The next day early in the morning.
Toyotama, Hikari and Hibiki slept in the same room together. Hibiki thought it was best that they all slept together with their Ashikabi, rather than bother deciding who or when. Even so, Toyotama and Hikari had another spat about not wanting to sleep in the same room with each other. The youngest sister somehow got them settled. They set up all four futons close together in the middle of the room. Toyotama left her staff outside the door to mark where they are sleeping when Six finally decide to come to bed.
With that they all fell asleep, a large gap reserved for their Ashikabi between the greenette and the twins.
The morning sun shining brightly through the window hit the faces of the sleeping Sekirei. By feeling the heat of the sun the three alien women slowly started to wake up, open their eyes and get up from their beds. Each stretched their muscles to help blood flow. Eventually all three angelic women shifted their attention to the spot meant for the special man in their life. To their utter disappointment he was nowhere in sight.
"He didn't come to bed last night." Hibiki broke the silence, her disappointment made known.
"I was actually hoping to snuggle up against that super soldier body of his…" Hikari muttered. "What a bummer."
Toyotama sighed. "He did the same thing the other night."
The Lightning-Twins looked to no.16. "He did this on your first night?" they asked in sync.
Toyotama nodded. "When I was sleeping in the burned-out apartment he stayed up all night and guarded the place."
Hibiki's eyes snapped to the doorway. "... You don't suppose he did the same thing again?"
"I hope he doesn't plan to do this every night." Hikari added.
"I hope not." Toyotama getting up to her feet and reaching for her boots. "Let's go look for him."
The twins nodded followed suit and the three went in search of their man.
For a half an hour they search the factory office section for the Spartan and found no trace of him anywhere. With no clue as to his location they searched bathrooms, the kitchen, cafeteria and various office rooms. Nothing. The only other place they haven't search yet was the main factory. The girls found themselves back in the lobby standing at the entrance to the main factory floor. It was still dark in there with no power on and awfully silent in there.
"Think he's in there?" Hikari asked.
"Maybe. I don't know." Toyotama answered. She then stepped forward a little bit into the dark factory, and put her hands up to her mouth.
"Six!?"
Her voice echoed throughout the dark factory floor. After a while nothing.
"I guess not." Hibiki huffed.
Hikari inhaled through her teeth. "Then where the hell as he gone too!?"
Then Toyotama thought of something. "Let's check our cell phones maybe he left a message for us?"
All three immediately checked their phones... to their disappointment, nothing. No text message or even a call.
"Where the hell is He?!" Hikari complained.
"And what's worse he didn't give us any kind of number to call him in case of an emergency." Toyotama said.
"Would've been nice if he gave us number or something to contact him!" Hibiki sighed.
"Wait, the only other place we haven't looked is outside." Hibiki thought aloud. "He might be doing something outdoors."
"Good point. Hopefully he's outside." Toyotama agreed.
"Then let's see." Hikari said as they went to a nearby window to look out side . At first they saw nothing, deciding to look around the perimeter they opened up the window and jumped out landing on the ground.
They searched high and low everywhere around the property, still no sign of him.
After a couple of minutes searching the outside the three Sekirei regrouped.
"No luck?" Toyotama asked as she approached the sisters.
The Lightning-Twins shook their heads and the younger answered. "Unfortunately we haven't."
"Ah! Where the hell is that big lug!?" Hikari shouted in frustration, just as worried as her sister.
"Maybe he just went out for supplies?" Hibiki wondered, trying to come up with a logical answer.
"I don't think so, he would just send us out for supplies not himself. Since a big 7 foot tall man in armor would get a lot of attention." Toyotama knowing her Ashikabi didn't want be seen by the public if it could be helped.
Both sister thought about her answer for moment and came to the same conclusion.
"Good point." Hibiki replied.
"You don't suppose he abandoned us and ran off during the middle of the night?" Hikari wondered aloud the worst possible scenario.
Hibiki sent a conflicted glare at her sister.
"What? I said it yesterday when we first moved in here. He doesn't see us in a romantic sense. I mean, from the way he ended that group hug yesterday and the way he didn't want to come to bed with us…"
"And I told you yesterday we need to peel off that armor and see who's under it." Toyotama interrupted. "I guarantee you he didn't abandon us. He could've abandoned me the night before but he didn't. He stayed and guarded me that whole night."
"Sis let's not forget what else he said yesterday." Hibiki added.
Hikari thought about it for a moment, then sighed and folded her arms. Their Ashikabi didn't sound like the type to abandon people. "You're right, sorry for doubting our Ashikabi."
Hibiki and Toyotama shared a smile.
"It's ok to get mad at him." Number 16 began. "I was angry at him yesterday for the burned-down apartment, remember?"
"Still doesn't answer our question of where he is."
"He can't be that far away from here… is he?" Hibiki hoped half-heartedly.
Before anyone else could say a word Toyotama's cell phone rang, which caught them completely off guard. Toyotama fumbled the thing out of her pocket and found the caller-ID read 'unknown caller'.
"Is it him?" Hikari asked.
"It has to be. He probably had Athena access her phones again." Hibiki guessed.
Toyotama accepted the call & put the device to her ear. "Hello? Six, is it you?"
"Yes."
The greenette let out a sigh of relief and switched it to speaker-mode. "Where are you? And why didn't you tell us that you were going somewhere?"
"Didn't want to bother all of you while you were all asleep." He answered quickly.
"So, where are are you now?" Hikari queried.
