Boss Rush

XI: The Selection

Tsugare was wrong. Boss didn't kill them. It was worse.

"He escaped," Setsuka amusedly repeated.

Tsugare swallowed. "Erm, yeah."

"Under your watch."

"Yeah...?"

Setsuka smiled. It reminded him of the shark in the Jaws movie. "Aren't you just a useless uke?"

Tsugare bristled, but said nothing. Parts of him, extremities included, throbbed in pain when he was faced with the angry Boss. Now, the Boss was beyond furious, especially with having landed the detective in the infirmary.

"You," Setsuka pointed to the blearily blinking Koichi. "Tsugare will take you to investigate in the Puzzle and Cubic Areas tomorrow."

Nakamura walked in. "Missy, Fudo Ryuusei has arrived."

"He's not due for an appointment."

"He brought an assailant."

Setsuka turned to the manservant. "The office. Bring them there. And get the ties."

There were many jokes about Setsuka Shimotsuki, the most prevalent one being that her office was called the Oblong Office. It was hardly oblong, if more squared, and was mostly monochrome. The only concession Setsuka had made had been the water fountain on her left table, beside the locked shelves of books and files. If the water occasionally had a reaction to luminol, it was hardly anyone's concern.

Here was where Cheryl Madison had awoken to find herself cuffed to a chair in front of the desk jokingly referred to as the Execution Table. The joke lost its charm as Cheryl realised that opposite her loomed the ice princess of the Movement itself.

Setsuka steepled her fingers and looked at her over the top of them. It was a mannerism that had unnerved many. "Good evening, Miss Madison. I am sure that we parted under inauspicious circumstances, so I am amazed as to why I have you here once more."

"Bitch," Cheryl muttered, struggling against the ties.

Setsuka's expression never changed. "You should thank Mr Fudo for rescuing you. I hear that the Puzzle Area is not very safe. At least, not this close to an imminent police raid."

Cheryl blinked. "A police raid?"

Setsuka gave a slight nod, as if she were a queen. "Indeed. Recently the Movement has been looking into making relations with the constabulary, and now we have two officers in a trial period with the NDPD. I'm afraid that they haven't submitted their first reports, but the prediction looks good."

"So, what?" Cheryl snarled. "I sit here, you talk, and I spill where are the rest?"

"I wasn't too sure if you actually made it alone, but now I am glad that I have not overestimated your intelligence," Setsuka shrugged. "If it would behoove you, please talk."

"Go take a running jump," Cheryl retorted. "What now? You turning me in to Interpol? I'm going back to Holloway?"

Setsuka glanced at her, but not unkindly. "I was thinking about ending your misery right here, since you are obviously just going to brainwash more idiots into becoming your flunkies. Did you not learn after what I did... five years ago?"

Cheryl's feet ached. She ignored it. "Doesn't matter, bitch."

"Aw," Setsuka murmured. "I was thinking that the red shoes should be refitted. Well?"

"Shimotsuki," that calm voice muttered. Cheryl's head almost had whiplash as she whirled to see Fudo Ryuusei there. "Please stop."

"Fudo Ryuusei, Cheryl Madison," Setsuka said. "Cheryl, Ryuusei. Ryuusei, this... worm is a wanted woman, wanted in Britain for prison escape, where she was serving time for forcing seven people to commit suicide. She is a beast that doesn't know when to stop. You can go now."

"You're not going to do anything, are you?" Ryuusei asked.

"I am going to do several things," Setsuka blandly replied. "Including but not limited to snapping off her fingers, for a start."

"Shimotsuki, you're not going to hurt anyone."

"That you have no say in deciding. I thank you for the time invested to bring her here. Now clear off, we need to have a... chat."

Ryuusei stood there. "Please, don't hurt her."

Setsuka turned to him. Her eyes gazed imperiously at him, the temperature dropped, and her stare was chilling, implacable, and like a glacier about to crush him underfoot and not care.

"Get. Out."

The door slammed as Ryuusei leaned against it, breathing hard from the sheer fear that had coursed through his veins. That was... that was...

"The Morrigan," Marguerite murmured in amusement. "She is skilled, and powerful."

"That..." Ryuusei finally found his voice as he rested his forehead against the cool dark wood of the door. It was electronically locked, had been once he had slammed it shut, and soundproof once closed. "I... I just... caved."

