Agent 22 [3/?]
Jun's face was pale as he dodged the early morning dockworkers, the bag on his back thumping into him with each step. He was exhausted and worn, mostly from spending the past few days with Toma, trying to figure out a good cover, especially since he knew they were really going to drill the poor guy. Toma was an old friend from the academy, entering at the same time as he had so they were always in the same classes. They had even been on some rookie teams together, doing training missions and small, Tokyu-based operations. A few years ago, when Jun had been called up to the main office to be placed on active duty with the legendary Yama Duo, he hadn't known what to say. It felt weird leaving Toma behind. But his friend had waved him forward with a smile, despite the fact that no one had put him on active detail yet. Sometimes Jun wondered who was running this place if Toma hadn't been called up yet.
The two had spent the past few days furrowing away supplies they thought Jun might need (he had only a vague idea of where they were headed) and trying to think of a really good story Toma could tell whoever came looking for them. It didn't matter if it kept them off the trail forever; as long as it gave Sakurai and Jun a head start and didn't implicate Toma in anything, it would work. They finally decided to say that Toma had sent the two to his home planet of Entara after he received a frantic call from his mother (that Toma would fake the record for later that day). As an "inbetweener", not an active agent but post-graduation from the academy, Toma wasn't allowed to go off planet so it made sense that he would send his best friend Jun. As for where Sakurai was, Toma'd say that Jun thought the older man could use a vacation after the stress of the court martial and sudden flight of his partner and so Jun took him along. They faked some reservations on the next shuttle to Entara and hoped that that would keep them away long enough.
It was a well thought out plan, if not the best one, and Jun felt certain that they had at least bought themselves enough time to get to Omega 83 before M-Net had made it to quadrant seven. It was going to have to do. Besides, Sakurai was well trained in covering his tracks; between the plan and his senior, Jun was sure they'd make it.
He still didn't know what he thought about the journey itself, though. He trusted his captain, of course; Ohno had never done anything that would back up the claims against him. But wouldn't that just make him a very good traitor? He was the best agent in active duty; it would be easy for him to hide ulterior motives. And besides that, HS7 said that they saw him disintegrate. He wasn't sure if he trusted Sakurai's intuition more than his juniors' eyes.
It was too late to turn back now, though and he knew that Sakurai was waiting for him somewhere on the dock. He pulled the strap of his bag closer to him. Despite the normally regulated temperature, it seemed cold and Jun felt a shiver run down his back. Something was wrong. Even the dockworkers weren't making much noise this morning.
A hand suddenly reached out and tugged Jun's shoulder. He didn't even have a chance to say a word as the arm pulled him behind a crate, covering his mouth. Something in him was expecting it to be Sakurai so it was worrying when he looked up into the eyes of Higashiyama, one of the directors of the academy. He didn't look pleased.
"Where are you going, Matsumoto?" he asked quietly, his voice soft but accusatory. Jun averted his eyes; he knew he was in trouble. This meant the academy knew and if the academy knew, then all of M-Net knew. They wouldn't make it off the planet. They would never find Captain.
"You don't have to answer the question," Higashiyama continued, ignoring the troubled look on Jun's face, "as I think we both know I already know. But here's something you aren't expecting: I'm going to let you go. On one condition."
Jun's heart dropped at the words. He could stand being arrested. He could stand being court martialed. But this sounded like it involved lying and he didn't know if he would be able to do that.
"I'm going to let go of you," Higashiyama warned. "If you make a sound, I take you in right now. Got it?" Jun nodded slowly and Higashiyama let him go, taking a step backward. Jun rubbed his jaw with a free hand, not sure if he could take the offer he knew the older man was about to give. There was also that nagging thought, though, that maybe he had to.
"I'm going to let you go with your precious partner," Higashiyama began, pulling something out of his pocket. "However, you're going to take this with you." He showed a small remote tracking device to Jun, the silver alarm button catching the dim light of the dockyard and glowing dully.