"Classified."
The trio groaned before he finished the word.
"That again! Come on!" Hikari nagged.
"Yeah! I'm starting to get a little annoyed with all the secrecy here myself!" Toyotama snapped to make her annoyance known.
Hibiki nodded in agreement. "I'm with Toyotama. Are you sure you can't tell us where you are?"
"Where I am isn't important or relevent." Six said firmly. "I was just calling in to check up on all of you. Athena alerted me you were all looking for me around facility." Six replied.
"Of course, using your magical AI to spy on us." Toyotama stated
"Without me you guys would've been looking for him endlessly all morning." Athena countered.
"She's not wrong." Hibiki huffed.
"I can see you girls standing right outside of the factory both through a security camera attached to the roof and through MBI satellites." Athena replied smugly.
The girls look to the roof of the factory and saw a security camera pointed at them.
Anyone wanna say hi to the camera?" Athena chirped.
"You never cease to amaze me, Athena." Toyotama admitted.
"I'll say." the Twins echoed.
"Anyway, I would ask what your doing, however I have a feeling we'll be hearing the word 'classified' again."
"Correct."
"Must you even keep your activities a secret? We could help, you know, with whatever the hell you're doing." Hikari complained. "Like yesterday when I helped you take out the water sensor."
"Also, we are your Sekirei. You should trust us a bit more." Hibiki added.
"Yeah, we sworn absolute love and loyalty to you. So you don't have to leave us in the dark all the time." Number 16 nagged.
On the other end of the phone Six pondered what they said for a moment. They did swear loyalty to him, but still he questioned whether it was something they really believed in or what MBI taught them to say. Either way, it wasn't a good idea to keep his team in the dark.
"Ok, I'll tell you something. I'm doing reconnaissance around the city." Six answered finally.
"Reconnaissance?" the trio echoed, confused.
"I'm scouting out the territory of our enemies. Right now I'm in Higa's territory."
"Are you nuts!?" Hikari exclaimed carelessly. "Do you know what will happen if he catches you!"
"We're not ready to face Higa's flock yet." Toyotama agreed bitterly, the name counjuring a foul taste.
"Don't worry about me, I can handle myself. You know this."
"Just be careful, Six." Toyotama sighed, bottling her frustation. "Please come home safely."
"I will. Should be back to base in a few hours." Six assured them.
"Then what should we do in the meantime when you get back?" Hibiki asked.
Six thought for moment. "You girls mind going clothing shopping? When I can get my armor properly off I'm going to need something to blend in with the civilian populace."
Toyotama looked at her bonded sisters. "I guess we don't mind doing that."
"As long as we can pick some out ourselves." Hikari conditioned.
"I was also going ask you to pick up some clothing for yourselves so you don't look like adult dancers all the time." Six retorted.
"Ah, you don't like our outfits?" Toyotama mischeviously queried.
"Let me just give you my measurements before you go." Six replied.
If she was disappointed behind the faltered smirk, the data he communicated to her somewhat alleviated that.
"Hmm. I'm not sure if any of the clothing stores within the city have anything for a guy your size…I mean you pretty much dwarf the standard Japanese male." Hibiki said after a moment.
"We might have to have yours tailor-made somewhere." Toyotama said.
"If you have to get them tailor-made I can wait. Just get me anything to blend in with."
"We'll see what we can do." Hikari assured, unexpectedly compliant.
"I'll meet you all back at base when I'm done."
The call ended abruptly.
After a few seconds of line-tone Toyotama sighed and tucked her phone away. "Okay, so where are we going to find clothing for our hubby?"
"Let's head to one of the shopping districts." Hibiki suggested. "Maybe we'll find an outlet there and hopefully find some thing that's our Ashikabi size."
Hikari and Toyotama nodded their agreement, taking their MBI cards in-hand and took off for the nearest outlet.
Hours earlier
"Six, after trawling through MBI's network again, it seems Minaka has this game in four stages."
"What stage are we at now?"
"Right now we're in the middle of stage one." Athena answered. "The Sekirei are released to find their Ashikabi. This stage ends when 90% of the Sekirei have been winged."
"What's the percent at right now?"
"About at least 80% have been winged."
"We're not that far from the stage from being over... what happens after 90% have been winged?"
"Stage two, Teito becomes a closed city, only allowing non-participants humans to evacuate the city through highly guarded security checkpoints. No Sekirei or Ashikabi can leave, and those that attempt to are quickly hunted down by the Disciplinary Squad." Athena outlined. "Not gonna stop us from trying."
"Not at all. The third stage?" Six asked.
"Seems like it involves the Jinki again, as a prize."
"I still like to know what the hell that is." Six muttered.
"Until we get our hands on that intel we won't know what we're dealing with."
"Stage 4?"
"Stage four, seems like the final battle. Minaka plans for it to take place on the island, where the winner 'decides to fate of the world' he says." Athena outlined, tonal shift making plain her opinion.
"Then let's make sure this game doesn't reach the final stage."
Noble-Six glanced at the clock on his HUD. It was close to 3AM. Certain the perimeter was likely to remain safe, he returned to the building.
Night was a good time to go on a reconnaissance trip around the city, and for scouting out the bases Athena identified. Before he left he checked on the three Sekirei, made easy by Toyotama making their choice of quarters. They were sound-asleep, Lightning-Twins together and Toyotama two feet away to one side, an empty bed-roll between them. No doubt it was meant for him.
