As Hondo walked back up the drive of the safehouse, Maria and her sons were just leaving from delivering the food they had contracted with Fernando to supply for the group. Valentine was still standing outside as he walked up, and she stood quietly until he got closer.
 
 
“Any luck, my love?” She asked softly.
 
 
He shook his head, “Nothin’ real good… you?”
 
 
She shook her head and frowned, “No sight of her. Just not sure where to even look, really.”
 
 
He nodded, “Understand that… I did run into that woman again that I met briefly when savin’ the girl in that alley, or more so she sorta cornered me.”
 
 
“What does she want with you?” Val asked
 
 
“Seems to want several things, but not exactly sure what she’s about. She claimed she knows where Tonya an’ her little friend are holed up, but won’t tell me as she doesn’t trust us yet.” He said.
 
 
“What does she have against us? Did she say?” Val asked.
 
 
“Not so much us as Jefe… Seems like they have a past or somethin’, though she’s not really said more than that.” He replied.
 
 
“So, what can we do? Can we follow her or make her tell us or somethin’??” Val asked hastily searching for an answer in his frown.
 
 
He shook his head, “… Nothin’ we can do but wait, I reckon.”
 
 
Valentine’s frown deepened as she felt as if she saw a flicker of conflict in his eyes, as if he was holding something back.
 
 
“You’re not tellin’ me somethin’.” She said hesitantly.
 
 
He sighed and shook his head, “It’s nothin’ important.”
 
 
“Don’t hold back from me, please? I know I’ve been a weak, scared little tit-mouse lately, and I’ve not been there for you, but I want to be. Please don’t hide things from me.” She almost pleaded.
 
 
He shook his head, “It’s not like that, darlin, an’ you know I don’t blame ya for bein’ out of sorts after what ya went through. It’s just a bit awkward is all.”
 
 
“Then tell me!” She begged.
 
 
He sighed, “That woman, well… she’s a crazy horny bitch that for some reason is bound an’ determined to get me to bed her!”
 
 
She raised an eyebrow at him, “Bed her?”
 
 
“Yeah, you know, take her to a bed an' #$@! her brains out!” He replied in a slightly exasperated tone.
 
 
She stared at him for a minute partly in shock. His discomfort and frustration with the subject was evident and as her shock wore off she started to laugh.
 
 
He gave her a sour look as she laughed.
 
 
“What’s so funny?!” He demanded.
 
 
“He he! *snort*! You are, my love! Ha ha ha!” She laughed.
 
 
He shook his head, “Some day’s I’m at a complete loss at understandin’ you.”
 
 
Her laugh diminished to a chuckle and she shook her head.
 
 
“I’m.. I’m sorry. Just with everythin’ we’ve been through lately with that look I expected it to be bad, not some horny woman who wants you too!” She exclaimed as she smiled and shook her head at him.
 
 
He just frowned, “She’s just crazy, I reckon.”
 
 
She shook her head, “No, you’re a very ruggedly handsome man, and I’m honestly not surprised I don’t have to beat off swooning women with a broom to keep them off you!”
 
 
He shook his head, “You’re just biased ‘cause you love me, though I don’t understand why you do.”
 
 
She reached up and lightly touched his face, “One of your biggest flaws is always underestimatin’ and undersellin’ yourself. You are a good, strong, kind, handsome man and I love you very much. Some days I fear that you’ll realize just how good you are and how inferior I am, and then leave me to find a woman worthy of you.”
 
 
“That’s all crazy talk, Val. You’re the one undersellin’ herself, though I can never get you to see it.” He replied.
 
 
“Maybe we both do, then, but you more so than me.” She said, still smiling softly at him.
 
 
He cleared his throat and half turned away, “We’ll hafta agree to disagree there, I reckon.”
 
 
She shook her head at him, wishing for just a moment he could see himself through her eyes. After a pause she spoke again, her curiosity peaked about this woman now.
 
