Monday 12/09/61, Location: 22.16513, 113.58226, Time 11:50
As they closed in on the imposing structure, they could see the shape start to become clear – an extended X linked by a large central block, but set back from the roads by a surprising amount. It wasn't until they got almost up to the road that separated each block that they realised why this was. As they finally closed in on the hotel they saw that it was surrounded by a series of enormous lakes, populated with a few islands rising up from the greeny-blue water.
With a suddenness that surprised them all, a deep horn blast sounded, and a huge fountain of water erupted from the central lake, rising up over twenty metres in the air. The note held constant for a few seconds, and then segued into a military beat, accompanied by two smaller jets that rose up to the sides of where the main jet had been, firing pulses of water up into the air in a variable arc, traversing across the lake. Each of the blobs of water fired up seemed to glow with a different colour as computer controlled lights tracked their trajectory, keeping them highlighted. The music added more instruments, and more jets fired up, the interplay of music and water-jets growing more complex, while the lights were joined by lasers that picked out the droplets in the air.
The team stopped outside the railings, watching the water, light and sound show, and could see that hundreds if not thousands of other tourists had done the same along the main thoroughfare. Clearly this was a regular event, no doubt set for the midday period, and drew a lot of attention, with many of the tourists setting up cameras or trying to hold their commlinks steady as they recorded the impressive display.
"Do we have time to watch this?" Tads asked, looking at the display with a grin on her face and her foot tapping along to the beat of the music.
"Yeah, we should have. We've got enough time to get in and see this Professor chick afterwards. Might be tight, but we can pick up the pace."
"There's a background count forming… can you see it?" Aswon gestured to the main road. "Lot of happy people over there, lot of people having fun. It's setting up a standing wave that's rolling back and forth. Must be interesting to be in…" Aswon diverted his attention towards the crowd, finding the temporary spike in mana just as interesting as the show, watching how the positive emotions from the people temporarily boosted the manasphere and created an area where the strands and weave of magic grew stronger as a response to the joy and amazement of the tight mass of people.
The show wrapped up with an explosive finale – literally. The huge bang reverberated across the water, sending shockwaves out from the centre while jets, water slugs, rainbows and lasers went mad in a dizzying display. It was impressive enough now – and would look even better at night when the lights intercepted the water and created glowing arcs and details that would be far easier to see when not competing with the bright sunlight.
"That's a big propane cannon somewhere. Maybe hidden on one of those islands, or the rings or something. But we're talking a barrel maybe half a metre across and several long to get that kind of pitch and volume. Big old gas tank as well to fill it fast. Someone likes fire, that's for sure." Hunter gestured towards the centre of the lake as the loud boom faded away, the faint echoes as the shockwave hit the other tall hotels and bounced back in a complex pattern. "But we are gonna have to hustle now… only got a few minutes before the meeting. Let's go!" He led the way, his characteristic frown on his ugly and asymmetrical face startling people into moving, and his huge physique encouraging the tourists out of the way as he ploughed forwards, creating a clear path for the rest to follow along.
Fortunately for them, Professor Lindstrom of Team Zero wasn't based inside the hotel, but outside. As they entered the facility on the private loop road that seemed to be common to most of the designs, they followed the directions given on the matrix site that Hunter had downloaded, breaking off from the road and towards the extensive area set aside for sun-loungers, smaller pools, bars, recreation areas and bar-b-ques. As they tried to enter the area, the security scanner dinged once more, picking up a threat, and the team stopped, once more feigning confusion.
Shimazu pulled out his toolkit once more, profusely apologising for the confusion and then with a barely visible deep breath, stepped back through the scanner again, while Kai explained to the security guard that this had already happened twice today, and they didn't think the two centimetre long 'blade' on the multi-tool would have set off the alarms… Thankfully the alarm didn't sound again, and they were allowed to proceed into the concourse, Shimazu having the toolkit returned once it had been visually inspected.
They spied a large gazebo, hexagonal in shape with three walls closed off and three open on a slight raised dais, that matched the location they had been given. The three closed walls seemed to be some kind of trellis and a thick blocking vine was woven in and out of the support structure, creating an almost solid mass of vegetation.