"Ah, isn't that sweet?" Athena teased. "They saved a spot for you - their one and only."
Six ignored her comment and gently closed the door. "Waypoint to the nearest armory."
"Roger. The nearest one is in the eastern Territory." the AI indicated as the marker appeared on his HUD. "And we're not that far from the east."
Six nodded. "Then we will recon the east first."
"There's at least eight bases in the east, two armories, two helipads, two motor poles, a barracks and one refueling station. I'll mark them as well."
"Thanks."
"Since the city is such a large territory, I recommend today we only scout out the eastern territory." she advised. "The southern territory can keep for tomorrow, and the west the following day."
"Noted."
Following the map and consulting his motion-tracker, Six began to find his way out of the building and off the property. The nearest armory was only a few blocks down the road from his base. All was quiet as far as he could tell. He moved quickly under the assurance that MBI's passive surveillance would not find him.
"Now entering enemy territory." Athena alerted. "Sekirei patrol coming our way. They should be above us just about now."
The Spartan stopped and surveyed the sky. Shadowy figures were jumping from rooftop to rooftop. They came to a stop on a six story building near-by, then stood at the edge and stared down at the streets below like hawks looking for prey. The Spartan using the HUD-zoom to get a good look at them.
Two females, A moderately tall and curvaceous female with wide hips and long limbs. She has short rusty red hair and rose-coloured (reddish-pink) eyes. wearing a yellow, white, and black bodysuit, red Sekirei Crest at waist level, along with brown thigh-high boots.
Athena was able to identify her as number 86 Katsuragi. A close quarters combat type.
Standing next to her, average height and curvaceous build woman, with orange eyes and short blonde hair that is styled into a fashion similar to a cat or fox's ears. She wore an orange and black leotard-like suit with white straps, black pants with a portion of the left leg cut out, dark black gloves with long white and black sleeves, dark bangles, black boots, and a dark collar-like choker with prominent metal protrusions.
Athena identified her as number 62 Kaie, a weapon user.
The two women stood there for only a minute before taking off to another location, jumping roof to roof again.
"Area clear." Athena announced.
With the help of Athena using MBI satellites Six moved along the shadows at street level dodging the gaze of Higa's patrolling Sekirei. A an hour later Six finally arrived at his destination. After finding a good vantage point to observe the perimeter he let his eyes wander. The base itself is about the size of a football field with 20 to 30 feet tall barbed-wire fences, guard towers, machine gun nests, barracks, and some vehicles parked inside. Soldiers patrolled the perimeter and guarded gateways. It was a reasonably secure military base in the middle of an urban area. In the center of the base was a large warehouse-looking structure.
"That's our armory?"
Athena appeared on his HUD and nodded. "Yep. I have their inventory manifest, by the way. I'll bring it up for you. Most of it is Japanese-manufacture consistent with my records of the 21st-century."
Six skim-read as the AI scrolled a list up his HUD. Minebea P9s, Minebea 9mm Machine Pistol, Howa Type 20, Sumitomo MINIMI 5.56mm Machine Gun, Nissan 110mm LAM, and other weapons and equipment employed by the Japan Self Defense Force. They had some foreign weapons in stock too. HK416, HK417, HK MP7, G36, FN scar, M82 Anti-material sniper rifle, and other familiar items like grenades, claymore mines, etc.
"Not bad." Six commented. "Never thought I would ever use old school weaponry in the field."
"I wonder who - if anyone - let these guys pack military hardware." Athena added.
"You say you wonder, but I bet you already know." Six murmured with a smirk. "Have they upgraded the defenses here?"
"No they haven't yet. So far it's only the tower that's being upgraded with the new cameras and EMP devices. In the next days and weeks they are slated to have those in-stock too. If you're going to hit this place I would do it before they make it troublesome for a Spartan." Athena cheekily offered.
"Roger." Six acknowledged.
"Something I want to add here too. If we take out the armory about 40% off of MBI forces here would be under-equipped until more can be shipped in. They could share hardware from the nearest sister base, but if we take out that too their problems would compound."
"We would see 80% less armed troops." Six finishing her sentence.
" Yes. The only problem I see is with MBI's vast wealth they will have this place back up and running like nothing happened very quickly. So if we can cause enough damage here - and I mess with their liquid finance - we can put this place out of commission for months before it's rebuilt." Athena explained.
"That goes for all of their operations I assume?"
Athena nodded.
Six pulled back from his awareness and sunk into thought, trusting Athena. It would be a war of attrition if he were to start sabotaging MBI's military control of the city. He could only dodge their surveillance for so long before they profiled his targeting strategy or simply deployed forces in sufficient quantities to sniff him out. While it was true the money they have at their disposal they can contract construction crews, new weapons and equipment just to replace what he destroyed or stole. All their money came from one place.
"Athena, any chance you can get your hands on flight logs between the capital and Kamikura Island?"
A playful smirk appeared on the AI's avatar. "I knew at some point you want to go to the island, so I took the liberty of monitoring the flight traffic."
"Thank you, Athena." the Spartan plied. "I'd like to infiltrate the stone ship and gather data from it directly. Hopefully I can get my hands on enough explosives to blow it straight to hell, and so cut off their cash-cow forever."
"It would cripple them financially if they lose the ship. 20 years of Minaka's work would go down the drain."
"And his 'age of the gods' doesn't come into fruition either." Six added.
"That too."
Taking his attention back to the base. "Recommended prejudice?"