"Many would have," Marguerite shrugged. "Cheryl is useless now, anyway. There is no point in fighting the Morrigan of her rightful prey."

Ryuusei studied it. He could walk back in there... and be thrown out. Even with his own powers he was no match for the head of the Movement by sheer will.

He looked at the door. It was locked, but he had the pass-key...

He opened the door. Cheryl was still there, but whimpering already. "Please, I'll be good..."

Seated on the table, Setsuka gave an absent hum as she petted the bound creature by her foot. "Did you need something, Ryuusei?" Her eyes twinkled at him, cold, relentless eyes holding no compassion or pity... the eyes of the Winter Queen.

He met her stare equally. "You'll treat her right, right?"

"Someone who craves more power than is good for her is a mere beast," Setsuka dismissed. "Beasts like this should be punished, no? She has rebelled once. I spared her miserable life, and she was in a correctional facility. She came out and bit the hand that fed her. I have no use for single-minded beasts."

"But she's still a human being."

"No." Setsuka pronounced. "She has renounced it when she attacked the Movement and tried to make it her own personal kingdom."

Cheryl whimpered as one shoe brushed her cheek. "See? Now she knows her place."

"Shimotsuki..." Ryuusei growled. "She should at least face trial."

"There is no trial that can convince her of the crimes she did," Setsuka dismissed. "Quite a new addition, I believe. Dare I ask why you are here?"

"At least..." Ryuusei sighed. "Let her face trial like a human being."

"... you are too kind, Fudo Ryuusei," Setsuka whispered. "And what shall you give me as payment?"

Ryuusei held out a hand, where a mote of light glowed. "This okay?"

The Winter Queen gave an amused smirk. "More than agreed."

The mote of light floated to Setsuka, who accepted it in one hand. "Thank the nice Mr Fudo, Cheryl."

"T- Thanks," Cheryl whispered through bloodless lips.

"And, by the human legal system," Ryuusei stated.

"By the British legal system," Setsuka agreed. "And one more favour, for the price of such a thing. I will adhere to that. I am the Winter Queen. The stars will fall from the skies before I break my word."

He could accept that. That at least.

"That was expensive," Marguerite muttered as he took to the roads on Meteor Stream.

"It seemed right," Ryuusei sighed. "It's not like Shimotsuki would accept money."

"You gave her the 'seed', your right of conquest," Marguerite pointed out. "Surely you didn't intend on that."

"It doesn't matter," Ryuusei insisted. "She owes me a favour now."

Marguerite paused. "Why, that is... indeed. You are growing some wits, I see. A favour from the Winter Queen is a useful commodity."

Ryuusei scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I was thinking about... why do we have to do this?"

Marguerite shrugged. "It is the way things are. If you wish to change that, you will have to become the Summer King."

"How..." Ryuusei held his face in his hands. "How did this even start to begin with? Having to kill each other...?"

Marguerite did not answer for a long moment.

Slowly, slowly, sight cleared from darkness to a ceiling of peeling paint for Ishihara Kaname.

"W- Where... am I...?" she whispered.

"Oh, you're awake," a masculine voice spoke as she sat up to meet eyes with a white-haired man. "Are you hungry?"

A bowl of congee offered made her aware of just how hungry she was. But... "You are?"

"Natashi Kiyomi," he set down the bowl on a small table beside the couch. "You came in here, named yourself and fainted. What do you expect?"

"I..." Kaname racked her head. "Marguerite..."

"I figured," Kiyomi nodded. "You're a 'seed' holder, aren't you?"

"I- Yes," Kaname nodded. "I wished... I wished to change. I wanted... to change myself. Caislean..."

"So you're just like us," Kiyomi nodded. "I'm Fragarach. Nice to meet you. How did you find us?"

"I..." Kaname shrugged. "I... just wanted to. I wanted to find something that would let me change."

"Oh, she's awake," Kaname turned to see a rough, but slender-framed man standing behind Kiyomi. "So, princess, what's your poison?"

"The congee," Kiyomi warned. "No solid foods yet."

Kaname coughed slightly. "I'm... sorry. For all the trouble."

"She's not going to get in the way, right?" the other demanded.