"That's magically active." Aswon warned, examining the astral signature of the vine carefully. Tads stopped looking around at the mass of people just lounging around and checked out the vines, then gave a snort.
"It's screamer vine. Or at least that's what I know it as. If an astral form tries to get through it, there's a high pitched whine or shriek, like when you blow across a blade of grass. Same thing if you cast a spell near it, or use your adept powers. It's a tripwire – doesn't do anything other than set of an alarm though. But we'll need to be careful around it."
"As long as we're all masking, we should be fine then. Just need to make sure we keep concentrating. Especially you, Kai," Aswon warned. "If you're using your powers to read her and present yourself well, that could tip her off that you're magically affecting her. Probably a bad thing."
"No problem. Ok, happy smiles times. Let's go." He strode up the shallow flight of stairs, pausing briefly at the top to greet the sole inhabitant of the structure.
"Good afternoon! You must be Mr. Khangul and party. Please, do come in, take a seat. May I offer you refreshments?"
"Professor Lindstrom, I presume. Thank you – and could we perhaps just have some water, or maybe some fruit juice if we're feeling adventurous? We have just come from another meeting, and have been well plied with food and drink, and I feel we may need a palette cleanser!" Their host smiled and nodded to him, and then tapped out a quick order on a keypad built into the arm of her chair.
"Are you in a rush? If not, may we watch the last two minutes of the display?"
"Oh, of course – I thought it had finished?"
"No no, not the whole thing. Not all of it is visible from the public areas. Despite living here, it still brings a sense of joy to me, and I try to watch it when I can. Sometimes they build in little tweaks and variations, or subtle changes – you never know what to expect!" The team settled down and saw out the last few minutes of the water-show – which while not as high and flamboyant as the one they had seen from the outside, was far more intricate and complex, as well as visually and aurally stunning. Finally the show drew to a close, and Professor Lindstrom turned to examine them, her elven features composed into a faint smile of welcome. She was an attractive woman, of indeterminate age – much like many elves, she could have been anywhere between twenty and fifty, with no real clues evident from her features – though if she was actually a Professor of something, that indicated that she should be several decades old, unless her qualifications had just been outright purchased from somewhere.
"So, you have need of some mercenaries?"
"Ahh, yes, we do indeed. And your organisation came highly recommended from some of our contacts, and our research. You're not the only people we're looking at, of course, as I indicated a few minutes ago, but you are one of our leading contenders. So, what we're after is a small strike force, to deal with an assault on some heavy infrastructure. What we're looking at is a disruption, not a destruction. As much as anything a proof of ability and intent, rather than an open declaration of war, if that makes sense?"
"I see. Sending a message of capability, a warning that things are vulnerable?"she responded, and Kai nodded. His estimation of her rose several notches as she read between the lines perfectly and seemed to grasp his intent. He gave her a wide smile, nodding and couching his body language with mild surprise and satisfaction, before then launching into his presentation for the supposed strike mission. Once again, he laid out cues and openings for the rest of the team, letting them add in their own particular elements regarding physical issues, drones, electronics, security, logistics, tactics and astral capabilities, directing her attention back and forth over the group and giving Shimazu time to assess her.
After they gave their side of things, Professor Lindstrom pulled out a screen, rolling it out flat and then propping it up against the gazebo, playing an obviously prepared presentation on it. It was a professional and slick video, highlighting the skills, layout and organisation of Team Zero, and she occasionally interrupted or added to the narration, answering or confirming some point that they had raised in their own presentation. From the information in the presentation they gathered that Team Zero seemed to work on a multi-skilled basis, where all the individual team members were skilled in a variety of skills – having at least the basics in a wide variety of things, and making sure that any team had at least two, if not more, people with skills that might be required for the mission, ensuring that there was a contingency for casualties, or at least some kind of redundancy.