 
“So, you have some woman who has a past with Fernando but wants you… Anythin’ else?” She asked
 
 
He shrugged, “I don’t know. One moment she seems like maybe she actual cares about somethin’ then she goes all mercenary. Could be a defensive mechanism, but not sure. … she seems to have had a rough go of it. Has a cyborg arm, an’ you can’t miss the pain an’ hurt in her eyes at times… Seems like she’s been watchin’ us too, but I cannot figure out why yet. She doesn’t trust Jefe an’ because of that her eyes are on us all.”
 
 
“Do you know who she works for?” Val asked
 
 
He shook his head, “No. Seems like she has her own interests at stake, but if she’s playin’ sides or workin’ for someone she did not say or even hit at… She.. she seems to worry ‘bout those girls for some reason. I'm just not sure how much she worries 'bout them or if she’d sell them out for a price.”
 
 
“Why do you think she’d sell them out?” Val asked.
 
 
He sighed again, “*sigh* … Cause she tried to sell them out to me.”
 
 
“For sex?” Val asked almost hesitantly.
 
 
He nodded.
 
 
She swallowed hard and stood silently for a moment before speaking again almost timidly.
 
 
“Why didn’t you?” She asked quietly.
 
 
He scowled at her, “Why? Because I have a wife I love an’ want to be faithful to an’ don’t want to give in to some crazy bitches’ desires that would hurt you!”
 
 
She turned away from him, “Maybe.. maybe you should take her up on that offer.”
 
 
He spun her around and gave her a firm, yet incredulous look.
 
 
“You want me to #$@! her?!?” He queried almost angrily.
 
 
“YES!!.. No! .. Maybe… I Don’t know!” She half yelled back.
 
 
“Why??” He asked in confusion as he searched her face for an answer.
 
 
She pulled away from him and turned her back on him again.
 
 
“If it would save those poor girls, how could we refuse?” She asked quietly.
 
 
“We will find them, but it’s not worth hurtin’ you or hurtin’ us to find them!” He exclaimed.
 
 
She turned back to him, “It .. it would be selfish not to do this to save them, can’t you understand?”
 
 
He shook his head, “I’m not understandin’. Help me understand what you’re thinkin’, please Darlin’.”
 
 
She sighed and looked back at the ground, “The.. then first time I was almost raped I hid from the world. My world was shattered, I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone, that my schooling was all a waste, and that my future, my career, all I had worked for was gone. They.. they made me feel scared and powerless, though I was saved from actually havin’ my virginity stolen, they still stole a lot from me. You were the first one that made me feel like there was a good future out there for me; that all I had done and gone through was not a waste. Then it happened again and I not only felt powerless once again, but that in the shattering of my world that you would turn your back on me, see me as dirty, used, not fit to be loved from being soiled.”
 
 
He shook his head, “Never would I see you like that!”
 
 
She shook her head and blinked back a tear, “I..I know but I still felt it…. You saved me but before you came in I was sure I was going to be raped. I was sure there was no escapin’ it twice… They threatened to kill me, but I was more afraid of them all takin’ me and leavin’ me alive to face you, dirty and disgraced… I cannot explain how I felt and still feel somewhat, all from something that never fully happened, somethin’ I was saved from fully experiancin’, unlike others who have not been so lucky… like those girls.”
 
 
“Darlin’, no one blames you for feelin’ how you do, but that doesn’t make this right! I know those girls have been through hell…” He started to say but was interrupted.
 
 
“What’s right is savin’ those girls! Maybe they haven’t been raped by a man, but they have been molested, at least Tonya said she has! And what they have done to their bodies and mind, taking away not only their power but their families, freedoms, even their body parts to make them lab rats… That’s the truest and worst for of rape there is and we have to save them, even if I have to give that woman something that was supposed to be special between us only!” She exclaimed.
 
 
He sighed, “So you really want me to give into her demands?”
 
 
She looked at him with a desperate, almost wild look, “No! I don’t! And I feel guilty for feelin’ so selfish! I want those girls saved and if that’s what it costs I’m tellin’ you that you should. Just.. just please don’t tell me about it. I know you want to find those girls almost as much as I do, I know! I.. I was really feelin’ sorry for all I had been through before I met Tonya and heard her tell us what she had been through. I knew then that I had not really been through that much and my scared little girl bullshit was stupid and selfish, as is my wantin’ you for myself over givin’ what’s needed to save people like them who really have it bad and need help! If you spendin’ a night or two with a woman saves them, how could I say no?!?”
 
