"Finally!" Ice called out as DJ shuffled out of the men's restroom, drying his hands with a paper towel. "Thought you fell in or sum," the blonde said as his friend walked over to where he and Cobra stood.
DJ gave Ice an unamused expression followed by a middle finger. He raised his eyebrow and pointed to the soft pretzels Ice and Cobra were eating.
"That cafe there's sellin' 'em," Cobra answered and jerked his head behind to the stand some few feet behind them. "They not the greatest, but they ain't too bad neither."
The blonde held two pretzels in a napkin (one half-eaten) in one hand and a paper cup of coffee in the other, offering them to DJ. "Want some mocha?" Ice asked.
The quiet man took the cup to sip. It was warm and the taste was a mix between bitter and sweet. DJ didn't expect much quality from airport coffee, but it was alright. When Ice re-offered the pretzel, the bulky man held up his hand and shook his head
Ice shrugged. "Welp, more fo' me," he said and took another bite of his snack.
"You should give that one ta D-Man, he needs one," Cobra said, and DJ nodded.
"Nah, what D-Man really needs is a Snickers," Ice replied and pulled out the chocolate bar from his pocket. "Dude's been cranky all mornin'."
"Considering how totally nuts his family is, I can't blame 'im. He gotta deal with seven other adults in the same place for two whole weeks," Cobra said with a shake of his head. "I remember Uncles Seymour, Do, Zuo, but not the others," the purple-haired man said as he was counting off each name. "You think his pops'll show?"
DJ shook his head. Ice shrugged with an uncertain face. "D ain't mention nothin' 'bout his old man," he said.
"Can't blame 'im for that either," Cobra said. He looked down at his watch, then up at his friends. "You think we should be headin' back now?"
"D-Man don't need us 'round to hold his hand 24/7. He'll be aight fo' a l'il bit," Ice said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"495 dollars?! Are you fuckin' serious?!" Darek asked incredulously with a glare at the man behind the check-in counter.
The man, whose nametag read 'Frank', gave a small, sympathetic-like shrug. He turned the monitor of his computer around to show Darek the price calculations. "Apologies sir, please calm down. $75 is the fee for same-day flight change and you checked and weighed all four of your bags, which is $420 altogether. These are just our policies, nothing I or anyone can do to change them."
The Asian man stared at the screen to calculate the prices in his head, then looked up to Frank with a skeptical frown. "Damn rip-off," he muttered as he went into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. He grabbed one of his credit cards and handed it to Frank, who scanned it through a machine as he turned his monitor back around to face him.
"Alright," Frank said as he began clicking and typing on his computer. "You said you wanted to change the final destination of your flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong?"
"Is it a round-flight or do I have to deal with layovers?" Darek asked.
"Let's see... " the man trailed off as he did some more typing on his computer. "This flight takes you from here at 10:45 a.m. to the Narita International Airport at 9:10 p.m., then there's a near three-hour layover. You leave there at 12:10 a.m. and land at the Hong Kong International Airport at 5:15 a.m."
Darek deeply exhaled in his reluctance. "I guess one layover couldn't hurt."
Frank reached over his desk to hand Darek his newly printed boarding pass, then pointed to the security screening section where there were people in line waiting to be screened. "Alright, you're now cleared for security."
Darek took the boarding pass and looked it over a final time, then put it in his pocket. Just then, Ice, Cobra, and Fist arrived back at their boss' side.
"We gotchu D-Man," Cobra said as he moved to pick up the smaller suitcases while DJ moved down to pick up the bigger bags.
"Was wondering where you three fooled off to," Darek said with a hint of a smirk. He pointed down to the security section and began walking to lead his men there. "I'm told to go to the screening area so security can check me and my bags."
Ice handed Darek a hot soft pretzel that was folded in a napkin, a chocolate bar, and a bottle of water. "You hungry?"
Darek turned up his nose. "I'll pass."
"You've been grumpy this whole trip and you tellin' me you ain't even a li'l bit hungry?" Ice asked as he waved the pretzel closer to Darek's nose. "And there's Snickers, your favorite."
Darek's stomach bubbled and made a muffled growl. He rested his hand over his stomach and hesitantly eyed the food. The man's mind drifted back to the cup of tea and banana he had eaten back home. At the time Darek wasn't hungry, but the aroma of the pretzel was starting to make him reconsider his previous decision. He curtly exhaled through his nose as he took the pretzel and took a bite from it. "Thanks," he mumbled and stuffed the chocolate bar into his pocket.