Kai picked up the conversational baton again, and gave further information, working in the nuclear aspect of the job and making it clear that target was likely deemed as 'critical national infrastructure' – which the Professor seemed to take in her stride. Her questions did become more direct and pointed after that, but as they listened to her it was clear that she was working through the political and economic impacts and assessments of this new knowledge, rather than having any moral quandaries or issues. The meeting went well, with Kai and the professor sparring back and forth – but Kai certainly seemed to have the upper hand in the discussion, controlling the flow of information and direction of the conversation with ease. Professor Lindstrom was obviously very bright, articulate and knowledgeable – but was outmatched when it came to charm, charisma and the fine arts of negotiation.
They finished their meeting in a little under an hour, and by now were starting to get the feeling that this seemed to be a fairly standard thing, with the initial scoping meetings likely slotted into a diary in fifty-five minute blocks, giving just enough time for one client to depart before another potentially arrived…
Either way, they didn't have much time before their next meeting, thankfully also located in the Wynn Resort. The team headed into the hotel itself from the large pool area outside and found that the hotel almost looked 'normal' compared to the others they had been into. It appeared that the Wynn Resort had concentrated most of their budget and efforts on the magnificent lakeside areas and the enormous lakes themselves. Inside the hotel was a lot less opulent and excessive than all the others they had visited that day, though it was still very upmarket, spotlessly clean and with staff ready to assist any of the guests with the wave of a hand.
They were quickly directed to a series of commercial or business rooms, where they found the office of the Free Marine Corp, and their host Tiguan Oolowamba. The man was as dark-skinned as Aswon, perhaps even a shade darker, slender and relatively tall for a human – though nowhere near as tall as the mercenary tribesman. That wasn't surprising as they'd met trolls who weren't as tall as Aswon! There was, however, something about Tiguan that made him look sloppy or untidy. Though his suit was clean and unstained, he just looked uncomfortable in it no matter how he stood, as if he'd much rather be in a pair of deck shoes, shorts and a loud Hawaiian-style shirt.
The room he welcomed them into was also the smallest room they'd visited yet, with barely enough room for the host, the team and the basic table and chairs, along with a small refreshment station. They were offered drinks, and Tiguan's idea of hospitality seemed to start at shots of rum, and go on to more glamorous drinks such as a double-rum, or maybe even a double with a slice of synthi-pineapple on a stick, plopped in at a jaunty angle. Some of the team accepted the offer of a harder drink, while others passed, and they soon settled down around the table to begin their discussion.
Kai began the show once more, but cut his part a little shorter, being brief and to the point as he picked up a number of cues from their host, and quickly deferred to Hunter and Aswon to talk more about the operational side of things, and the firepower they were after. Tiguan seemed to respond better to their own no-nonsense approach, and as Hunter and Aswon started to talk about tactical situations, weapon capabilities, demolition styles and other 'hands-on' subjects, he seemed to relax a lot more with them, and engage with them more comfortably. Kai continued to steer the conversation around, and whilst it was obvious that Tiguan was a competent operator and knew what he wanted to achieve, he was out of his depth when it came to negotiating with Kai.
When they dropped in the nuclear element of the puzzle, they ran into a problem, though – not one of moral acceptance, or political fallout, but a misplaced but very genuine concern about nuclear explosions. Tiguan didn't seem to quite grasp that a nuclear power plant and a nuclear bomb were not the same thing with just one of them plugged into a wall socket – he seemed genuinely concerned about the risks of a Libya-style irradiated wasteland incident, and they had to rely on Marius describing the process of electricity generation by nuclear heating of water, rather than it being generated by some strange explosions and redirection of mushroom clouds. Tiguan seemed dubious still, but accepted his explanation – but it was very obvious to them all that this was the first time he'd been asked to consider a strike on a nuclear facility. That or he was the sharpest and most dangerous poker player imaginable…
"One question I did have for you – is a question of reach. No disrespect, but from what I've seen of your organisation you do seem to have an emphasis on marine or amphibious operations. Would you be able to be sure of your abilities with an inland target?" Aswon raised an eyebrow at Tiguan, as he tried to redirect the focus of the conversation.