"Lethal means ill-advised. The more bodies hit the ground the tougher their security gets in the long-term. No one likes a mess in their house."
"Ex-fil transport? Electronic security?"
"I can handle most of their electronic monitoring suites, so their personnel would be your main obstacle. Looking down there we can see some of their trucks. We can commandeer one of their trucks and load our equipment. Transporting without starting a major fire fight, however... I would recommend either a sufficiently long distraction or incapacitating a significant portion of the troops."
Six nodded taking in his partners advice," When we make it back to base, we'll come up with a proper plan of attack."
Athena nodded.
"Then I think we're done here." he concluded. "Onto the next posting they have in this sector."
"Highlighting the nearest one." Athena advised.
Six set a cautious pace for the trip. Half a dozen blocks along a main road was a large, squat building with a pair of heli-pads on its roof. Watching MBI's air-patrol change shifts along the way unfortunately meant he wouldn't get a chance to see the actual specifics so soon, but the security might be more lax than it should in the wake of that activity. Regardless he was going to observe the set-up and guard-circuits. A hour later he ended up going to motor pool and workshop. Six dutifully observed MBI mechanics refuel and maintain trucks as well as other ground vehicles like ruggedized jeeps, Armoured Personnel Carriers and even a quintet of medium-tanks. Another hour or so later Six ended up at the fuel-dump watching medium-size tanker-trucks, jeeps and even helicopters moving in and out of security-gates and through check-points under the strict watch of many well-armed guards. Of all the bases this one was the only one that he hesitated over - fuel was expensive and dangerous so of course they were on their toes.
In some ways Six couldn't help but feel nostalgia scouting out these bases. It was like fighting the insurrection again - scouting out their positions, observing their numbers and strengths and patterns before planning an attack.
Since this was the 21st century technology he was facing Six could easily steam roll over the majority of MBI's military. He could almost make them disappear, like all the insurrectionist and terrorist cells he had dealt with before the fall of Reach. Sekirei, however, were a chaotic variable difficult to define and calculate. He had to remind himself of the Discipline-Squad and their powers as well as the alien technology MBI had reverse engineered. It was unknown to him how Sekirei technology compared to Covenant or UNSC. Six had to be cautious until Athena had more data to work with.
Six had just scouted out the last base when the dawn broke through the clouds on the horizon to lick the tallest buildings. After getting what he could to help him form plans of attack for each base in the east, it was time for him pay a little visit to Higa Izumi - the man who controlled the locale.
Athena deduced that Higa was at the relatively prestigious facility his corporation owned and operated in the city. Athena set up a waypoint to get to Hiyamakai Hospital and Six followed the map she laid out for him. As the sun climbed and people began to get out-and-about the Spartan slowed his pace to sneak through the alleyways cloaked.
On his way there Athena alerted him the three Sekirei at his own base were awake and looking for him. The AI brought up surveillance-feeds on his HUD to show them wandering around the property.
Six ordered Athena to connect them by audio to ease their worries. He sent them clothes shopping to keep them busy for a while so he could continue with the last bit of east-recon. With MBI constantly looking for them Athena hacked into most local surveillance to hide the trio from their lenses, both on the ground and up in the sky. As with the previous day Athena also veiled their purchases whenever they use their MBI black-cards.
After ascending the external fire-escape Six perched himself atop a high building with a good view of the hospital. Like a hawk he observed the activity below - people entering and exiting, doctors and nurses windows attending their duties & minding patients near windows.
"Six, top floor at the far end."
The Spartan's eyes finally zeroed-in on a white-clad man, Higa Izumi. He almost groaned, but it was not Minaka. He wasn't sure if he would prefer that alternate possibility - too many unknowns.
Higa sat behind a desk in what Six presumed to be his office, a well-pressed suit far more professional than that of the MBI madman. He wasn't alone. Higa's secretary and crony Kakizaki stood to the right of the desk with his Sekirei number 22 Kochou close beside. Standing before the desk Six saw the back of three familiar Sekirei. Ichiya, Sai and Orhiha were still recovering from the violent encounter two nights before.
Sai's head was all bandaged up. Ichiya also to a lesser degree, though her body competed well with some discolouration remaining. Orhira appeared to be fine but Six was sure she sported a nasty black-eye.
"You did a real number on them." Athena commented.
Six said nothing, more concerned with the fact that two influential figures within the city were aware of his existence.
"Athena, can you get me audio?"
The AI gave him an unimpressed look via her thumbnail on his HUD. "Yes, I can tap into their cell phones." she snipped, then clicked her tongue.
A moment later he got his eaves-dropping channel.
"Yes, Higa-San, it's been confirmed number 16 has been winged."
Athena displayed Kakizaki's mugshot to ID the voice.
"Hm, what a shame. I was actually looking forward to claiming number 16." Higa stated, his disappointment plain but clipped. "Do you three want to explain to me how I lost a strong weapon user? How all of you got roughed up chasing a single target?"
There was a moment of silence as all three women looked at each other.
"Well?"
"Well… we chased number 16 into a burnt down apartment complex." Ichiya spoke up. "She resisted and we were able to wear her down easily enough, but before we could completely subdue her something got in our way."
"Something?"
"We were… attacked by a 7 foot tall giant." Ichiya hesitantly answered.
"What's this nonsense?" Higa questioned, his tone decidedly unfriendly.
"It was invisible." Sai muttered bitterly.
"It's true - believe us." Oriha pleaded. "We had number 16 on the ground and we were going to make an example of her."
