Later that evening, at the end of the concert portion of the beach party, Yuuki, Rachael, Valentine, Sherry (who was getting a piggyback ride from Yuuki, half asleep) and Jake wandered away from the concert towards the darker, quieter stretches of the coastline.
"That last band sucked ass compared to the first two." Rachael commented as the sounds of partying slowly faded away, replaced by the ocean's calming waves. "But, to be fair... they had good stage presence."
"Otherwise known as the lead singer was hot." Yuuki nudged Rachael's arm with her elbow. "She was alright, I guess. You can have her. I want that guitarist from the first band, hell... fucking... Yes."
"She was so short! Like, holy shit Mishka's probably taller than her!" Rachael argued back.
"I like short girls!" Yuuki countered, then pointedly adjusted Sherry a bit higher on her back. "Case in point!"
"But we're the same height!"
Yuuki and Rachael's argument continued for about fifteen more minutes, seemingly effortlessly ebbing and flowing between Russian, English and Japanese the same way the tide came in, then went back out merely ten feet from them.
"Hey, Valentine, you've been quiet. You alright?" Jake spoke to the youngest Darkwood with a curious glance.
"I'm just considering how best to put the fear of god into a stuck-up child in my English class. His name's Dalton."
"I get the feeling you two aren't on good terms?" Jake asked, knowing that nobody truly brought about a Darkwood's wrath unless they actually deserved it. It was just their way of dealing with nuisances like this Dalton kid... Or his own father and his stupidity.
God, Jake loved the view of the Pacific Ocean from up here...
"I was trying to bait him into giving me an indisputable reason to put him in his place... but he set himself up so perfectly that I didn't dare let such a golden opportunity slip through my fingers."
"What did you do?" Jake had seen a few new kids try to antagonize Yuuki and even Rachael - who was actually the calm one of the two - on several occasions. Few actually succeeded at getting their attention, but twice - once per twin - they actually pissed them off so much that Jake and Sherry had taken a few claw swipes and more than enough punches and kicks to take down a normal human when they'd tried - both times, together - to calm the sisters down... Which even after all that, wasn't a quick nor simple task.
"I grabbed him by the hair, slammed his face into a desk, then hauled up him back up and gave him a lecture... then I gave him one of my Heartseeker cards."
"New toy, I presume?" Jake - like nearly everyone who knew Valentine - asked the same question that followed the mention of an unfamiliar object or the name of one that he used.
"It's just a tracking device hidden inside of a thickened business card. I drew a heart with a Cupid's arrow through it and added a V on top." Valentine explained, then continued. "Anyway, so, I already know he's thrown the card out. The signal gave out while I was tracking it at work. Probably got crushed inside the garbage truck."
"Think you can give me a description of this Dalton kid and one of those cards? I think I can slip it on him for you." Jake asked, but Valentine shook his head.
"I already have a plan ready to go."
"You gonna eat him? I would, in your shoes." Jake nodded in understanding. "I mean, shit... Underneath all that beautiful ocean, my dad's got a thirty foot tungsten rod shoved up his ass through to his head, stuck in an underwater volcano. And no, he's not dead."
"I know about your dad, a bit. My sisters mentioned him and explained what they did to him once they'd jumped off the Der Reichstag."
"I took all of his assets, Toby and Motoko helped me track them all down and deal with what was legal and what wasn't. For the most part, it was all good, I just had to sort through a lot of his stuff in four different countries."
"Which countries?" Valentine was quite intrigued by that last comment. He was getting a spark of inspiration at the mention of international travel.
"Well, a lot of it was here in the US, but there was a big house - about the same size as your place - over in Germany. I put it up for sale, I didn't want the place. It sold within a few months, got good money out of the deal." Jake explained, smirking for a moment before continuing. "My dad also had a fairly normal family home over in Ireland, I figured that was his and my mom's place before he brought us to the States."
"Did you also sell that home?" Valentine knew little about Albert Wesker as a family man, but did know that Jake cared a lot for his mother before she died. The emotional connection to that home might've affected his choice.
"It's nothing special, just a typical family home in a small town. I sold it pretty quickly, but I took the money I got from it, donated it to the local Red Cross fundraiser... in cash. They were shocked and asked why I did it, so I said that someone deserved that money more than I did."
"And what about the fourth place? Where was that?" Valentine asked, looking up at Jake. That Ireland bit explained his red hair, for sure.
"Japan." Jake nodded his head slightly. "Another big house, but it's got an underground little bunker thing. Toby was the one that found it, so he and Motoko called for assistance from Public Security Section 9 and the Japanese BSAA, just to make sure it was all good down there."
"What was down there?" Valentine asked, watching as Jake withdrew his phone from his pocket and searched through it for a few seconds.
"Aside from a stockpile of small arms and a garage with a Humvee, the bunker had a huge... hangar? Yeah, that's the word Motoko used." Jake held out his phone. "Here, I took a few pictures of the thing."
Valentine examined the pictures one by one. It was a large mech, about 30 feet tall, likely 15 or 20 tonnes. "Considering what else was in there, it was someone else's project, your father just had his name on the real estate documents."
"Yeah, I figured that too." Jake nodded. "BSAA Japan have destroyed the thing, and after a few days of debating for me, I decided to have the bunker emptied and sealed with concrete. A week of renovations later, and the whole house was put up for sale, and it sold about four months later. I kept the money from the deal."