"Can we do it? Of course. We're all extremely proficient in marine warfare. Most of us have….uh… extensive watercraft experience, or were born and bred on boats." Aswon nodded, but in his head he just knew that what Tiguan was referring to was the extensive collection of pirates that operated in and around the Carrib-League nations, and how they'd probably made excellent recruits for what might have started out as a bunch of privateers before morphing into an actual mercenary organisation. "But we can fight on land perfectly well. If this place is near a river, and we can bring in our skiffs or hovercraft – I'll rate my guys against anyone else you care to mention. Don't care if it's 10K, Combat Inc, BrightEdge, Lionheart… doesn't matter. My guys will outperform any of them on the water. But we can do land too. We can hack it."
They wrapped up the meeting, promising to get back in touch with Tiguan as soon as they'd made a decision and headed out of the hotel – glad when they got out of range of the built-in jammers and their individual comms started working again.
"Well, he's not our guy – I'm pretty convinced of it." Shimazu stated flatly. "But I do think I know exactly why he's based here. This place seems a bit expensive for him, and they're obviously cutting corners with the suite. But I can't see anywhere else around here having a lake big enough to go sailing on, and I'd put good money on there being some kind of watercraft assigned to him to go have fun with. Or maybe he moonlights as a jet-ski instructor!" The others thought about it for a moment, then agreed – it made a lot of sense for someone who was probably born to the pirate lifestyle to be far more comfortable somewhere he could get to sail whenever he wanted to rather than stuck on land all the time.
"So – where are we off to next?" Kai asked, checking his local map and looking for the next hotel they had to visit.
"58th Battle Brigade, at the MGM Cotai… which is that awful-looking collection of boxes over there." Hunter gestured with one hand.
"As far as I know, they're mostly ex-military forces. Lots of people recruited from nation state armies or reserve forces when they drew down following the Eurowars and things like that. Likely to be well trained and disciplined, and have a more professional mindset than some others we've seen." Aswon noted. "I'm not sure they'll actually have a brigade – not like they did up at Samara… that's a LOT of men. But they might have a number of companies. I wonder if they were all in the 58th Brigade of some army, and just took the name, or it's a marketing thing to make them sound bigger and more capable." He shrugged. "Either way, this will be more like dealing with a standing army unit most likely, so they may have a different approach or ethos. Just something to bear in mind."
They focussed their attention on the MGM hotel, looking at the odd pile of boxy structures that appeared to be piled up on top of each other.
"Ugh… that's….unpleasant." Tads scowled a little as she looked in astral, and saw a weirdly warped view. "The mana's there… but it's distorted somehow. It's not flowing properly. And it makes me feel like I'm falling towards it." She shook her head as if to distract some buzzing insects that were bothering her. Aswon glanced over at her to make sure she was ok, and then dropped into astral himself.
"Ahh… I see what you mean. I've got a guess here… I think that's some top end geomancy or wujen stuff going on. Each of those buildings is distorting things a little, but the lines between each of the different buildings or blocks seems to magnify the effect somehow. I'm not sure how they've done it, but I bet that's going to give their own mages a little boost and hurt everyone else. But I think that whole thing was put together to a very specific pattern – very exacting, in fact.
"Look at the façade, too. With your physical senses I mean. It's a little hard to see right now, but I think it's going to be really obvious at night-time. But I can see the outlines of several ideograms – good luck, fortune, power… it looks like a support structure for lights or maybe some kind of other visual element. Probably reinforcing nexus points for that mana flow you just talked about.
"So we're probably talking Triads or someone like Wuxing. Or maybe both. They're all big into their geomancy." Aswon frowned. "Might need to tread carefully here. Moreso than the others, I mean."
They approached the hotel, and both Aswon and Hunter started to mutter, pointing out aspects of the design as they closed in – just like every other hotel, it had a private access road, and by now they were expecting the huge covered area for cars to pull up and unload safely, the heavy-duty planters that defended the doorways, they could even start to predict where the security cameras where, how many doorways would lead into the hotel, and how long the approach corridors would be. Though every hotel looked different, clearly there were some fundamental calculations that balanced accessibility with security and all of the hotels were carefully designed to maximise guest throughput while simultaneously giving a 'wow' factor – in whatever form that came.