"Why?" Jun asked, both of them aware Jun already knew the answer.
"I'm going to send a team after you. They'll follow by a few days; we both know Sakurai would catch on if they were too close behind. They'll never come in contact but the second you catch sight of Ohno, you press that alarm and they'll be there within 24 hours."
Jun started down at the remote in Higashiyama's hand. He would be betraying his team and everything he stood for. No one would ever trust him again.
"Say no and it all ends here," Higashiyama reminded him. "I take you away and the three agents I have surrounding your shuttle will take down Sakurai." He paused, letting Jun soak in that information. If he was trying to intimidate him, it was working.
"You might think there's a choice here, Matsumoto, but there's not. You take the device and you let us recapture Ohno. He was in the middle of a trial; we just need to finish it. Neither of them will ever know it was you that tipped us off. As far as they will be concerned, we just had a team in the area."
Jun didn't say anything, his eyes dancing over the remote in his superior's hand.
"Take it, Matsumoto. Take it and move on. There's no future for either of you if you refuse."
With trepidation, Jun made a choice.
-------
"What took you so long?" Sho sighed, pulling Jun into the shuttle by his elbow. He was over a half an hour late and Sho had begun to worry that something had gone horribly wrong. He had stayed out of contact with the younger man for the past few days to try and decrease signs of conspiracy. The less M-Net suspected, the better.
"Overslept," Jun apologized and Sho accepted his answer with a grunt, leading them to their seats in the back of the ship. Jun was a good agent, the brightest in his year and one of the top graduates of the academy. That was why he had been put in with himself and Ohno a few years ago, turning the legendary partnership into a team. But despite all of his accolades and medals, Matsumoto Jun had one fatal flaw: he couldn't wake up to save his life.
"Well, you're here now," Sho shrugged, not wanting to push the issue. This wasn't something to have an argument about and Jun looked beyond tired already, the first leg of their trip not even having started yet. He watched the younger man drop into the seat Sho had led him to and almost immediately fall asleep. Sho had to smile; Jun was still young despite his high honors and times like this he looked like a normal twenty-three year old kid.
Sho found a blanket in the panel above their row and spread it over Jun. Unconsciously, Jun tugged it up closer around his shoulders and under his neck, obviously as cold as he looked. Sho smiled and let himself sink into the seat next to Jun. It was going to be a long journey and they had only just begun. He was going to find his partner, if it took him years. If anyone could clear Ohno's name, it would be Sho.
Slowly, sleep took ahold of Sho's senses. Although he hadn't gone without rest the past few days, the stress of the mission and the preparations had taken its toll and Sho felt himself being dragged gently down into unconsciousness. There wasn't anything to do until they reached the first checkpoint anyway and with a small sigh, Sho let himself fall asleep.
Inbetween the two dreamers, a small silver and black device in Jun's pocket hummed almost silently.
-------
"Here's the Magma," Ohno placed the glowing red drink onto a tray and pushed it across the counter to Saphrina's waiting arms. She gave him a wink of thanks and picked up the tray with one hand, the other three clearing a path in front of her to make her way back to her customer, obscured by a wall of plants. Ohno was thankful; Saphrina was nice but she'd do anything for tips and Ohno would rather not play witness.
Just like Aiba had predicted, two days earlier a pleasure cruiser had stopped at the station for repairs, having broken a coil in hyperspace. The repair was simple but it was going to take a few days for the right parts to make it to the station. The passengers and crew of the ship were thus stranded for the near future.
The first day had been rather uneventful. There were a few new faces in the bar but there were always a few new faces so it didn't seem like that big a deal. When Ohno had mentioned that offhand to Nino as they were cleaning up that night, the younger man had grinned at him, a twinkle in his eye.
"Just you wait until tomorrow, O," Nino countered, using the nickname he'd made up for Ohno a few days prior. "It's going to be more crowded than anything you've seen in your life."