"So what do you do with the money?" Valentine asked, but then added. "If you don't mind me asking, of course."
"I just saved it all together. My mechanic job still pays my living expenses, I just have money set aside." Jake shrugged.
"Thanks, you've given me an interesting inspiration." Valentine returned his phone and smiled. "Not a mech... something better."
"Bigger, better, faster, stronger?" Jake smirked as he spoke. Of course, Valentine nodded.
"Alright, it's been a week. What's your design and where's it going?" Serenity had that glint of glee in her eyes as Valentine untied his bandana from his neck. This time, it was Rize that had driven him to Serenity's studio.
"Right here." Valentine held up a folded piece of paper between his fingers as his mother sat in a nearby waiting chair with a book, smirking slightly.
Serenity accepted the paper, opened it, and her smile stretched from ear to ear.
"Let's get started, I like where you're going with this."
"Valentine..." Miss Haley noticed right away that the youngest Darkwood had more tattoos, and inwardly wondered why his parents allowed him to get them at such a young age. "Could you read us your short story aloud, please?"
Valentine nodded, then stood up very suddenly, rightly startling Dalton right behind him - Dalton's forehead had a heavy layer of makeup to conceal the hefty scar that Valentine gave him the week beforehand. He had also been seen wearing a hat before a teacher ordered him to remove it.
Everyone could still see the scar, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.
After Valentine finished reading his story, the class politely applauded before he sat back down, resting his forearms on his desk and arching his back to coyly peer over his shoulder at Dalton's forcibly lowered gaze.
"Serenity says hello."
Dalton made that derisive, disgusted snort he was so known for, but kept his gaze down. Valentine knew he was on his phone, he could sense the damn thing!
"One of the best tattoo artists in the world, and you think her works are terrible. You should be ashamed of yourself."
"I'd be ashamed just having to meet whoever she is."
"Be my guest." Valentine placed Serenity's studio business card on Dalton's desk. "She's open until 7pm, there's a bus stop across the street from the studio."
"I don't want..." Dalton's head shot up as he glared at Valentine's cheeky smirk over his shoulder.
"Well, that's too bad. I'm already here."
Serenity's voice wasn't a whisper, and everyone turned to see her leaning on the door frame. She had a visitor's pass around her neck.
"Um... How may I help you Miss...?" Miss Haley hadn't met Serenity before, so she politely queried as Serenity smiled and extended her hand.
"Serenity Cora Avalise, I'm sorry to intrude, could I borrow Valentine? I'm guest speaking for the 12th Grade Visual Art classes shortly, and since Valentine's got three of my designs, I'd like to show them off."
Miss Haley hummed in thought for a moment, then concluded that yes, it was acceptable. "Of course, Miss Avalise. Valentine." She turned towards him, but he was already standing up and grabbing his shoulder bag. "Have a good day."
He waved as he followed Serenity through the halls to the large art workshop.
"Are the rest of us coming too?" Valentine asked, but Serenity shook her head slightly.
"No, it's just yourself, your sisters are in the class but agreed to show theirs, and Mishka's already waiting. Everyone else couldn't make it."
With that, Serenity knocked on the door and it was pushed open by Tabitha, who smiled at Valentine as they went inside to assist Serenity in her guest presentation. Yuuki and Rachael were already seated at the front of all the students, both having chosen to wear bare-back tops to expose almost their entire tattoo's.
"You're all in your final year of high school... And I've heard from your teacher that you need a bit of... inspiration. Now, I'm famous as an artist mostly for my tattoo designs, as you can plainly see on not only myself, but my family, here." Serenity gestured to hers and her fellow T-Ghoul's body art. "So let's inspire you! Bring you that spark, that tiny little moment you need to create your final piece of art! In fact, does anyone here have any sort of major project, something they're trying to make or design? Anyone. C'mon, just hand up. I myself have two tattoo's left to do for each of these three." Serenity gestured to the three Darkwood children. "Are you three doing anything?" She asked them, and the twins nodded.
"I'm going to do a painting for my final piece." Rachael explained. "Using an unusual method on a traditional concept."
"I'm going to do a sculpture, but I'm not doing doing it a traditional way." Yuuki flicked her long hair away from her face, blinking all six of her eyes as she did it.
"See? That's what I'm asking. New, innovative methods or approaches to create something! Valentine, what are you up to these days? Building any new toys worth sharing?"
Valentine paused for a moment, then smiled in that super sweet little smile that he and Serenity were both known for.
"I'm building a flying battleship."
Almost everyone laughed, but Serenity knew he wasn't kidding. She smiled widely and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Little side note: Valentine here works for the BSAA's R&D department. He's not making a joke. And that, children, is ambition, skill and tenacity. Sweetie, if you don't fly it over the school during the maiden voyage, I will not be pleased."
"And who said I was just planning it?" Valentine raised an eyebrow. "It's already under development, as we speak."
Serenity's smile couldn't get any bigger.
"Now that is what I'm talking about!" Serenity announced loudly, launching into a fiery speech. "You've just gotten shown up! Now your pride's at stake! He's building a battleship! The least you can do is your art projects! Put some fire in your belly! Ice in your veins! Prove to Valentine that his flying battleship is nothing compared to your final piece! Show him up, right here, right now! Do it before he literally flies over your heads!"