Sai nodded her agreement. "Out of nowhere gunshots took Orihia's blades out of the air. Then it appeared right behind number 16."
There was a moment of quiet as Higa's brow twitched ever so slightly higher.
"Do continue."
Ichiya spoke up next. "A 7 foot tall thing in black and grey futuristic armor simply appeared out of nowhere. It looked like it had a helmet with a golden visor, and it was armed with a bunch of futuristic looking guns - and a knife."
"Hmm... this armored person was able to beat up all three of you?"
They all nodded, Oriha more profusely than the others.
"Yes, that huge thing was able to take all of us down. It had speed and reflection similar to us, but we couldn't tell if we even did any damage." Ichiya elaborated.
After a moment of silence Kakizaki cleared his throat. "Could it be some type of experimental suit MBI created to enable their soldiers to combat Sekirei? They do have the resources to keep national militaries at bay."
"If so that would add a formidable new enforcer to the Discipline-Squad." Higa theorized. "Even so, why choose a random hunting party? Minaka has yet to show any consideration for Sekirei distribution so far."
"Maybe it's their way of sending a warning to us." the other Ashikabi suggested. "We are not on good terms with MBI, even if Minaka hasn't acted against us directly before."
"Hm. What else can you tell me about this individual and its equipment?"
"Master, we didn't see any MBI markings on it." Ichiya replied. "We did see a square-ish insignia comprised of the letters 'U', 'N', 'S' and 'C' below an eagle on the chest."
Kakizaki flinched bodily. "United Nations Security Council?"
"I doubt it's them. MBI has total control of the city. No comms in or out. The UN is grossly incompetent with its appointed officials as preoccupied with self-interest as its various component bureaucracies." Higa scoffed. "MBI probably has them eating out of their hands with bribery and blackmail. Regardless of who this man belongs to, Kakizaki, I want you spread word to all of our informants to keep a lookout for number 16 and this '7 foot tall' armoured individual."
"Yes, Higa-San. One of our informant should be arriving soon for their next assignment. The rest will be pinged to check their dead-drops."
"Good. Also find out if this man is the one who winged number 16." Higa added. "I like to know who stole that prize from me."
Six narrowed his eyes at Higa through the window. Calling Toyotama a prize implied a lot about the man.
"Hopefully our contacts in MBI are still pliable after this disruption - if this individual is not one of Minaka's schemes."
"If he's not associated with MBI, see if we can recruit him. He may be a convenient ally against them. Offer some of the dirt we have on MBI if you have to."
Athena's synthetic huff echoed Six's own. "I have more 'dirt' than they could ever dig up." she gloated, sounding slightly insulted.
Kochou piped up for the first time. "What if he doesn't cooperate?"
"Then we may have to show him what happens to my enemies." Higa retorted menacingly.
"Understood."
"You're all dismissed." Higa ordered.
All of his goons nodded and started leaving. Before the Sekirei could cross the threshold of the office Higa called to them with a chilling warning.
"Ichiya, Sai, Orhia... If you three ever fail me again, don't bother returning."
They bowed their heads, subdued and silent, then departed.
"What a gentleman." Athena spat.
Six wordlessly agreed with the sentiment. Clearly Higa was the type that doesn't accept failure and willingly abandoned comrades if they fail him. No, not comrades, just tools. In Six's professional opinion, such leadership usually lead to low morale and few victories.
"Do we really want to ally ourselves with this scum?" Athena asked.
"After what we've just heard, I don't want to." Six grumbled. "However, in times of war unlikely alliances are made. You know history better than I. We've always had to keep watch so that Innie warlords didn't sell us out to the Covenant."
"'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer' as they say."
Six looked back at Higa. The businessman finished a writing a note, then got up from his desk and crossed over to the large window and its view of the city center. A sinister look developed on his face
"I have a feeling things just got interesting in the city."
Suddenly a familiar tone snagged his attention.
"Six, unidentified blip incoming." Athena alerted.
Six looking on his motion-tracker. It was far too close too quickly.
Six stayed cloaked and still. A moment later something landed right next to him. For a brief second Six perceived a womanly form launch forward and land on the pavement several floors below. She looked to be of an average height and very much a Sekirei before a dark hooded-cloak fell about her body like a curtain drawn shut. No Human could have survived such a landing unscathed, and certainly not walk it off as if it were a mere step.
The Spartan observed the new contact as she approached a discreet door in the side of the hospital. She got a dozen paces near to the door when it swung open and Kakizaki strode out. Higa's lackey handed the hooded alien something too reflective to properly examine by camera or HUD-zoom. Kakizaki said something the Sekirei didn't like - if Six read her shifty stance correctly. She soon handed back a small square of card - no, a polaroid - and Kakizaki retreated inside the hospital. The hooded Sekirei immediately squatted down and leaped high into the sky, hopped from rooftop to rooftop, then vanished behind a building.
"Were you able to ID her?"
"No, unfortunately." Athena huffed. "She kept her face covered well and the useful cameras were all too high-angleIt could be that was one of the informants they mentioned."
Six nodded and returned his attention back to Higa's office. The white-suited man was gone.
"We're done here. Set a waypoint to base." Six ordered.
"Done."
Six went to another side of the building and dropped off into an alleyway. The concrete cracked and powdered beneath his boots and the impact disrupted his active-camoflage.
"You could've used the elevator." Athena said.
Six ignored Athena as he followed the waypoint and re-engaged the stealth-system.