Ohno seriously doubted that, considering his experience with crowds simply living in Tokyu not to mention the various missions he'd been on, but the boyish excitement on Nino's face was enough to stay his tongue. Although he was still aware of the no-nonsense side of his boss that he had constantly been around the first week or so, the past few days Nino had been opening up to him more, his features seeming younger and younger the more excited he got about things, in this case the promise of money. Ohno couldn't remember the last time he saw someone that energetic about life The best comparison he could make would be with a boy right upon entering the academy. Even the youngest member of his team, Jun, was much too serious to ever break into a grin like the one Nino was fixing him.
But even still, despite how excited Nino got about things (and Nino always got excited about money), there seemed to always be a shadow in the back of his mind, a sense that not everything was quite what it seemed. Logically, it didn't quite add up. There was no way Nino was older than twenty five, probably quite younger and yet, here he was, owner and proprietor of a fetish cafe, never mind the fact that he didn't seem to have any friends or family other than Aiba and now Ohno. All the other employees simply called him Bossman and left him alone. Ohno got the feeling that Nino had been very lonely for a very long time, not that the young man would ever admit to it.
Nino had been right about the next day, however, as the whole day long, Ohno had been running around from each end of the bar to the other, cleaning spills, mixing drinks and collecting each server's tips to add to the stockpile. It was going to be a good night, he mused, as he looked at the tip bottle. Nino always distributed the tips after the bar closed on busy nights and by the looks of things, some of the servers were going to be very happy. Since most of the clientele today were tourists, too, the tips were mostly earned through simple service other than the less appetizing ways. It was the kind of day Ohno felt the most comfortable working in this place and, he suspected, the others felt the same.
He hadn't seen much of Nino all day, the younger man running from one place to the other trying to take care of all the issues and problems that were coming up from customers that had never used a fetish cafe before suddenly descending upon the place. Ohno didn't envy him that job; there was a lot of explaining and letting fat men in strange clothes yell at you before you could speak again involved and Ohno didn't know how Nino managed to deal with it, especially with how reactive the young man could be. Regardless of his age and temperament, however, Nino was a good manager and dealt with each complaint as it came with grace. Ohno had to admit that he was impressed.
The day began to slow down around 1900, as most of the men who had been there all day returned to their ship to have a meal with their families. It made Ohno a little uneasy, to know that this establishment was encouraging that kind of behavior but as Nino had said earlier, you had to do what you had to do. Ohno had almost replied that he didn't really have to do this but the look on Nino's face shut him up.
Ohno was wiping down the counter when a customer stumbled up, obviously already a little more in him than he particularly needed. The agent gave him a small disapproving frown but the human didn't seem to notice, taking a seat on the other side and almost hanging completely over the counter.
"Get me a drink," he managed and Ohno wondered if he should deny service to him on the basis that he was already much more drunk than was probably healthy. Nino had a strict "profit over customer health" policy, though and so Ohno sighed, wiping his hands on the rag in his hand and turning to the man.
"What kind of drink, sir?" he asked as politely as he could manage.
"Whatever," the man replied, sounding a little put out. "I just want a drink. It doesn't matter what it is."
"Alright," Ohno shrugged. 'One drink, coming up." A simple beer would be the easiest thing to make at this point and the guy was so far gone that Ohno could claim he'd added any number of things and jack up the price. He grinned to himself; Nino was rubbing off on him.
The drink was easy enough to mix up but he served it in an exotic glass to make it look more expensive than it was. He took a little bit more time than he needed, not really liking the reek of alcohol that was coming off the man but made himself walk back over, setting the overpriced glass in front of almost passed out man.
"Here you go," he announced fake cheerfully, "one Placebo!"
The man took a glance at the drink and gave it a nod, as if in acceptance. Ohno let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding; he had kind of worried the bad pun he had allowed himself to make in the ancient language would somehow be discovered. Luckily, even if the man knew the word (which was quite doubtful), he was too drunk to catch on. Taking a sip of the drink, he smiled lazily at Ohno. It was unnerving.
