Interlude 10: Hanako
Hanako could not help but feel exasperated.
Others in her situation may have panicked, may have felt rage, or even indignation. But for Hanako, it was mostly exasperation.
Held hostage. And twice in less than a week.
Admittedly, it was a strange situation.
Hanako had tried her holo. Had tried her emergency IFF. The woman was clever, that much she could admit. Or at least she had come prepared, with a broad-spectrum jammer. A Militech model, if she wasn't mistaken.
Or, at least, her employer was quite well-prepared. This woman did not quite look capable of that kind of sophistication. She was a creature of chemical thrills, and so when Hanako had asked her the pertinent question of why after several hours of being completely ignored whilst trying to herself administer the silent treatment, the woman had looked up at her dumbly, shrugged her shoulders, and said, "I do what the boss-man tells me. He pays the bills, and I don't ask questions. Now either be interesting, or shut it."
"The Arasaka's are one of the wealthiest families in the world," Hanako had responded. "If it is money you desire, then I can make you richer than your wildest imaginings."
The woman had laughed at that, her eyes briefly flickering a mix of red and blue. It was a cold, cruel laugh, "Lady, I know who you are. Know what that name has done. It were up to me, I'd gut you and be done with it. But the boss-man says that more good comes from keeping you alive, and so I'm keepin' you alive." The woman smiled, "You want to test my loyalty? Go ahead. I dare ya."
Hanako stayed silent after that encounter, watching the woman pace about the room, eyes constantly glowing as she monitored the various security feeds from around the Arasaka Estate. So, she contemplated her chances.
Hanako knew she was no pushover herself, but this woman seemed in a league all to her own. She had moved in an economy of motion, Mantis Blades tearing through flesh and flashing almost faster than she could observe. The guards meant to keep her safe - her brother's gaolers, in truth - had struggled to put up much of anything resembling a fight against this woman.
The elite guards - the best Arasaka had to offer - had been about as effective as a shield made of paper, for all the difference they'd made. In seconds, they were all dead, and nobody was any the wiser.
Hanako supposed it was all for the best, either way. There had been murmurs, mutterings that a purge was happening down the ranks of the Arasaka Corporation, and if those mutterings proved true, then this woman may well have saved her life.
Still, Hanako opted to watch the woman carefully, through narrowed eyes. She would reserve judgement, but she was not fool enough to not take precautions.
Since that little discussion, the closest thing to a proper conversation that Hanako had had with the woman was when she had taken a video of her - proof, presumably to send to her brother.
"My brother wants me dead," Hanako had said, once she had stopped. "If it is ransom you desire, you'll get none."
The woman laughed again, but the laugh seemed less malevolent this time, "Oh, that's the absolute last thing ol' Yori wants! Trust me - your brother very much still loves you." Hanako doubted that , but the woman continued regardless, "And I'm not askin' for a ransom, honey."
Hanako quirked an eyebrow, "Then what?"
"Boss-man wants you two to kiss and make up, apparently. Supposed to help you reconcile."
Hanako frowned, "Just like that? Out of the kindness of his heart?"
The woman, again, shrugged, "Politics, more-like. I'd doubt he'd be fucked what you do, but your family is too big to be ignored. That's my guess, anyway. Again, I don't get paid to ask questions."
"What do you get paid for, then?"
The woman offered her a wide, savage-looking grin, "To kill people."
Hanako waited a moment longer, to see if the woman would elaborate, but she stayed stubbornly silent. So, Hanako switched tac, "Politics?"
The woman's grin faded as she shrugged, "Politics."
Getting information from this woman was like getting blood from a sassy stone, "If Yorinobu truly still loves me, then you are a dead woman walking."
The woman seemed unaffected by that statement, "Do I look scared to you?"
In a rare moment of spitefulness, Hanako responded in kind, "You look insane."
The woman stared at her for one long moment, threw her head back and cackled as an insane person might, "Oh, I'm startin' to like you!"
From then, the hours had passed in a stubborn silence. Yorinobu was coming - or so the woman was confident. But what did that mean for her? For her standing in Arasaka? Would she be welcomed back into the fold? Or were there daggers waiting, ready to plunge into her back the moment an opportunity presented itself? Anxious minutes passed, and then hours.
And then, as if a miracle, a lone hovercar descended onto the Arasaka estate. Hanako watched the door open to reveal her brother - or at least what looked to be him - completely bereft of protection.
No guards, no armour. Just an expensive shirt, dress shoes and his glasses on his face.
Not so much as a single weapon, as far as she could make out.
Was he mad?
Even if he had believed the woman to be one of her word, to take such risk was foolish. Hanako narrowed her eyes as she watched her brother walk towards the house. There had to be something larger at play here, some angle she was not aware of. A conspiracy or a plot or something to explain the inexplicable. The head of the Arasaka clan did not comply with demands made of him. He set the terms, or failing that, he responded with fire and brimstone. A lesson she had learned in her father's lap, long ago.