In another part of the city, the Sekirei trio found a clothing outlet to their liking in the shopping district. Upon first entering the store they received looks from the customers too lingering to be any standard appraisal of their fashion. Stares both furtive and overt from male customers and some envious looks here and there from females customers made the well-endowed aliens feel unwelcome, but they were not at all inclined to back away. Some on-lookers whispered about cosplayers or something, and there was a mother covering child's eyes.
"What the hell are you all staring at!" Hikari growled at the attention.
Most of the citizens averted their gaze and made a show of being occupied with their inspection of garments. Furtive glances continued, though less frequent than before.
"It's like they never seen a beautiful woman before." Toyotama wondered aloud carelessly.
"You can say that again." Hikari grunted.
"I believe its best to shop for ourselves first and buy new outfits and change out of our battle attire." Hibiki suggested, being the voice of reason in the group. "Right away. So we draw less attention to ourselves. We don't need any roaming hunting parties ruining our day."
"You're right. There's only one man deserving of our attention." Toyotama said as she glared at one of the more daring men to scare him off.
"Never thought I agree with you on anything and it's definitely not these losers." Hikari murmured under hear breath, still openly expressing her annoyance.
"Let's get started already." Hibiki hustled. "The sooner we change the sooner the staring goes away."
"Agreed." The greenette and the oldest twin said in perfect sync. The two looked at each other in surprise for a moment, then narrowed their eyes and turned their attention to the clothing-racks and displays.
The trio went to the women's section as soon as they found the appropriate signage. They spent the 20 to 30 minutes trying to find what they liked while still receiving looks from some customers that walked by them. Even staff failed to hold back their unprofessional attention. Some of the chatter revealed that many wondered if they were supermodels or something since it was rare to see such physique and complexion together.
'Forget them, Toyo. See what they got here that can make Six one happy hubby.' Toyotama said to herself to focus. 'Maybe he might like me in a miniskirt?'
She was taken out of her thoughts when she heard the Twins voices rise above the background music.
"Hikari, come on, these are a lot cheaper."
Toyotama looked over to find Hibiki handing some items to her sister.
"Er, not my style." Hikari dismissed, then tossed them onto a nearby shelf.
"That's not where it goes, Hikari."
"Whatever."
Hikari was picking clothing off the shelves looking at it for a moment or two before just discarding it and placing it on a completely random shelf. It seemed the younger of the two was the only one with a sense of personal responsability, because Hibiki was spending more effort on cleaning up than looking for anything to wear herself.
Even though now it's been a day since she's been with them Toyotama still had mixed feelings about being part of a flock together with the electric duo. There was a part of her that still held a grudge over when they first came hunting for her months before, and for being home wreckers too when they unexpectedly worked out a deal with her one-of-a-kind Ashikabi. That said, the scene in front of her was kind of funny.
"Why do I always have to keep clean up after your mess." Hibiki lamented loudly.
Toyotama let a brief laugh escape her lips. They were almost like a comedy duo when they wern't out hunting Unwinged Sekirei. She still wished she had the Spartan all to herself - no competition what so ever - however there is one Sekirei she figured she could tollerate sharing him with. 18 Ichiya.
She wouldn't mind sharing Six with her, or maybe even welcome it. 'We should've stayed together when we were first released into the city.' Toyotama thought to herself. Together they might have been able to end the opportunistic Twins if they had dared to attack at all. With Six being more than a match for any Sekirei she wondered if they could take down entire hunting parties between the three of them. Of course she wasn't sure what the outcome would have been... Ichiya was a sister to her... at this point now they were pretty much enemies since they were now bonded to two completely different Ashikabi. Her feelings were complicated now.
Ichiya hunted her down and beat her to a bloody pulp with the help of the other two Higa birds. She knew that night Ichiya was just following the orders of her Ashikabi, but when the other two wanted to vent their frustrations on her while she was weak Ichiya didn't try to stop them. Toyotama pretty much considered her the same as the twins, it seemed. There was beef, but she could tollerate them.
She couldn't help consider a disturbing thought that all this introspection brought up... that there could be more Sekirei out there wanting to bond with Six. Rather than worry about her dubious allies and a troublesome probable enemy, she needed to ensure she was ready to crush any contestants that set their eyes on her man.
Even though more bonding with him would be a good thing, increasing the power of the flock and forming into a team later in the future...
... but that might end up meaning he wouldn't have much time for her...
Toyotama shook herself out of her thoughts and continued looking for components of a new outfit to wear. What the greenette didn't see in her state was a brunette with long hair in a ponytail approach the twins.
"Hibiki, how about these?" Hikari spoke up in a lighter tone/
"Hmm, I don't know about this Hikari. People would think you are a delinquent or some thing. Did you even check the price tag?"
"Oh, forget the tags, I like it! Besides, the price shouldn't be a problem when we have our MBI cards."
"I know, I know, just don't end up looking like a thug. I want us to look proper in front of our Ashikabi." Hibiki uttered semi-hopelessly, then sighed.
"Ugh, does it always have to be what you want? Come on-"
"If you dress weird then we will get stared at again, you know."
"Hikari and Hibiki?"
The Lightning-Twins and Toyotama perked up and turned. A few feet away from the forementioned was a well-endowed young brunette woman with brown eyes, wearing a pink and purple belly top with a golden star on the front. Capri jeans complemented her shirt, though the flip-flops on her feet lowered the asthetic score considerably. She held a box in both hands.
"Long time no see."