Ohno turned to leave, thoughts of cleaning the other end of the bar dancing into his mind, when he felt a tug on the back of his apron. Turning around, he saw the drunken man holding tight, a creepy smile on his face. Ohno immediately went cold; something was wrong with this.
"Where you going?" he asked lazily, that same unnerving smile on his face. Ohno pushed at the man's hand but he wouldn't let go.
"I gave you your drink. Now I'm going to go finishing cleaning the counter," he explained as simply as he could. It probably would have sounded bad if he had said 'I'm getting as far away from you as possible.'
"No, you're not," the man shook his head and Ohno frowned. "This isn't that kind of bar. You gotta... well, you know." He made a strange gesture with his hands that Ohno didn't recognize but knew must be obscene. He took a deep breath; if he wasn't careful, he was going to hurt the guy.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken. I'm the bartender. If you would like, ahem, those services, I suggest you flag down one of the wait staff."
But the man wouldn't let go of his apron.
"I don't want any of those aliens," he spat the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. "You're the only cute one."
He tugged at Ohno's apron, trying to pull him closer. Ohno desperately tried to think of a move he could do that would make the man let go without snapping his wrist, not used to situations where he wasn't allowed to kill his attacker. The longer he thought, the more the man became aggravated, pulling himself closer to Ohno with the apron string when he saw that Ohno wasn't budging.
"What's going on over here?" Nino's voice rang from Ohno's right. He looked up to see his new friend striding over with purpose, looking more serious and angry than he had ever seen him. The anger created action in his stride and he was next to the intoxicated man in what seemed like two steps.
"This guy," the drunken man pointed at Ohno, "won't give it up." Even Ohno blanched at the wording.
"Excuse me?" Nino asked him, tinges of annoyance in his voice.
"Tell this jerflog to get off his high horse and get over here," the man growled. Ohno saw something flash in Nino's eyes. That had been the wrong thing to say.
"If you would like to exercise those services," Nino said as politely as he could, his tone barely controlled and bordering on breaking down, "then I can get any member of my wait staff. However, our bartender is not part of that section of the cafe and I would appreciate your unhanding of him."
"I paid for the brooging drink!" the man was angry now. "Now you're going to give me what I brecking asked for!" Nino didn't even dignify that with a response, turning to the entranceway.
"Groot!" he called and the dwerg hobbled into the room, looking just as terrifying as Ohno always thought he was. He looked rather happy, too, and Ohno knew that meant that something bad was about to happen to the drunk man.
"Groot," Nino smiled down at his bouncer, "could you show this man the door?"
Groot nodded, a big smile on his face as he yanked at the intoxicated man's shirt, pulling him off the chair he was poured into and towards the door.
"You can't do this!" the man called as Groot pulled him to the door. "I'm a customer!"
"I can do whatever I want," Nino muttered, watching Groot push the man outside. "It's my brooging bar."
Ohno watched Nino deflate now that the trouble was over. He had looked so powerful as he yelled at the man but now he just looked like a tired kid, shoulders sagging and bags under his eyes. Ohno noticed, not for the first time, how Nino's clothes seemed to hang on him and he made an internal decision to use some of tonight's pay to buy Nino a good dinner. Sure it was less money for his ultimate run but it was worth it.
"Thanks," he smiled at Nino, awkwardly pouring the end of the man's drink into the sink and beginning to wash the glass. Nino looked up at Ohno's words, looking surprised for half a second before rubbing a hand along the back of his neck, vaguely uneasy.
"That's not what I pay you for," he answered, trying to sound the tough manager, voice gruff but there was a pink stain on his cheeks and his ears were turning red. He muttered something about having to check with Groot and hobbled off awkwardly towards the doorway.
Ohno watched him go, feeling a distinct warmth in his own cheeks as he polished the glass in his hands.
~
Oh, Jun. So much intrigue~ The next chapter might be up a little late because a friend is coming to visit this weekend but who knows? Most of this chapter was written on a plane so maybe I'll find some time this week. Hope you like it! ♥