 
A tear ran down her cheek, which betrayed her inner conflict. She felt guilty as she wanted him all for herself, but logically knew it would change nothing between them and really help those girls if she just shared him for a brief time.  
 
 
“What if I am not willin’ to, as I take my vows to you seriously?” He asked quietly.
 
 
“Do you love her? This woman?” Val asked in almost a whisper.
 
 
He shook his head, “Not even a little.”
 
 
“Then no vows would be broken. You would be just doin’ what was needed to rescue someone in need.” She replied shakily.
 
 
He pulled her close to him and held her, kissing her forehead gently before speaking.
 
 
“You’re a good woman, Maria Valentine Sackett an’ I love you more than anythin’… I’ll think ‘bout it. I don’t know how to get a hold of her even if I decided to give in to her, so I’ll have to wait anyway.” He replied.
 
 
She sniffed a bit and nodded. After a minute or two he left her go and she stepped back, dried her eyes and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
 
 
“I… I’m not sure when everyone is getting back, but I’ll start supper soon.” Val said, changing the subject.
 
 
“What ya cookin’?” He asked
 
 
“Well, Maria brought Okonomiyaki, Chicken vegetable Ramen, and some sort of beef in onions and broccoli. Thought I would make some egg-rolls, cheese wontons, and try some hot and sour soup to go with it.” Valentine replied.
 
 
Hondo had no clue what Okonomiyaki was but he just nodded as he was sure he was going to find out.
 
 
“Sorry, I know the local food isn’t you favorite.” She said.
 
 
“No worries. I usually find somethin’ I don’t mind. Not starved yet, at any rate!” He said as he gave her a reassuring smile.
 
 
“You have somethin’ for Monty to do?” She asked
 
 
He shrugged, “Nothin’ specific. If you don’t need help have him clean up ‘round the place a bit. Think the three of us an’ Jefe are the only ones who clean up ‘round here, so I know the common areas could use some attention.”
 
 
She nodded, “I can keep him busy… You have any plans?”
 
 
He shook his head, “Nothin’ major if you need help. Might try to map the areas we checked for the girls an’ see if I can spot any abandoned houses close by that they might be usin’ to hide. Got a couple more guns I need to go over an’ some electronics to work on too, for surveillance an’ protection in case we have to go up against anyone or they come against us again… Got to get the rest of the bugs out of the house too an’ try to figure out who has them there. Charles swears it’s not his agency, but who knows if they bugged us without his knowin’. Could be somethin’ more local too.”
 
 
“I should be fine if you want to work on that stuff… You still want to go out to the ranch tomorrow?”
She asked.
 
 
He shrugged, “We’ll see. Might put it off a day an’ do some more lookin’ tomorrow if I see anythin’ hopeful on the maps.”
 
 
She nodded, “Understand.”
 
 
She started to walk back inside and he followed her in. As the split in the living room, him headed upstairs and her headed down to the kitchen, he gave her another smile.
 
 
“I do love ya, I hope you know that, darlin’.” He said in a low voice.
 
 
She smiled softly and nodded, “I’ve never doubted it, though I never understood how you could.”
 
 
He shook his head, “I’m the one who’s hard to love, not you, ya silly woman… Now if ya need me, holler.”
 
 
He turned and walked away headed upstairs to do some work. She paused and watched him go, feeling a sad longing inside her heart and a knotting pain in her gut. She did not want to share him for anything, yet how could she even think to do anything but encourage him to bed this woman if it saved those girls? The thought of it all weighed heavily on her as she went down to start getting supper ready.
 
 
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-,-,-,-,-,
 
 
From her new vantage point Akumu watched this cowboy’s interaction with his woman with rapt interest. There seemed to be some disagreement between them that gave her a moment of hope that maybe she could draw him into her bed, at least for a night or two, but as the cowboy took his woman into his arms and held her Akumu frowned, the slight moment of hope gone.  
 
 
She sighed as she sat back and pulled a flask from her pocket, groaning a bit as the cut across her chest reminded her that it was there, and if the Hispanic man did not lie, her time was also limited.
 