It took a few moments to register who this was in the twins heads, but their faces lit up in perfect sync.
"Uzume! It's been a while since we last saw you." Hibiki greeted her.
"I'll say. Haven't seen you since we were released into the city." Hikari added.
"Yeah, it's been a couple of months." The large chested brunette agreed with a grin. "So what are you two doing here?"
"We could ask you the same thing."
"Hikari, that rude."
"I actually work here." Uzume replied easily.
Hikari blinked. "You have a job?"
"Don't you have your MBI card?" Hibiki asked, equally confused.
"Yes I do, but where I live MBI's money is really no good, so I have to work for rent money." Uzume explained, a little shake in her tone.
"Sucks for you, huh."
"Hikari..."
"Why didn't you just try to look for a new place to live that would accept the card?"
Toyotama could tell the brunette was uncomfortable, though she wasnt sure if it was from the twin's by-play.
"Let's just say I kind of like it there." Uzume answered quickly. "The landlady is a fantastic cook."
"Sounds like you found a nice place to live." Hibiki repiled.
"Better than ours I bet."
Hibiki elbowed her twin in the side.
Uzume gave the oldest twin a curious look. " What do you mean? Where are you guys living?"
The sisters glanced at each other for a moment before looking back at her.
"Classified?"
"Classified."
"Oh... okay then..." Uzume smiled in an increasingly uncertain manner.
"Anyway!" Hibiki perked up suddenly. "How have you been doing lately?"
"Did you find your Ashikabi?" Hikari added almost on top of her sister.
"Hmm... what shall I say... what are you gonna do if I tell you yes or no?" Uzume inquired cautiously, her smile gone all too quickly.
Toyotama set her jaw and wondered if she would have the opportunity to finish shopping if the conversation continued to sour.
"Oh don't worry, we're not gonna go chasing after you." Hikari chuckled. "Our Ashikabi forbid us."
"Besides that, we consider you a friend so we're not going go after you if you're still Unwinged." reassured youngest twin. "We've known eachother since we could crawl.
Uzume's face cheerful look returned fightningly quick. "You guys found a new Ashikabi after the near-thing with Seo? That's awesome!"
"Yes we did-"
"How the hell do you know about Seo?"
"Hikari, don't be rude."
"Get off my case, sis."
Uzume snickered at the pair of them. "He came over to the Inn one for food one day. My landlady's husband was friends with him way back. During dinner he mentioned the incident between you two."
"Wait, didn't Seo only have one good friend? The one who died a while ago?" Hikari began loudly, causing Hibiki to roll her eyes mid-sigh. "He's been mooching food off of your landlord? His dead friends widow?"
Uzume giggled at the memory playing out in her mind's eye. "Yep. To shock you even more my landlady's husband - Seo's only real friend - was actually our first tuner."
Now that revelation shocked both the twins, and the eavesdropping Toyotama too.
"Takehido? I haven't thought about him in years." Hibiki said sadly.
"So you're living with his widow now?"
"Yep." Uzume confirmed. "Miya pretty much knows everything about what's going on, the Sekirei and the game."
"Twins, who is this?"
The twins saw Toyotama approaching them and Hibiki waved to placate her. The brunette gave her a quick look-over and shifted her stance slightly, clearly aware the greenette was a Sekirei.
"And who are you?"
"Uzume, this number 16 Toyotama." Hibiki introduced quickly. "We share the same Ashikabi. Toyotama, this is Uzume, our childhood friend."
"The same Ashikabi?" Uzume echoed as her brow rose, then a mischievous smirk emerged. "I remember you two always telling me you never wanted to share your destined one with anybody else. What changed your minds?"
Hikari groaned and Hibiki seems like gears were turning in her head for want of an excuse.
"To make it a long story short let's just say I got to him first." Toyotama casually answered with a degree of smug satisfaction at their expense.
"Oh? I see." Uzume laughed at the twins who just looked ashamed.
"Uzume was It?" Toyotama stated getting the brunettes attention.
"Yes. And you're Toyotama?"
"Since the twins said you are their childhood friend, I'm going to play nice." Toyotama informed her bluntly, wanting to clear the air before the twins could make it wierd again.
Uzume grinned happily despite the delivery, then shifted the box to one hand and stuck the other out. "Nice to meet you, little sis'."
Toyotama clasped the offered appendage firmly as she rose a brow. "Little?"
"I am older than you. Number 10, in fact."
"Huh, we're only six numbers apart. I'm surprised we never met."
"Same here." Uzume agreed as they retracted their hands.
"So, what brings you three over here today - if you don't mind me asking?" Uzume curiously asked.
"Our Ashikabi asked us if we would go out and buy clothing for him and for ourselves too." Hibiki started explaining.
"I see."
"While we're at it, Uzume is there by chance you sell clothing here for a very tall person?" Hibiki asked.
Uzume raised an eyebrow. "Huh, we do have some extra large stock around. How tall is your Ashikabi?"
Hibiki let a hint of pride work its way into her face and voice. "Oh, about seven foot tall. Broad shouldered too."
The brunette blinked twice as she processed the information. "WOW! He's a pretty large guy! I doubt we have sizes like that... I have to ask, what is he? Athlete? Bodybuilder? Or foreigner?"
The twins and Toyotama looked at each other, unsure what to tell. They couldn't just say that their destined one was a super soldier from 500 years in the future of another reality that had ugly-stinky aliens - no way.
"Uh, yeah, very athletic guy." Toyotama offered with a little chuckle as her fingers found her staff interesting.
