[Three Days Passed]
"Vexen."
He turned around to find Saix. He stared with a look of learning intentions. "The month has almost closed. There is no word on the girl yet?"
"No," Vexen replied, turning around and walking down the sloped decline. "I assure you, we will have our girl within the month. In fact: if I do not come back with her within four days, consider me a traitor and have me eliminated."
Saix only stared. Had he been someone else, he would have raised an eyebrow. "Now if you excuse me, I have confidence to uphold."
"You are so confident in yourself that you would put your very 'existence' on the line?" Saix asked.
"It's a promise, Saix," Vexen said as he prepared to set foot on the long blue glowing bridge down to the city from the castle. "A promise to complete my work and assert my rank within the Organization," he added under his breath.
Day 6. 60% completion. Vexen walked about the laboratory, checking all the machines within, and writing down notes in regards to the imports.
I am a fellow founding member of this Organization, he thought to himself. No one should forget that. There are others, but I am the one with the superior intellect. I am the creator of much of the advances in technology they have gained.
"And furthermore..." he added aloud, as the metal covering rose into the ceiling once more to reveal the white haired girl, in fetal position as she had always been, even before Vexen first looked at her. "I am about to bring another to them."
Now, he continued in his head. About awakening her to note her eyes and possible other factors. He went to the control panel and fiddled with the controls and touch screen graphics once more. One replaced the water from days ago. Another activated the trap door once again. He noted it in his log along with the previous graphic. If I can't learn the language, I can at least know which does which. Cognative thinking.
He stuck the noting of the important and/or other found graphics under a metal plate on the terminal, so that he could quickly access it the next time he needed, which would be tomorrow. Also, I must keep this laboratory protected! I know this place, that is why I come here by dark corridor, he thought. However, to keep those unfamiliar from interfering... how to do that? Nobodies would heed their superiors, and Heartless are too unpredictable at times. He needed something more intelligent. More unpredictable. Must I hail another world?
By now, he had given up on finding a way to temporarily wake the girl, considering that he may accidently release her prematurely. He opened a dark corridor after the metal covering went down once more to veil the glass containment unit. He knew what he must do. "I have to make it as if though they are either intruders or... maybe..."
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!"
The young girl couldn't stop shaking Gintoki's hand so vigorously, he dropped his bokken and issue of JUMP. He was also shaking enough to almost accidently kick Rinoa as she passed, making her stumble and almost spill a bowl of rice Kagura had requested. On the client's shoulder was a small black kitten. It was tiny, and it seemed to match with this ball of energy giving Gintoki a concussion without actually smacking him on the head somehow.
"I can't thank you enough for finding him! Thank you so much!"
"How about you pay up and leave? I think my sense of balance is filing for divorce, and she's taking a lot of the furniture."
"And the drapes," Kagura added, having recently popped up near the front door.
"And I don't think they'll leave a last check for the rent," Rinoa finished, serving herself a cup of water.
"Sorry! Thanks again!" And the girl was off.
Gintoki stumbled over to the couch and crashed on top of it facefirst. "Ow... at least she paid well," he said, tossing the bag of money the girl had left them.
"Actually, that still won't be enough to cover the rent, I think," Rinoa said.
"It depends on how much the coins are. If they're the basic units, we are screwed. If they're high value, though..."
He opened up the bag and poured its contents onto the table situated between the couches. What the freelancers saw left them in shock. The bag was full of unfamiliar coins and balls divided into 8 sections, alternating between blue and yellow. There were also unusual green bills in the bag, rolled up or crumpled. Kagura picked up one of the balls, a larger one. "Well, we can definitely use these..." she said, pocketing the Munny ball. "But the rest of this..."
"She was a foreigner!" Rinoa remarked, still staring at the strange currency.
"THAT BITCH!" Gintoki shouted. "I OUGHTTA SHOVE THE USELESS CRAP IN HER FACE AND FORCE HER TO EXCHANGE IT SOMEHOW!"
"...Somehow," an intellectual voice said from the other side of the closed door.
"Who's that?" Kagura asked, looking to her left a little bit.
Without a word, Rinoa went to the door and opened it to find a long haired man wearing all black robes. His face suggested years of experience and wisdom, observing others and developing things off of those observations. "Hello... who are you?"
"Do not worry. I am not a bearer of paper news, nor a bearer of verbal news such as a royal announcement," he said, not stepping inside just yet. "I bear a task for you, Odd Jobs Gin."
Rinoa covered her mouth in disbelief. Her eyes went wide. "No..."
"Don't believe in him, Rinoa! 'Ladie's Four' is about to come on in a moment," Kagura said as she approached the shocked young woman and the man who put her in that state.
"You're more concerned about a television program than your welfare? A pity for the group I wished to request a task from."
Kagura was taken aback. "Friggin..."
"Hey, you're not going to stiff arm the guy? Listen, we've already subscribed to your magazine so-" Gintoki started as he headed towards the front of the small area.
"I already said that I lack paper news! I said that I want to hire you ingrates!"
Gintoki stepped back one step in sheer amazement. "Way!"
All together, the three freelancers said, "No friggin way!"
The man at the door facepalmed, shaking his head. This is Odd Jobs Gin? What a miserable pile of dog... erm, feces, he thought.
"M-M-More tea?" the black haired girl asked, handing Vexen a cup of tea, her hand shaking it.