In the case of the MGM, that wow factor would have to wait, as there was an insistent ping the moment Shimazu stepped through the outer doors, and a large security officer appeared swiftly to intercept him. Kai looked at the expression on his face and quickly interjected before he could start the 'toolkit' scam once more – quickly rounding on him and demanding to know if he had disobeyed his commands and bought his equipment. Shimazu took a very brief moment to look slightly surprised, but then his eyes flicked to the approaching security officer and back, and he saw a tiny wink from Kai, before nodding and lowering his head 'in shame'.
Kai launched into a brief, but loud chastisement, making sure that his voice continued to carry and would be clearly audible to the approaching guard, reminding him that they were in a civilised country with an excellent police force, and no longer in the unregulated wilds, and though he took his bodyguard duties very seriously, that he could not disobey him like this. As soon as the guard was close enough, Kai turned and switched on his charm, profusely apologising to the guard as the representative to the hotel, and commending him for his clear diligence in spotting the 'unfortunate item'. The man slowed, and his mouth opened and appeared to chew air for a few moments, while he mentally shifted gears. It appeared that he'd been all ready for an argument, or denial, or possibly the 'do you know who I am' approach. But he wasn't prepared for lavish praise for his excellent work and having to listen to someone else get a strip torn off them.
Kai continued to gently pamper his ego and castigate Shimazu, demanding that he hand over the item for safekeeping, and to think about what he'd done – and that if he wasn't properly sorry, well he might even ask the guard to call the police, rather than just keeping it safe until they were ready to leave. By now Kai had subtly moved around to stand next to the security guard, almost as if he was ganging up with him against Shimazu. The rest of the team had shuffled away a little, not entirely sure what Kai's game plan was, but recognising that he was up to something, leaving Shimazu look isolated and alone as he stared at the floor, while he rummaged inside his suit jacket to retrieve the knife. Kai continued to scold him, almost as if he was a parent dealing with a wayward child – and a few moments later the guard was raising his hands, trying to defuse the situation and calm things down, now somehow forced to being the 'reasonable' parent in the discussion that didn't want to make a scene.
Kai laid on the praise a little more, then with an imperious gesture, waved the rest of the team forward, leaving Shimazu to bring up the rear while the now bemused and slightly-disturbed guard returned to his security checkpoint with the knife to place it in safe storage until they returned.
Having gotten past the clearly state-of-the-art weapons scanners and into the hotel interior, they quickly discovered what the 'wow' factor for the MGM was – as they stared around the enormous spaces and dramatic sweeping lines, taking in the huge, monolithic sculptures inside. The ceiling started at least four floors up, and rose up perhaps another two in a huge series of graceful arches, made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of triangular and rhombic support pieces, forming a giant mesh inlaid with glass.
"Ugh… it's just as bad here. Maybe worse." Tads dropped out of astral, having seen the weird interference patterns flowing through the roof construction, directing and twisting mana into unnatural patterns that concentrated them into specific nodal areas. She suddenly glanced back up, risking another quick glance at the astral haze above. "Each of the weird nodes in the roof is right above one of those massive black rock formations. There's mana funnelling down into them…"
"Geomancy batteries? Anchored spells? Or the source of wards, maybe. Ok, we probably don't want to get too close, and we need to be careful here again. They're obviously a lot more magically competent than the others. At least in this regard."
"Drekking magic." Hunter sighed, then checked his pad. "Come on – over that way. Large business suite, far side of the second concourse, up that escalator. We've got two minutes before we're due." The team picked up the pace, heading up the wide escalator and hustling across a skybridge to reach the right area, finding a man wearing his dress uniform waiting for them. Chinese in origins, his uniform was neatly pressed and had sharp creases, and there were a large number of ribbons on his jacket breast.
"Xiàwǔ hǎo," Kai started off with a fluent Chinese greeting, but then dropped straight back to English. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Is English ok, for the benefit of some of my team?"
