded. "One of their WSP subjects ran away and they need her back."

Matt leaned back in his chair as if that would help him take in the whole situation. "Why are they involving us?"

"They seem to think one of their own is responsible for compromising her security."

Matt gave a low whistle. Admitting that one of theirs was dirty and a traitor was never easy for the Service. Working at the WSP in the past, he knew its usefulness even as he saw the possibilities for betrayal. Every good had its bad side.

Tai aimed the remote at the screen and a face pooped onto it. "We've been assigned to look for Mimi Tachikawa, daughter of Hiroshi Tachikawa of Tachikawa Corporation in Odaiba."

"Isn't that where you're from, Ishida?" Ken asked.

Everything in Matt stilled. Though his glasses shielded his eyes from everyone, the black tint was light enough for him to see every detail clearly. Mimi's picture filled the screen, and the past he worked so hard to forget slapped him across the face. There in front of him was the image of everything he ever wanted. Everything he'd been told he could never have.

Mimi Tachikawa. Mimi was the sight of perfection…from her soft brown hair to her honey brown eyes to her achingly sweet personality. You wanted to hate her for all she had, but you simply couldn't. Never in his life had he met a single person who didn't like her. She was the last person he thought would ever need WSP. How could the girl every guy had been in love with and every girl wanted as a friend now be running for her life?

"Isn't Tachikawa Corp. involved with the Steeltex project?" Izzy asked.

"They are," Tai said.

Joe frowned so deeply, his eyebrows met in the center of his forehead. "What's Steeltex?"

Tai clicked the remote and a picture of a soldier dressed in camouflage came onto the screen. In the next slide, only a mirage like shimmer distinguished the soldier from the brick wall behind him. Before he could say anything, Izzy took the chance to give an explanation.

"It's the new fabric the U.S., British and Japanese Army is working on. It transmits visual color, light and patterns through the fiber to make whoever wears it nearly invisible against any background. Microdots are in it to locate an injured or killed soldier. The last model contains conductive fibers in the chest area that can monitor vital functions by an injured soldier. This information can be relayed by wireless signal to a remote location such as a field hospital." Izzy gave Tai a smile, telling him he was finished.

Tai nodded. "That project and the safety of our troops and the U.S. and British troops out in the field lay on the hands of Mimi Tachikawa. If she didn't testify at her father's murder trial on time, they, and probably the rest of the world, will be in great danger."

"Someone killed her father?" Matt's nerves were running a marathon, but he spoke as casually as if the revelation didn't shock him.

Tai clicked the next slide, flashing a picture of Hiroshi Tachikawa on the screen. Mix of brown and gray hair, dark brown eyes, fair and generous. The old man kept the small town of Odaiba alive when everyone else had given up. No one was good enough for his daughter. But then again, when you had a daughter like Mimi, how could they be?

The next photo was of a younger man who tried his best to present a Pierce Brosnan 007 image but couldn't get the right attitude. He wore the 'I'm-better-than-you' sneer of the typical bully. "Mr. Tachikawa was murdered by his business partner, Michael Sheer."

The next slide twisted Matt's stomach. The color was so vivid it almost looked fake, the James Bond wannabe held a gun at Mr. Tachikawa's head. Smoke puffed out of the muzzle. Red mist sprayed out from Hiroshi's head. Matt recognized the place…it was Mr. Tachikawa's office in the back of the Tahickawa mansion on the hill.

Ken's voice floated from the shadows of the wall. "Where did that photo come from?"

"The subject took it."

Mimi captured her own father's murder? He hoped to heaven someone was there for her. She loved her father. Her whole world revolved around him, wanting to please him in any way she can. Losing him and witnessing his murder would've torn her apart.

"Over the last month," Tai said, "information on her location was revealed three times. Three bodyguards are dead. After the last attack, she disappeared and hasn't been seen since. The Service is worried about her safety."