"No, Kisaragi," Kiyomi answered. "Anyway, Kaname-san, this is Shinonome Kisaragi. We have... had another member. She got caught by the Arcadia Movement."

Kaname's heart stilled. "Caught?"

"Oh, you're hiding from the Movement as well?" Kiyomi asked. "Well, most of us have something against the Arcadia Movement, you see. We're gathering to take down Shimotsuki, at least, to fulfil the price necessary."

"P- Price?" Kaname echoed. "Mine was... I would have to cut off my own past regret."

"Mine was to devote myself completely to the ever-changing knowledge," Kiyomi offered.

"What was yours, Kisaragi-san?" Kaname asked.

"Love." he shortly answered. No one dared clarify it.

"We're going to have so much fun," Kisaragi suddenly broke into a smile. "Cheryl got herself captured."

"She has no information," Kiyomi shrugged, but his hand shook. "It means nothing if she is captured. We merely need to step up the schedule. Kisaragi, the next targets are on the table."

Kaname blinked as the man, Kisaragi, moved over. "Shit, really?"

Kiyomi turned to Kaname. "Well? Are you interested?"

Kaname gaped at him. "I... I'm sorry. I have to find my brother. Thank you for... all the help..."

There was a long silence between two two men before Kiyomi shrugged. "Finish your congee first, then. We'll talk later. Kisaragi?"

"Yeah, I got it," Kisaragi waved behind him to a pile of things. "But... shit. Five people?"

Kiyomi gave a wan smile. "Overwhelming odds are your speciality. We need the plans to the Arcadia Movement anyway if we are to break into it."

Alexianna was nervous. No, she was beyond nervous and veering into terrified already. Kaname-san had been missing for over a week and Takeshi was running himself ragged trying to track her down. She was doing the only thing she could now...

Setsuka looked at her own distant cousin. "You want me to pull resources to locate Ishihara Kaname?"

"Yes," Alexianna nodded, vaguely surprised that she wasn't fainting.

"In exchange, I require a service of you," Setsuka stated. "I do not do anything for free. I have not since Father and Mother died. If you wish something of me, you must pay for it. Even from you, Alexianna."

Alexianna bristled. "We're family!"

"You're distant family that lives in France," Setsuka coolly answered. "If anything, our spheres would not meet unless you had committed a crime and abused your powers, at which I would not have cared if you were family. I am not a believer in nepotism, Alexianna. If you had involved me as just Shimotsuki Setsuka, I would not mind. However, you involve the Movement. To invest yet more resources in finding Ishihara Kaname requires a cost."

Even angry, Alexianna could see her point. "I'll place myself as a psychic to you for once. In short... I'll become a pawn at your service only once."

"That's pretty heavy," Setsuka commented. "To become one of those psychics I place for the services demanded upon the Movement to keep it afloat, even once could be a death sentence."

"I've done it before for the European Arcadia Movement," Alexianna whispered. "I will do it again."

"...Twice, and I'll cover your elopement and all associated costs," Setsuka listed off. "Is that alright?"

Alexianna blushed, her anger forgotten in relief and confusion. How had the other psychic figured out their wedding plans...? "Thank you. I realise that it's placing a burden on you once more."

Setsuka nodded. "Now, about that payment. How do you feel like attending a ball, Alexianna?"

Although Neo Domino had a perfectly functional hospital, the infirmary was still kept for those occasional nasty injuries each Movement had. This was therefore why Yamamoto Koichi woke up to come face to face with Tsugare sleeping on his arm in the infirmary of the Arcadia Movement.

Swallowing nervously, Koichi tried to yank his arm off. Tsugare just clung onto it. "Mmm..."

Koichi sighed. "Get off my arm."

"Mmm..." Tsugare opened his eyes, and Koichi spotted that his left eye was amethyst before it was comber over by a dark purple lock. "Oh, you're fine. I thought... you might end up like them."

Koichi looked to where Tsugare was looking. The beds containing two women greeted his sight. He looked back at Tsugare. "You knew the guy."

"Shinonome Kisaragi," Tsugare affirmed. "Well, yes."

"Former boyfriend?"

Tsugare gave a harsh laugh. "Maybe. Yes. No. More like... we were... friends. Partners."