"Good afternoon, and that will be fine. Please, do come in. May I offer some refreshments?" Inside the room was a large boardroom-style table and a dozen chairs, and he grabbed a tablet that was positioned nearby and pushed it over towards Kai, displaying a menu. The initial page was dedicated to hard liquors and other strong alcohol, followed by a page or two of buffet style Chinese dishes.
"That's very kind, thank you. Perhaps a selection of food – but also please may we just have some bottles or a carafe of water. We have some ahh… religious reasons against certain alcohol. My apologies."
"Not at all, let me make those arrangements now." He quickly tapped away on the pad, ordering food and then some water, then gestured for the team to take a seat. "I am Lieutenant Wu Jung, of the 58th Battle Brigade, at your service. How may I be of assistance."
Kai started the routine, now familiar to them all, and the rest of the team filled in their parts, supplying additional information or expanding on certain points as they went along. Along the way, as they'd had at some of the others, Lt Wong took the opportunity to play some of the promotional footage from his company – except in this case it was displayed on the giant wall running down the side of the room, rather than a smaller tablet or portable computer. They learnt that every single member of the 58th was an infantryman first, specialist second – and that they were drilled to a fairly high level. The teams operated in variable-sized units and would pull in additional members with the skills required for the mission, working in small fire-groups as needed.
When Aswon asked about their reach and deployment abilities, that was answered with a short clip showing some staggeringly large transport aircraft, loading entire groups of armoured personnel carriers into their cavernous bellies.
"Those are Antanov 325 heavy-lift freighters. Some of the largest traditional design aircraft ever made." Marius announced with his usual certainty. "Very heavy lift capacity, and very large. Capable of carrying over a company of troops, associated materials, logistics and supplies for extended operations. Very impressive."
"You know your aircraft, sir." Lt. Wong responded with a look of approval, before launching into a deeper explanation. The 58th, according to his presentation, were based in China, but with these heavy aircraft could be airmobile within a day to pretty much anywhere in the world – at a cost of course. The aircraft were not cheap to buy or operate, and they charged a 'deployment fee' depending on the distance, risk and relations with the target country – but it was all included in the final fee for hiring the mercenaries. And at least they could drop enough munitions and supplies to keep a small war going for several weeks with only one aircraft!
Kai went on to explain that they were intending to damage a power plant or series of power plants as their target, and trailed off midway through his explanation as Lt. Wong sat back in his chair, his head shaking.
"I am afraid we must decline your request at this time. We do not carry out such operations, not in the past, not now, and not in the future." Lt. Wong stared directly at Kai.
"Oh? That seems… unusual."
"This is infrastructure that is relied upon for civilian activity. It would cause widespread suffering to the general population. We have been asked before, and we said no then." Lt Wong was focussed on Kai still, and missed a few of the team stiffening at that little revelation. "I hope that your employers do not ask us a third time."
"I see. And I do apologise. Perhaps there has been a clerical error with my employer. If you had indicated this to my previous scout, that information should have been passed along to us to prevent such a recurrence. I will contact our head office at once to rectify this."
"Good."
"To help me in that regard, can you remind me of the person you spoke with previously? Clearly they need a black mark in their book for failing to report this incident."
"I cannot discuss my previous meetings. I have perhaps said too much already." Kai nodded, trying to hide the disappointment he felt as Lt. Wong suddenly clammed up.
"I understand. Just so we don't end this meeting on such a sour note, could you perhaps recommend any of the local restaurants or food vendors as a place to visit tonight? I take it you live locally?"
"I live in the hotel, so I tend to stay here. Sorry, I cannot help you further." Lt. Wong stood, seemingly indicating that the meeting was at an end, and politely but firmly ushered the team out of the suite. They headed back to the reception and picked up the knife from the security point, then headed out back onto the street without saying a word – making sure they were well clear of the hush fields and jamming of the hotel before they discussed things.
"Well, he's clearly not the person we're after for who's doing the job – and it sounds like they absolutely won't do a job like that. But from the sounds of things, whoever might have been out scouting made the same mistake and DID visit them."