Vexen looked at her, then the redheaded white skinned girl, and finally the silver, curly haired man. His face was one of amazement. What could cause these people to- he began thinking when the younger girl in blue spilled the tea on Vexen's crotch. Due to its heat, it was not the girl who screamed at a woman's decibel from the shock of the incident, but Vexen who screamed from the extreme pain and the fact that he was associated with ice. He always liked his tea cold (as much as a Nobody could like something).
The girl rushed to help him, but Vexen only shooed the girl off. "As I tried to express eariler," he said, straining not to keep yelling due to the continuing pain, "I have a task to give you three of the utmost importance!"
"W-Well, the thing is that we almost never get two clients within the same four days," the white skinned girl said. "That, and we just finished up another job right before you came here..."
"But look at the pay," the silver haired man said, motioning to a pile of coins in the center of a table in front of them.
While some Munny was amongst the pile, the coins didn't seem to be familiar in any capacity to Vexen. Perhaps it hailed from another world, he thought. But who would be stupid enough to pay in foreign money? Even the fifteenth boy knows that Munny is the universal currency and carries specific monies when he can.
"It's sad, really," Vexen said, "That it seems that you've been duped by a person from another world."
The three stared at him confused. "As in... Amanto?" the girl in blue asked.
"No. She is still human, but not from this Earth from my understanding."
"So she's still an Amanto?" the girl in orange-red asked, leaning on the couch opposite of Vexen.
Vexen groaned. "You know what? Just follow me outside. I must test your abilities to see if you are the correct choice for the task I plan to designate to you. And as an incentive..."
He took out a small pouch, identical to the empty one on the table and threw it to the silver haired man. He caught in with his hand not in his white coat, and tossed up in the air a small distance a couple times. He opened it and looked inside, and what he found shocked him. "...T-This is..."
The other girls moved around him to see. "All Munny!"
"Indeed. If you wish to be paid more, you must prove yourself and then fulfill the task if I deem you worthy," Vexen said, heading to the door.
He was tackled by the man and the white skinned girl in orange-red as they dashed out of the door, eager to get started. The black haired girl in blue was the last to walk out, calm and locking the door behind her.
"So what's part of the job you want to give us?" Gintoki asked the robed man. "And what's your name?"
"Is the second question so important? It is possible that, say, a hitman can take orders from a person from which they never get a name. But if you truly insist, it is Vexen," he replied.
As he said that, strange creatures appeared from thin air in a dark orb and from the ground without a sound. "Ah, the test has come to us."
"Wait... all you want us to do is kick their asses?" Kagura asked, parasol in hand.
"I would have brought my own testing, but certain circumstances prevent that," Vexen said, taking out a small notepad and pencil.
"Okay... so you just want us to kill more of these things?" Gintoki asked, one hand on his bokken with Lake Toya inscribed on the handle.
"No, THIS is merely a test of your abilities. The real task will come about if you satisfy me, so give it your all."
He looked to his left, where Kagura was standing. There was a huge white dog of seemingly indeterminate breed to her own left, which made Vexen jump a little. "What the hell?"
"That's just Sadaharu," Kagura asked, petting the person-tall dog between the ears.
"Anyway, can we get to whatever kind of test you were issuing?" Gintoki said, his bokken now resting on his shoulder. "Before anything else can show up and ruin it."
"Very well. Go forth and eliminate them, then," Vexen said, motioning towards the Heartless.
"Well, wait," Rinoa asked, having Gintoki stop in his tracks. "What do these have to do with the task? I think that if you're going to have us guard whatever it is you want guarded, you may have to provide a more diverse-"
"Just GO," Vexen said, insistent and with his eyebrow twitching.
He was growing very impatient, especially since his laboratory was unguarded and it would seem that an investigation would be launched soon. He needed to have his security NOW. By this time, the Heartless made the first move, but this proved to be a mistake as Gintoki had bisected one creature with his bokken and imbedded it in another, a smaller purple one probably intended to be a dog. Kagura promptly grabbed one that looked like a robot of sorts and swung it around as it fired lasers every which way, hitting its allies. Rinoa had brought what seemed like a thin shield, but it turned out to be a sort of discus. "Utilizes discus, like Axel's chakrams," Vexen noted.
He noted many of the battle techniques, Gintoki's wielding of the bokken like a true katana, Kagura's strength, Sadaharu's speed and ferocity, and Rinoa's spells. Vexen had taken up about five pages by the first wave of enemies, which was followed up by a second wave which consisted of a few creatures resembling ants led by one significantly larger than the others. There were also things with primitive leather-like wings like what an inventor would make for himself in a quest to fly in the air. So much glorious data!
Power, finesse, attraction, Vexen listed. It's all perfect! No one can find my laboratory now! Odd Jobs Gin, you have my eternal thanks! In his mind, Vexen shed tears of joy. However, he found himself in the unfortunate position of being behind Sadaharu, who had lifted himself up to standing by putting his front paws on Vexen's shoulders. With that, he bit the top of Vexen's head.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" He ran back and forth, trying to shake the dog off in the process, but to no avail. However, its grip at the time was not from its jaws, but simply its paws and weight on Vexen.
"Silly dog!" Kagura said, with Rinoa laughing.
[Author's Notes]
- A headbiting sequence is more-or-less required in the context of Sadaharu. When Vexen's involved, I personally think it's friggin' hilarious.
- There is a reason why Kyoko's here in Amanto Edo, and not in Sweeper's Field, but as of when I wrote this note, I haven't worked that out just yet.
- A Moka clone? Alternate Eve? I'm throwing y'all for a loop here...