Koichi slowly nodded. "She knows, right?"

The door opened quietly. "Yes," Setsuka answered as she walked in. "I am fully aware. That is why I will employ both of you in the next mission anyway."

Koichi winced. "I... I don't think my ribs can take it."

"I'll make an appointment with Hadrian, he'll make sure you manage," Setsuka dismissively answered. "After all, I am the head of the Arcadia Movement. No matter what, you must deliver what you promise..."

Both men stared at her.

"You're scary, you know that?" Koichi finally admitted.

"I am the psychic Duellist who has held onto power in the Movement for seven, close to eight years already. What do you think?"

"I don't think it was always like that."

Ryuusei looked up from where he was taking a walk through the Mutou Memorial Park, assisting some of the Fairies in getting back their things from the murder of crows. "About what?"

"The Summer-Winter rivalry," Marguerite answered. "I think... no, I do not think it was of any fault of Maeve. It was... for us. For us avaricious creatures of the forests that the Summer Court of Land and Light was created to counter the one who called herself Queen of Air and Darkness. I do not remember who threw the first fight, or how the war began, or how, millennia onwards, we are still rivals. But, it continues."

"I see," Ryuusei whispered.

"But..." Marguerite sighed as she spotted a Dark Elf waltz about and the Gemini Elves wink at him.

"Marguerite," Ryuusei whispered. "I wish to help spirits. Even with my lack of knowledge... I want to help, but I don't want to be a burden either."

"And?" Marguerite asked.

Ryuusei held up the fleur-de-lis. "First favour. Teach me everything you know about spirits I can use."

"That... is very valuable knowledge," Marguerite noted. "There will be many after you who wish to break that barrier between worlds. You will be prosecuted, isolated, mocked for seeing that which others cannot see."

"I know," Ryuusei answered. "But... these Duel spirits are friends of mine as well, aren't they? I can see them, hear them... but I can't touch them."

In Marguerite's sight, one of the chains snapped.

"...I wish to help them," Ryuusei continued to the oblivious witch. "Marguerite?"

"...So be it," the witch answered. "One service I pay to you. Twice more you may call upon my aid. I will, indeed, teach you the ways of the spirits, but only as far as I know of them. So mote it be. Fleurs envoûtantes; floraison d'accord."

The smell of flowers spread as the sprites and spirits of the Park itself came out to celebrate in the waxing moon.

Nakamura Iemitsu had had the dubious distinction of serving the Hunter family, which later married and changed to the Shimotsuki family, for most of his lifetime.

Born to a traditional family that adhered strictly to the rule of the Bushido, Nakamura Iemitsu had been satisfied, if not particularly happy. It was in a time of relative intolerance to differences, that is, the era of Yuuki Judai, that accidents kept happening and duels with him turned real, and thus into horrific slaughters. He had been turned out of the house, and it was on the streets that he had first met the man named Apollymi Hunter.

While Apollymi Hunter would go down as the first man to be murdered by his own Ruin, Queen of Oblivion, Nakamura Iemitsu would narrow escape federal custody to enter the service of his equally powerful sister, Diana Hunter. Even when she married Rafael Eatos, even when they had changed their name to Shimotsuki – the Mistress had a fondness for the Japanese – and even through the birth of the young Mistress, he had been present.

He had been the one to tear the young Miss Setsuka to safety with the embodied Guardian Eatos when the master and mistress had met their untimely end. From there, he had seen the broken young Missy turn into the cold, intelligent, manipulative head of the Arcadia Movement and being equality a shade closer into reality; an admirable feat for anyone, never mind a child. He had been the one who did most of the research for toppling the Elysium Circle. For most of the Missy's life he had been witness to, and his witness would be key to any prosecutor acting against the Shimotsuki itself, if not for his staunch loyalty to a Missy with a tragic past forced to grow up too fast.

Sometimes it terrified him, that he whom the blood of his hands could never be rid of would care for such a Missy. Although...

He had been there to most of the Missy's killings. There was not a single head of the Arcadia Movement who had not killed, but his Missy had done it in a way that the bodies were never found... sometimes it terrified him. Most people openly showed their hatred. His Missy hedged her bets and held her cards close, a talent no doubt learned from the Mistress herself, and she was patient. She waited two years for revenge upon Regina Mackenzie, after all... and she had waited longer.