"Yes – I was hoping they might give something up – but it seemed not. I'm guessing that running against the hotel network and trying to work back through their security footage to find his previous visitors isn't something you'd be looking forward to?" Kai swapped over his attention from Aswon to Hunter.
"No, not at all. If their matrix security is as good as their weapons scanners, then that's not a good idea. And definitely not something we should think about lightly."
"Ok, fair enough. Well, let's have a think about that one. In the meantime – who's next?"
"Aragoshi Mutahama from Tsunami, they're up at the Grand Hyatt, next block up to the north."
"What do we know about them?"
"Jap corp – so this could be a fun one. Otherwise they're a fairly typical merc outfit, decent rep, it seems. And the Hyatt is part of the 'City of Dreams' megacasino resort, so it's a big old place."
"Security is likely to be very tight again, then." Marius glanced over at Shimazu, then returned his gaze to the crowded pavement ahead without saying anything further.
"We've been ok so far. We can always do the same routine again if we need to." Shimazu said quietly.
They headed up to the towering fifty storey, glass and steel edifice, a slender monument to greed and excess that rose up high into the sky, appearing even taller than it actually was due to the slender construction of the tower. Heading in to the traditional covered lobby they saw the hotel rose up separately to the next tower over, and though there were covered sky-bridges at a number of points, it didn't appear to be as tightly integrated to the casino infrastructure as they'd first believed.
They entered the lobby, eyes looking around them at the ostentatious wealth on display. By now the colour gold had lost all meaning to them, marble just looked like another rock, and artwork, carvings, statues, paintings and fine metalwork just… seemed to be par for the course. So jaded were they by the decorations of the hotel lobby that they barely saw them – instead focussing on the important things like the slightly older generation weapon scanners built around the doorways into the reception, and the fact that they didn't appear to detect the knife concealed in Shimazu's jacket at all.
This hotel seemed to have light as its theme, and as they wandered through the corridors and atriums, there was an almost constant ocular assault upon them. Holograms, lasers, focussed spotlights, shimmering displays – the walls and spaces were a constant shimmering tapestry of light, and several of the team started to feel quite jittery as things seen only in the very edge of their peripheral vision seemed to leap out at them or move suddenly, triggering their combat reflexes at every turn.
Another slight difference they hadn't been expecting was when they followed the directions given for their meeting, and found that they were directed up to a suite on the 24th floor rather than a bar or business centre. Tsunami, it appeared, had paid for a larger suite or set of rooms, that included a meeting area alongside the living quarters for their representative.
Kai knocked on the door to the suite, and then greeted the rep politely in Japanese, before switching to English, much as he'd done in the previous meeting. Aragoshi was a mid-30s man, clearly of Japanese origins, and was wearing a fairly conservative business suit – neither high fashion nor particularly dated. He was slender and his face was carefully composed initially, greeting each of the team members with a polite but absent nod as they entered – until he reached the last person to enter the suite. As soon as his eyes passed Hunter, they seemed to glaze over slightly, and he turned and started to walk inside – letting the heavy door swing shut towards Hunter's face.
Hunter had apparently been expecting something like this as his hand was already up to fend off the door, and he walked in to the suite with a large grin on his face, his sense of humour already gearing up for what proved to be an interesting challenge. The Japanese might ship off most of their metahumans to a prison island and try to deny their very existence, but that wasn't going to work with him!
Aragoshi led the team out onto the extensive balcony that ran along the side of the suite, and they saw it actually gave them a superb view of the Wynn Palace – and perhaps more importantly the performance lake to the fore of the hotel. Even with the large road that divided the two lots, their position at one end of the Hyatt meant they were probably closer than some of the rooms than guests at the Wynn Palace, and they could easily imagine why Tsunami had obtained this suite. They could meet their potential clients, and still give them a show, even without it being present at this hotel – though the room rate also certainly would have taken that into account.