The men made their way to the airport security station, where there were a few lines of people moving through the security scanner to the other side. There was a TSA officer from one side who saw Darek approaching and waved over to him. "Sir, you can come to this line and place your bags here. Make sure you remove items like electronics and liquids from your bag beforehand and put them in this bin," she announced and pointed to the conveyor belt, then to the black bin in front of her.
Darek went over to the beginning of the belt and placed his bags on the end. "Make sure all my doors are locked," Darek ordered as he started to search through each bag.
"Yes sir," the Ice Crew said in unison.
"Whatever mail I get, place 'em in my office. Don't let it pile at my mailbox."
"Yes sir."
"And check my place twice a day, morning and evening. DJ, I'm putting you in charge of surveillance. Set my porch lights on a timer from 6 to 10:30 p.m."
Darek pulled his toothpaste, shower gels, and hair pomade from his smaller bags and placed them in the plastic bin. He then zipped up all his bags and, with the help of the agent, pushed them onto the conveyor belt for it to slowly move down the line.
"Please take off your shoes and remove any metals like coins or watches from your body and put it in the bin too," the agent said. Darek let out an annoyed sigh as he removed his watch and dropped it into the bin, then bent down to take off his shoes one by one to put into the bin.
DJ grunted in approval at his order and nodded. Ice and Cobra couldn't help smirking and slightly shaking their heads. "Damn, why you ridin' our asses so hard? Lighten up, we got it," Ice said.
Darek turned his head and cowled at Ice, causing the subordinate's smirk to fall. "I'm sorry, is that a problem?" he sharply answered, now fully turning his body to Ice with a raised brow.
"Nah, I'm jus' sayin' you don't gotta be on our case like we newbies," Ice said in a lowered and more respectful tone. "We've been on yo' payroll and been doin' this long enough fo' you to trust that we'll have everythang in order."
"For you three's sake, I hope so," Darke replied cynically. The agent gives him the signal to walk through the scanner where there is an agent waiting for him holding a metal detector.
"Raise up your arms, son," the man said. Darek did so, allowing the man to slow run the metal detector up and down the front, back, and sides of his body. The agent then firmly patted Darek around his body from his shoulders down to his ankles. "Alright, you're cleared. You can grab your things and carry-on bags and head down to the gate to check-in."
Darek went over to grab his belongings from the belt to set them on the floor one by one. His eyes stole a glance at the Ice Crew from the other side of the metal detector and took note of the looks on their faces as they were watching their boss unload his bags. Darek grabbed his watch and shoes from the bin and took his time to put them on. He looked back at the Ice Crew, for he knew this would be where he and his men would go their separate ways. This time, Ice held his hand to his head in a salute.
"Good luck Major-D," the blond said with a smirk.
"Have fun in Hong Kong!" Cobra called out. DJ held up two thumbs up with a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Darek let out a sigh and returned a stifled grin. "Yeah," he said with a solid nod. With that, he picks up his bags and walked towards the check-in area.
"Is he gone yet?" Ice hissed.
"We can still see him," Cobra said as he cranked his head to watch Darek walk down to the gate.
"I can't!"
"That's 'cuz you short," Cobra quipped, which earned him a punch in his arm by Ice.
"That ain't funny!" Ice growled back.
"I was just playin'!" Cobra laughed and rubbed his arm. "I think I just saw 'im go down some hallway, prolly to the seating area before he boards."
Ice whipped his head around and looked towards the gate check-in. It was a little tough for the blonde to see with the number of people who got in his line of sight, but he could see the back of Darek standing at one of the gates. After some seconds had passed, Darek pushed through the turnstile to walk through.
"Aaaand... " Cobra trailed off as his eyes remained on Darek. "... He's gone."
"Yes!" Ice cheered. DJ lightly nudged Ice in his arm and gave him and Cobra a ghost of a grin. The blonde responded with a bigger mischievous grin and stuck out his fist. "You boys thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
DJ nodded and met his fist with Ice's. Cobra snickered and nodded with an ear-to-ear grin and joined his fist as well. "Hell yeah!"
A/N: Wow, it's been 5 months since I've gotten around to updating this story! What can I say, writer's block gets the best of me sometimes :p If things get better, I may be able to finish another chapter by the end of this year, but don't quote me on it.
See ya!