"Will you talk?"

He had had the dubious distinction of being one of the few entities trusted by Shimotsuki Setsuka. That also included a formidable knowledge of weapons. Seeing those self-same blades held by the young Missy to that green-haired girl who had offended her in some manner... it was almost chilling. It was like seeing the late Mistress herself in the aftermath of the White Witch Massacre, covered in blood that was not her own.

The female line of the Hunters... no, the Shimotsuki... it will be glorious, so the Mistress had said when cradling her daughter.

It was terrifying, he could honestly say.

"Let me go!"

Snap. There went a finger.

More screams.

The Mistress had preferred burn damage to her victims when interrogating. Mr Hunter had liked Ruin to chop off their limbs one by one he reflected. The Missy chose to freeze a limb into a solid block before snapping fingers and toes off. If people were lucky, they just lost a fingertip. Sometimes she took off a whole arm to make her point.

It was definitely cleaner. He was in no position to point fingers, he himself guilty of many things in the name of the masters.

"You will not talk?" His young mistress, the Miss Setsuka coolly stated as she glanced down at the broken body. One left hand was already frostbitten, and the right hand had two missing fingers, which laid beside the body. Knees bled from where Miss Setsuka had swung the bat to make sure that the other girl did not run.

"Bitch!"

He had taught the Missy thoroughly. It was that, or endanger his Missy. He was too loyal a retainer to leave the young Mistress ignorant. Even though his contract was relatively flexible, and his salary more than adequate, the young Mistress truly had no one left to trust. He was one of the only humans she could trust... he would not lose the last link to the Hunters again. Not to the pet tiger Dewloren, not to the smarmy Raiho. Not to the Duel spirits, no matter what the prophecies said about her and the Winter Queen.

"Then it is pointless," Setsuka dismissed. "You may as well disappear. Trident of the cold death, the swing of the pendulum is ever frozen. May the three thousand worlds linger forever in winter."

His young mistress was precocious, headstrong, and beautiful. It was a dangerous combination, because she was also cautious, and hardly prone to megalomania. No... it was more accurate to say that his young Mistress had nothing resembling human moral sense as much as a blue and orange morality.

It was with a soft gasp that the girl disappeared, and her fingers with her. Shimotsuki Setsuka hefted the bat. "Could you get the Dettol, Nakamura-san?"

The cleaning supplies were always prepared first. There would be no trace that Cheryl Madison ever stepped into this room. And Cheryl Madison had faced her first trial via web conference today. In a sense, his young Missy had kept her promise. "They are here, Missy."

"Thank you, Nakamura-san."

She cleaned up after herself. It was a punishment, she had told him once. A punishment for having to use force and to kill.

"Missy, the First Investigation Division is getting a new captain, Kaname Yuuko."

"Not the Ichihara?"

"No, Missy. If I recall, the Kaname family were old friends of the late Master and Mistress."

"And? She never actually contacted me, did she? The numbers have hardly changed. Let her come if she wishes."

"Missy, perhaps she might not be aware of... their circumstances."

"Ignorance is not an excuse, Nakamura-san. You of all people know the media fallout from that summer night. I for one do not believe that she did not read a single paper during that time, or even looked it up on the Web."

"Missy..."

"I have made my opinion clear, Nakamura-san. I do not wish for the trouble of an inexperienced person to enter my world."

"Miss Setsuka. Would you not prefer to know your old friends again?"

The Missy had paused, having already cleaned the area and was now kneeling. "Nakamura-san. Surely you know already that my preference would not protect them."

It was at these times that he found himself at a loss against her cold rationality. "I am sure... that they will be happy to see you making an effort."

"It's not that. It's my agreement with the spirits."

And here Nakamura Iemitsu wished for a way to prevent her from making unwise deals, or turn back time.

"Over time, I will slowly lose what is left of my humanity," the Missy told him. "I will, of course, remain rational. However, I will no longer recognise compassion, or pity, or human love. In short, I will completely revert to the Winter Queen. I have told you before that, when your life ends, Nakamura-san, I will live. And then, I will truly be a monster."

It was at these moments that he wondered if the Madame would have died with the Master, or fought to live, had she known that her daughter would become this broken, cold queen.

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