Their host pulled out a number of chairs for the team, again pointedly ignoring Hunter's presence and leaving them one short, as he swiftly sat down to great them to the meeting. With a fixed grin Hunter grabbed one of the remaining chairs, sliding it across the floor and making the metal leg shriek and scream as it was dragged across the terrace floor, before plopping himself down with a loud sigh – all of which their host pointedly ignored and refused to deal with.
Once they had been offered drinks and the standard pleasantries were out of the way, Kai started his presentation once more, going through the whole rigmarole one more time with the group. It was slightly surreal watching Aragoshi just stare fixedly forward when Hunter was speaking, doing his level best to ignore his presence and almost acting as if there was just a long extended silence, while Hunter fixed him with a malevolent and challenging stare. Much like some of the others, Tsunami had a number of slick presentations that Aragoshi played whenever he could, allowing him to sidestep the presence of Hunter a little more easily.
It made some of them feel slightly racist to even think it – but they all noticed that the people in the videos were remarkably homogenous. Their heights didn't seem to vary, nor did their builds. Facially they were very close – though not identical. It could have been very competent visual effects, but there was something about the quality of the film that seemed to lend credence to it being live action – but that only made it worse. It was like looking at an army of clones carrying out a military operation, the soldiers were so similar.
The presentation continued, and it wasn't until they reached the part where Kai revealed that the target was a nuclear plant that things took a turn. For the first time Aragoshi turned to examine Hunter directly.
"We are somewhat sensitive about such things. For historical reasons, I'm sure you will understand. It is something we are wary of. Radiation is a well-known issue, that mutates the cells and causes all manner of long-term health issues. Mutations. Retardation. Undesirables. The degeneration of people to a more primitive and vicious state." His words seemed to lash out, his anger barely disguised now, and they saw the corner of his mouth twitch as Hunter just smirked at him, refusing to take his words as a personal affront. Instead he just reached over, grabbed Kai's drink and then finished it off, all the while staring at their host with cold, hard eyes that bore no resemblance to the smile that appeared to be plastered across his face.
"Yes, well, such things are not to be underestimated. But would you be willing to take the job?"
"Yes. We would need to be certain of the damage caused. But we are open to performing this mission."
"Even though it's nucle…ow." Kai cut off as Shimazu kicked him under the table. A quick glance at him and he saw Shimazu give a tiny head shake, then glance towards the door. "Of course. Well, we'll be in touch. But for now I think we've heard everything we need to. Thank you for your hospitality." He stood, joined by the rest of the team and their host. Aragoshi strode ahead to get to the door leading out of the suite so that he could open it and give Kai a brief bow as he approached, but his face froze as he saw Hunter neatly slide himself into the middle of the group approaching him. There was no way to 'accidently' let the door close on him this way, and no real way to avoid dealing with his presence. Hunter gave him a mock bow as he reached the threshold, that bore no resemblance to a respectful sign, and Shimazu saw their host seethe with disgust and resentment, while desperately trying to ignore him and remain inscrutable. He clearly had very strong feelings about orks, and probably trolls – and needed to work on his anger management skills…
As they descended towards the lobby, Kai looked over at Shimazu.
"What was the kick for?"
"Honour. He'd said they would do the job, and you were about to question that. Bad move. Hunter's presence already had him rattled. But his whole body language, style of presentation, approach – he's what we call the 'classical' old Japanese. Honour is important, it's a defining part of his culture and self-worth. Questioning that is like a personal attack. And he was pretty close to losing his shit over what Hunter was doing to him. Or not doing. It probably wouldn't have helped us, is what I'm saying…"
"Ahh, right. Oh well. Either way, I don't think they're our guys. Willing to do the strike, but no impression that they'd been asked before, or had plans for it. So… I guess we need to keep moving."
"Well, it's nearly six… but at least we don't need to stop for dinner!" Aswon rubbed his belly, which was fuller than it would normally be by this time of day. "We may need to be careful – the next few meetings, if they try to sit us down and feed us actual meals, I think I might burst."
"Let's hope not. I've heard explosions in the troposphere are bad for the environment…" Kai grinned at him, and led the way back out of the hotel and into the street, then waited for directions from Hunter on which way to turn for their next meeting…