Agents of HIME
Chapter 11
"NINA!" Arika yelled as she tackle glomped her.
"Arika! Get off!" Nina complained, fending the other woman off.
Erstin, their OTHER girlfriend, looked on, amused.
"You three are adorable," Alyssa noted, the blond actress/singer/idol having come back to Fuka with them.
"I haven't seen them in DAYS," Arika pouted.
Alyssa felt a pang of guilt. She had had Nina as her bodyguard and Erstin as her driver while on a trip into Tokyo. Meetings with her producer and record executives.
"Welcome back," Rena Sayers said, the older woman adding, "Miyu called me earlier, said you were pissed."
Alyssa looked at Miyu, who looked sheepish.
"What's wrong?" Rena asked gently.
"My label wants me to sex up my image a bit," Alyssa admitted.
"... seriously?" Rena blinked.
"Your whole VIBE is the innocent little sister type!" Arika blurted, listening in.
Alyssa sighed, "Which is not something I'm thrilled with, but..."
"Going full on slut would be a bit much," Nina noted.
"Anyway," Rena decided to change the subject and asked, "have you decided when your next tour will be?"
Alyssa puffed out a sigh as she turned towards the waiting hotel as she muttered, "Honestly, I'm not sure I'm going to."
"Huh?" everyone chorused.
"Miss Alyssa, you mean..," Miyu asked as she carried her luggage.
"I finished out my contract with them with my last album," Alyssa noted, "maybe my agent and I, and the record company, should talk."
"Wow," Arika blinked.
"Well, tonight I'm going to have a bath, rest up and think," Alyssa decided cheerfully, "the rest can wait."
Rena suggested, "I'm sure Miyu can wash your back."
"SHHH!" Miyu scowled at her.
"What?" Alyssa blinked.
"NOTHING," Miyu quickly said, not wanting Alyssa to know about her feelings for her.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Not long after, Shizuru was meeting with her co-owners of HIME.
"... and apparently her record company is trying to blame US for influencing Alyssa to quit them," Yukino noted, waving around the print out.
"WHAT." Mashiro said flatly.
"As I understand it they offered her a poor deal," Shizuru observed, "along with the whole plan to make her go sexy."
"Will there be an issue with us?" Haruka asked.
"They're cancelling further protection," Yukino noted, "but I made it clear to them they have to pay our remaining costs, or the lawyers get involved."
"Lawyers, the one thing that's more frightening than heavily armed mercenaries," Mashiro noted, amused.
"I wouldn't screw with out lawyers," Haruka noted.
"Any more trouble at you company, Haruka?" Shizuru asked, referring to her and Yukino having announced their wedding at work.
"We had to fire two executives," Yukino admitted, "they went too far and our anti-descrimination policy is fairly strict. OTHER than that, things have settled down."
"Serious loss?" Mashiro asked.
"One of them was VERY good, but...," Yukino shrugged. "And we had to make an example, to bring everyone else in line."
"You do what you must," Shizuri agreed.
"We finally heard back from our contact at Justice Dept," Mashiro noted, "Wataru Ishigami, the smuggler we caught, agreed to a plea deal."
Wataru had been smuggling illegal arms via Haruka;s company. An op by Rena Sayers and Nao Yuuki had caught him a few months ago...
"Justice moves slowly," Yukino made a face.
"At least a plea deal will keep it all out of the press," Haruka sighed. She wanted to see justice done, but she didn't want her company dragged through the media over this.
"Here's hoping our next job goes as well," Shizuru mused.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
With a wet noise Mikoto Minagi broke the nose of the first attacker. The others were shocked for a moment, at the suddenness and viciousness of the attack. She kicked out, slamming a third goon into the group.
"Come on!" Mikoto grabbed the client and bolted.
"Why is this happening?" Yohko Helene blurted, the somewhat older woman being dragged along beside her.
"You're the one who hired us," Mikoto noted.
"Because I thought I was being stalked, not... this!" Yohko yelped.
"Come on," Mikoto hurried her along to where the car should be waiting. "Down!" Mikoto ordered, shoving her.
"Oof!" Yohko grunted as a bullet whizzed by.
The car was running, and Aoi Senou was sitting in the driver's seat. "Hey, Mikoto!" she called, doors open.
"There's at least one gun," Mikoto nearly shoved the doctor into the car.
"Shit," Aoi revved the engine as Mikoto dived in, then slammed the doors.
"How..?" Yohko asked weakly.
"I called ahead once I realized you were being tailed," Mikoto noted.
Aoi looked back at Mikoto, "Back to her condo or...?"
"We saw some of them there too," Mikoto shook her head, "safe house?"
"Right," Aoi agreed, turning.
"They're at my HOUSE?!" Yohko blurted.
"Looks like it," Mikoto agreed.
Aoi, while keeping an eye on the road, asked, "So, what do you do? Our file on you just said 'Medical Research.'"
"Bio-tech. I'm working for a company trying to figure out Saeko Kuga's research, after she disappeared," Yohko noted.
"SERIOUSLY?!" Both Mikoto and Aoi blurted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"It's got to be a trap," Chie Harada noted as she reported in to Shizuru.
Shizuru frowned, "It's certainly suspicious. You think District One set this up, in the hopes we'd take her to where we have Dr Kuga?"
"Almost certainly," Chie agreed.
"OR," Shizuru mused, "she's who she says she is, and District One is trying to kidnap her."
"Ma'am," Chie sighed.
"It is as possible, yes?" Shizuru asked. She added, "Nothing untoward came up when you did a background check on her?"
"I did only a surface check, as it was just a bodyguard job," Chie pointed out.
"All right, do a deep check on her," Shizuru decided, "Finances, friends, the works. If this IS a trap, we need to know."
"Got it," Chie agreed.
"What do we do with the doctor?" Irina Woods, one of Chie's staffers, asked as she worked beside her boss.
"Keep her at the safe house for now, as we investigate who's after her," Shizuru decided.
"Got it," Chie agreed.
Irina murmured to Chie, "Should we discuss possible sanction orders with Miss Mikoto?"
The idea of killing Doctor Yohko was something they might HAVE to consider, if she was really an attempt to plant an agent in their midst. Of course, they wouldn't actually do that except as a very last resort.
"No, Mikoto's not the sort to do that. Let Aoi know," Chie noted.
To be continued...