Chapter 17
"Battery to Console, I have the target in sight. Settling in to observe, over."
"Roger that, Puppy. Keep a safe distance. Over."
"Don't call me Puppy over the radio, this is serious."
"You and I both know it isn't. Bet you ten bucks this is just Chessman's way of finding out who his kid's dating."
"A possible Master/Stranger situation is always serious, overprotective father syndrome or not."
"Bet you fifty bucks."
"He's gonna hear you. And then you're going to wake up with a bunch of Army Men setting tiny traps all over your side of the bed. And I'm going to laugh." Battery shook her head and peered through the binoculars again. She was parked in an unmarked car a good distance away from the restored shrine. The target, officially designated Brushstroke after Chessman had taken a look at Armsmaster's helmet cam and promptly buried his face in his hands, had emerged from Winslow High School and taken a more or less direct path here. No sign of Good Dog yet, but the fact that Brushstroke had come here was worrisome enough. Gang territory aside, this was where Dragon had pinpointed that odd weather phenomenon.
Battery watched the teenager tie her hair back in a scarf, then set about doing a number of mundane chores around the property. She raked leaves, and swept the path and the wooden steps of the buildings, and checked on a basket laced to a small wooden signpost near the front entrance. She seemed pleased with it, because she unhooked the basket and went over to the shrine to sit down. Some digging into her schoolbag later, and she had a spool of… fishing line? Fishing line. She started unwinding the line and using it to string together small bunches of something too small to identify from here.
Battery sighed. Not that she'd ever admit it to Assault, but this was a little ridiculous. She sipped at a now-cold cup of coffee, watched Brushstroke, and waited. When she caught sight of someone visiting the shrine, she focused her lenses on them, then carefully set the coffee cup in its holster.
"Console, is Velocity around?"
"Yes'm." Velocity's voice took over for Assault.
"Steal Assault's wallet for me before he can welch on that bet, would you? Oni Lee just showed up."
"On it."
"Wha-- HEY!"
"Thanks. Continuing observation, over." Battery carefully opened the car door, her charge already well-stored and ready. If she had to swoop in and intercept the ABB assassin, she wouldn't have a second try at it. It… didn't seem necessary, to her surprise. She watched Oni Lee making a few gestures as they conversed, then he sat down next to Brushstroke as she rummaged into her bag again.
"Puppy? What's going on?"
"Brushstroke and Oni Lee are… eating lunch." She double-checked the lenses, just in case. "Yeah, that's… happening. I can't tell what they're talking about, though. Brushstroke doesn't look very happy about it." She dearly wished she'd parked a bit closer, or that maybe Armsmaster had bugged the shrine better. As she watched, Oni Lee handed over a book to the teenager, who was looking rather distressed, even from here. Movement behind her made Battery refocus.
"Console, Good Dog sighted."
"As I thought." Armsmaster's voice interrupted. How many of them were listening in, anyway? "What's it doing?"
"It just walked out of the shrine and sat down. And-- yes. Console, Oni Lee is petting the dog. I repeat, Oni Lee is petting Good Dog."
"Damnit. It's more powerful than we thought."
"Boss, you keep saying shit like that you're going back in containment, you know." Battery tried to tune out Armsmaster admonishing Velocity, and tried harder not to imagine him shaking his fist to the sky. She was going to spend all of that bet money on booze, every last dollar.
* * *
"Sumimasen, Miko. It is the best I can think of."
"No, I appreciate it." Taylor took a bite of her red bean roll and looked down at the book she'd been handed. It was a primer on tea ceremony, and also a herald of bad news. Lung was coming back. Not now, but soon. Sunny headbumped her shoulder, and she gave the wolf a quick scratch.
"The Ōkami has chastised him for his disrespect once. I do not think he will repeat it, but maintaining traditional courtesy will help."
"Okay. It's… something. I can give it a try." She flipped open the book, and winced. Oh, that looked formal. "...Oni Lee, I need help. I can't read this and I need to practice it."
The assassin paused, as he tended to, and ate another rolled omelette in the interim. She'd added the sweet wine this time, and he'd complimented her efforts. It was not a situation she'd ever really imagined herself in, but, that was just how her life seemed to be rolling these days. "I will find aid for you."
"Thank you. Do… you want some non-fancy tea, while you're here? I think I need a cup."
"Thank you for the offer, but I must return to my work." He returned her spare chopsticks to her, then collapsed into dust. Taylor swore-- she'd just swept. Sunny chuffed at her as she grumbled and fetched the broom again.
"There's no way out of this, is there, Sunny?" The wolf gave a sigh and a sad whine. "Yeah, didn't think so… Sunny? I…" She didn't have to say it. Sunshine sat down near her and she wrapped the canine in a hug.
"You know what you're doing, right?" The wolf gave a single, solemn nod. Taylor took a breath and let it out slow. "Okay. Okay, I trust you, just-- it's hard, you know?" Sunny licked her cheek, and Taylor didn't feel quite as bad about the admission. She gave the wolf a pat, and sat back down to finish her snacks. Sunshine was more than willing to assist in this matter.
Later, as they headed home, Taylor reflected on what little she knew about tea ceremonies. It wasn't much-- just that they were very formal, supposedly long, and probably as complicated and precise as interpretive dance. This was going to suck. She shared her thoughts with Sunny, who gave a woof of agreement.
"...you know, Sunny, I don't think I have any tests for a while at school." The wolf made a questioning noise. Taylor felt a grin sneaking its way onto her face. "I'm just saying. This is going to be really stressful, right? Isn't there a saying about work hard, play hard?" The wolf's eyes widened. Her tail began a furious wag.
"Let's go paint shopping."
* * *
Souta felt his cell buzz against his butt while he was busy mucking about with his car's innards. It was a junker, a cheap piece of shit with mismatched doors, but it was his and he could make it get from Point A to Point B. He set down his tools and found a rag to wipe his hands on, before pulling the phone out and checking it. One eyebrow quirked up. A text from the Oni-- something that had gotten far more common than he'd anticipated. It was cool, though. The Oni usually had errands and other grunt work for him, which meant the teen could collect his pay and not worry about having to fight for it. He wouldn't have minded a bit more action, but the safer work made his mom happy, so Souta wasn't going to complain. Plus it meant more time to work on his car, and that was always a good thing.
The message was brief. 'Require service for miko. Tea @ 1530. Be present and translate'
Souta eyed the message, then shrugged and sent back a simple 'yes.' Probably not the weirdest thing he'd done for the ABB. After a moment, Souta pulled his phone back out, and tapped at the screen.
'Formal?'
'Street is fine'
'No, for miko'
There was a longer pause. The Oni sent back a single question mark. Souta tapped at his phone again.
'Miko wears street stuff. I know a guy who knows a guy'
Another pause, and then: 'Ok. Do well for bonus'
Awesome. One step closer to that new paint job. Souta closed the messages and dialed a number, instead. It picked up on the fourth ring, the lazy bastard.
"Hai, Souta. What's up?"
"Yuuta," he grunted. "Give the phone to your baachan for a sec."
Oh, my sides!