"Forigner too, and very handsome. Somewhere Mediterranean." Hikari said as a blush began to creep up her cheeks.
"He's muscular too. We've seen him lift more weight than you'd believe." Hibiki nearly lied as she too blushed.
"Hm, sounds like you three picked quite a hunk." Uzume uttered in a daze, eyes glazing over. "I think I want to make him my Ashikabi too."
Her comment made the other three girls groan.
"You can't!" the Lightning-Twins declared in sync.
Uzume snickered, waving her free hand to placate them. "Relax, I'm kidding."
"Let's hope you are. The last thing I want is more competition." Hikari muttered. "I have enough to worry about with the stick-bimbo here."
"Stick-bimbo standing right here, double-A." number 16 shot back with a scowl. "I almost thought you had given up on the name-calling."
Hikari's upper lip curled. Hikari and Toyotama stared in each others eyes deadlocked.
"Woah, chill-out." Uzume blinked in confusion. "What's up with them?"
Hibiki sighed and folded her arms under her bust. "Before we met our Ashikabi she was one of our targets. We had a couple of scraps, but when she got Winged she got the better of Hikari. Now that we are Winged - to the same man - Hikari wants a rematch to prove who is the better wife."
"Hmm." Uzume hummed thoughtfully, and appeared to understand. "Maybe I can help you out."
The feuding females snapped out of their glare-war. "What?"
"If you can get me precise measurements I can tailor-make your Ashikabi's clothes for him. How about it?"
"You can?" asked Hibiki.
Uzume nodded. "Whatever style he wants, I'll make it."
Hibiki frowned. "He told us to just get him anything."
"Ah, not picky, then. You said he is athletic? Maybe something easy to move in, but also some form-fitting street wear... hmm."
Toyotama let out a sigh of relief. "That sure makes this easier that I feared."
"OK, I have some ideas." Uzume announced as she tucked her box under one arm and wiped her hand on her pants. "Give me a few days and I'll probably have it ready for you to collect here."
Hibiki smiled broadly and clapped her hands together. "Thank you, Uzume! You're the best!"
Uzume laughed and waves off the praise. "Its fine, his measurements should make it a fun project. Oh, before I forget..."
The trio blinked while number 10 furtively glanced around the store. When she ducked in closer to them they did like-wise, curious as to what had gotten into her.
"If you guys want... I can pick out some 'exiting' stuff for you, to make your Ashikabi go wild."
Uzume's expression became a smirk as the gears began turning in Hibiki's head and Hikari's eyes glittered.
"What do you have in mind?" Toyotama asked beginning develop some ideas of her own.
Uzume beckoned them closer and whispered in each of their ears individually. One by one red flushed their faces and pulled a particular kind of smile out of numbers 11 and 16.
An hour later Hikari, Hibiki and Toyotama emerged from the store wearing completely different outfits.
Hikari had a black T-shirt with a skull on the front of it, denim shorts, fishnet leggings and high heels. Hibiki was slightly more relaxed than her twin, foregoing the leggings and preferring a pink tank top and flip-flops to go with an identical pair of denim shorts. Toyotama selected a black tank top that went down to her belly button and a slightly longer dark blue sweatshirt over it, accompanied by a navy-blue mini skirt above her preferred black thigh-high boots.
Uzume was very understanding and assured them they could walk out with their purchases on. Their battle attire they put in to the shop bags under the other outfits they bought at Uzume's urging. The brunette had also found time to pick out some sports clothes that were as close as could be to Six's size, though admittedly likely to be uncomfortably tight - not exactly a down-side to either of their imaginations.
"That was fun." Toyotama said out loud to break the silence as they stared walking back home. "We just have to remember to pick up whatever she designs for Six."
"Yeah, that wasn't too bad. Uzume gave us discounts." Hibiki agreed.
Hikari nodded, going with the flow. "Can't wait to try on one of those outfits Uzume picked. I'm going to have him staring at me long and hard." Hikari rambled with pinking cheeks.
"Unless he is too busy staring at me. Ah, when would be a good time I wonder." Toyotama blabbed dreamily.
Hibiki madly blushed at their words, though glad they weren't fighting at least. "I still can't believe we bought something like that."
"You didn't even try to object to it." Toyotama reminded her with a smirk.
Hibiki brought an arm over her face and tipped her head up to the sky. "Don't start."
"Hey, what..."
Hikari stopped and pointed in front of them, making the others to stop and look. Approaching them they saw a young man openly staring wide-eyed in their direction with his jaw hanging open.
"Is he really staring at us like that? I'm pretty sure these outfits are more normal." Hibiki huffed.
"Minato!"
Running up from behind the young man was a miko-girl with a familiar well-endowed figure, carelessly calling out at the top of her lungs and running at an impressive speed. Her heedless stride caused a commotion among the pedestrians and bystanders you could not help but turn to watch.
"Is that...? It is!" Hibiki exclaimed.
Hikari smirked and tightened one hand into a fist. "Well now looks like we accidentally ran into our pray from yesterday."
"What a coincidence." Hibiki agreed casually, passing her bags to one hand.
Toyotama sighed. "I can tell how this is gonna go down."
Here is the new chapter for the new year! Sorry if this took long to publish. Hopefully it was worth the wait, since I wanted to publish this last month.
I hope you all enjoyed this, leave me your thoughts and comments.
A big thanks to SoTaWoB editing this and spartan 626 for Beta reading this.