Ruthlessness was the true currency of power. Not... this.
At the very least, he should have used a proxy.
What was he playing at?
The front door of the house slid open, and Yorinobu sauntered in, his stride confident, his shoulders tense. His eyes met hers and trailed across her form, before settling back on her eyes. "Are you hurt?" he asked in Japanese.
Hanako shook her head silently.
Yorinobu's eyes flashed in knowing acknowledgement before he turned his attention to the woman, his jaw clenched, "Who told you?"
The woman shrugged, making an exaggerated knocking motion to her temple, "Sorry - can't seem to remember!"
Yorinobu did not relax, "Only so many people knew. Who was it? NetWatch?"
"Politics, Yori. I don't ask questions. Discretion is part of my service."
"And the price?" Yorinobu asked.
"Supercarrier fleet," she responded, all business. "Two weeks in NC airspace, I'll send you the deets. All performative - no shots fired, understand?"
Yorinobu's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Why?" The woman did not deign to answer Yorinobu's question, so he asked a different one, "Your employer?"
Strangely enough, this question she did see fit to answer, "What about him?"
"Did he have blue eyes?" Yorinobu asked, almost as if he were afraid to hear the answer.
That same savage grin returned to the woman's face. She waved to Hanako as she made to leave, "Bye ol' gal! Hope you two crazy kids make up!" A moment later, she was gone. Yorinobu rushed after her, only to find empty space where she had stood not a moment earlier. A second later, a blur could be seen streaking briefly across the lawn and over the hedge and away.
Somehow, Hanako knew, he would never find her. A fact which swiftly became apparent to him as well, as he abandoned his search, eyes glowing as he called in reinforcements and came and sat before her to await their arrival, "Are you well?"
"Blue eyes?" Hanako asked him, her gaze steely and uncompromising, her heart filled with rage and confusion in equal measure.
Yorinobu flinched before her, "Yes... blue eyes."
Hanako sighed deeply, calming herself, "I feel, dear brother, as though we have much to discuss."
He nodded slowly and leaned back. Outside, the guards finally arrived. Some were waiting in the lawn, other searching the exterior of the house, and more still making to pursue the woman. None dared interrupt them.
"Did you want me dead?" she bluntly asked.
Yorinobu frowned and shook his head, seemingly hurt by the accusation, "No, Hanako. Never, I swear it."
He was speaking truth, she could tell. "The rumours..." she approached the topic gently, "are they true?"
"Arasaka is now mine," Yorinobu confirmed. "Dubai, Paris, Kyoto, all of it."
"Why?" she asked stiffly. "Why all this?"
"Fear," he replied. "Ever since I can remember. The one thing I cannot deny him - he knew how to cause fear in people."
"Father," Hanako realised.
Yorinobu nodded, "He once told me that anything of value is only a flag blowing in wind. And wind is fear. And then... you know what he did?"
Hanako shook her head silently.
"Blew in my face. That was the one time he was wrong," he said. "And others? It worked on them. They feared him."
She shook her head, "Not me."
Yorinobu smiled wanly, "You always were special. But not everyone can be like you. I would change that."
"Father... ruled with an iron fist," she admitted. "But he didn't need a purge to hold onto power."
Yorinobu looked dismayed, betrayed, "You... you think I wanted power?"
Hanako frowned, silently beckoning him to explain.
"Fifty years ago terrorists blew Arasaka Tower into smoke," he said. "And? What did it give them? Nothing! But I learnt a lesson. If planting a bomb is not enough, what do you do? Make it so you don't need a bomb at all."
"How?"
Yorinobu shook his head, refusing to answer her question. "The engram is gone," he said instead. "Mikoshi... did not survive."
Her eyes widened slightly, "You knew."
"I know what father wanted to do," he sounded resigned to even say it.
"Not to you," she denied.
"Do not lie," he almost growled. "My body is the only one. He had no other matches. I always was the failure. He would not have hesitated."
Again, Hanako was silent.
"No matter." Yorinobu sighed and closed his eyes, "We are, both of us, free from him now. Forever."
There was a long lull between them, and Yorinobu would not meet her eyes. Whether from shame or betrayal or anger, she could not tell.
"You've changed," she finally said. It was both a compliment, and an accusation.
"You have not," he responded. An accusation for an accusation.
She looked away from him, suddenly unable to bear the sight of him, "Do you hate me?"
Yorinobu stood from his seat and leaned over to kiss her cheek.
"I could never hate you."
No, before anyone asks, I am not back from my hiatus.
But in spite of the workload, I still had a little free time here and there. So here you go.
See you all in a few months!
Feel free to comment and let me know what you think.
Hope you guys enjoy!
P.S. May be subject to a rewrite in the future