Six slides went by, showing a photo of each of the three men as it appeared on their badges and crime-scene photo of each of their corpses. Matt's skin grew cold. His mind couldn't get away from the fact that Mimi witnessed such violence. That was his world, not hers. Hers was all joy and kindness. The photograph she took of him and their best friend Sora at her sixteenth birthday was the only thing he'd taken with him when he left Odaida. Did she shut down like she did when her mother died? Where is she now? Where did she go?

"Here's our subject profile." Dry statistics that couldn't even begin to describe the life that buzzed around Mimi glared at him from the screen.

TK sipped his soda. "Where was her last location?"

Izzy typed something on his trusty laptop. "When her third bodyguard was killed, Inspector Phillip McNair took her to a small motel three hours outside Odaiba. She escaped through a bathroom window." Pictures of the motel, the window and the surroundings clicked across the screen. A small footprint on the ground made it real. Mimi's footprint in the sand. How often had he seen that image?

Matt shook his head. Don't go there. "When and where's the trial?"

"Odaiba," Tai informed. "Eight days from today. We have to find her. Without her, Sheer has no reason to reveal the extent of his treason. We have cause to believe he's behind the attempted murder of Miss Tachikawa."

Tai's chair screeched as he turned to face Ken. "Ichioji, I want you to track the witness and bring her back. Ishida, since you've worked at WSP before, you'll go in pretending to be one of them so you can find the traitor…"

"I'll track." Matt sat still. Tai mustn't know how much he wanted to lead this mission.

Tai frowned at him. "This isn't multiple choice."

"I'll track." Be firm, keep it cool. "I know how to find her."

Tai studied him with his dark brown eyes and sharp face. Without breaking eye contact, he said, "Kido, you'll go undercover. Ichioji, you'll help Ishida track."

"I can track alone. No sweat."

"That's all gentlemen. "Tai announced. "Check you PDA's for updates. Matt, stay behind."

Four sets of curious eyes looked at him as they filed out. After Joe closed the door, Tai sat on the corner of the conference table. "Were you able to get some sleep after your mission?"

Matt flashed him a smile. "You know me. I can sleep anywhere. I got a couple of hours sleep when I was on the plane."

"Can you handle going back?"

The strange thing about him was that he asked for everything and somehow you feel compelled to answer him. Tai knew the deep dark secrets of each of his team. But there was trust, and that means a lot. Tai knew that Matt grew up in Odaiba, knew about the strained relationship between him and his best friend Sora, and knew the hard times he had while growing up. But he didn't know about Mimi. Matt never told a soul about Mimi.

Matt leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head…image of relaxation. "Yeah, I can handle going back. That's why I took your job offer in the first place." Well, sort of.

Tai turned the remote in his hand. "You've been here over a year and you're one of my best men. But you haven't set foot in Odaiba for years."

Matt gave a careless shrug. "I guess I just needed a little push." If he had, he could've known about Mimi's father and could've helped her.

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea."

"I know her. I know Odaiba. I can find her faster than anyone here."

Someone within the program wanted to harm his dream girl. He may have nothing to offer her ten years ago, but now he could keep her safe from the bullies who wanted to hurt her. "I understand her and I know where she's coming from. I understand the program that betrayed her." He was her only chance.

"It's not just Mimi, Matt. There's WSP's reputation and the lives of soldiers at stake."

"I get that."

A long silence filled the room with tension. Never let them see you sweat.

Tai reached forward with a finger and flicked Matt's glasses so they rested on top og his head. "Tell Me about, Mimi."

Matt forced his gaze to meet Tai's. "She was the princess in the mansion and I was the guy from the wrong side of the tracks."

"I see."

Matt feared maybe Tai was seeing too much. "I never stood a chance."

"A schoolboy's first crush can make him blind sometimes."

"But he still understands their rules."

"Make sure you do." Tai stood and gathered his files. You find her and you bring her in. Is that understood?"

"Crystal clear."

"Ken's my best tracker. He's going with you. This is just too important."

Just what Matt needed…a shadow to witness his weakness.

AN: Ok, so what do you think? I hope you get what Matt's job is. He's an agent in this company called Seekers Inc. Oh yeah, Matt and TK aren't related in this story. Chapter 3 will be a bit short with Michael in it.

Don't forget to review! lolz