 
She was not sure what it was that drew her to this cowboy. Was it his rugged handsomeness, his courage, the bold way he stood up to those men, or the fierceness of which he fought?? She was not sure, exactly, but she was sure it was all that and more, the more being his decent, honorable way. In her line of work it had been a long time since she found an honorable man who treated her decently. Had he been most men, at the first hint of desire from her, he would have drug her to the nearest cheap hotel and had his way with her. It had happened before, and though she enjoyed it, it was a fleeting feeling that once gone left her feeling hollow inside. She knew despite her scars and her arm, she was a beautiful woman, and had the air of strength and danger that seemed to drive many men wild. The wild sex was only a temporary salve. As she watched the cowboy and his woman go inside she envied them, as though revenge had been her driving force and reasons for living for all these years, she now craved something more meaningful ad lasting. She had told herself that revenge was her life and purpose as all other options had been taken from her. She believed that for a long time, but not her faith in that was shaken.
 
 
She swore softly under her breath as they disappeared inside. This was supposed to have been easy when she found that Agent Fernando G. was back with a team. All she had to do was find one thing that would prove to herself that he was evil and corrupt like all the rest, just enough evidence to sooth what little conscience she had left, then find a way to take out his team in a way that punished him and sent a message before ending him too. This cowboy sentinel she had not bargained for, though. She cussed his ruggedly strong good looks and honorable ways, as he made it all become extremely complicated. Such a man, she just knew, could not work with an evil, corrupt leader. Now all her presumptions about Agent G. had to be questioned and no little proof of them being corrupt would be enough to sate her need of proof to keep her conscience clear.  
 
 
She sighed and set back, as there was no movement around the house and from the vehicles present, she figured only the Cowboy, his woman, and that bloated sidekick of theirs were at the apartments at the moment.  
 
 
As she sat back she thought more about it all. The Cowboy Sentinel was only the first monkey-wrench thrown into her supposedly simple mission for revenge against one of those who failed to protect her and her partner and left her for dead after. The job for Kurayami was supposed to be simple and get her a lot of needed funds. It was to simply locate a couple females that had taken property from him and let his men handle them. She had her suspicions about the job, but she was suspicious of everything! Even though she was suspicious, never in her wildest imagination would she find to girls who had been so wronged and so hurt by cybernetic experimentation. Them and this cowboy meeting further complicated things and went beyond her wildest imaginations.  
 
 
Things used to be simple before Agent G. and his team came. She did odd jobs hunting down evil people for evil people and getting money for it. She saw it as a win as she got money to continue her plans of vengeance on corrupt legal officials and some evil bastard got taken out. The officials she took out were scum and there was no doubt in her mind that they needed eliminated. It was a hard road she walked but things were simple, until now that is.
 
 
She had never had plans of going after Agent Fernando G. He was gone, back to his country, another worthless American G-man whored out to a foreign government to clean up a mess that they did not want to be responsible for handling. She blamed him, but blamed her government and their agencies more. Had he not come back, had she not seen him there with her own eyes, she would not have given him two thoughts. He was back, though, back in her country and on her turf. It seemed like she was fated to take him out, like the other corrupt agents, officers, and officials that lay now dead at her hand. But fate she was finding was a cruel mistress and what was supposed to be simple was so complicated it made her question her life, beliefs, actions, and feelings. It was not supposed to be like this, and it bothered her to her core.
 
 
As she thought about all she had done and what those girls had been through, she started to question if she had given everyone she had given a fair chance to everyone she had enacted vengeance on. Had she done enough to make sure they were evil or maybe some were just scared and doing what they thought they had to do. On top of that how many children had she left without fathers or mothers? Where there other girls and boys out there suffering like Tonya and Zoey because they were now without someone to protect them.
 
 
She felt something wet on her cheek and wiped it off to see if it was raining but was greeted with a clear blue sky. Another drop of water ran down her face and she wiped it off, shocked to find that it was a tear. Something inside her was changing and she did not like it. Tear flowed softly for a moment as she sat there wondering what she had become and where she was going from here. She wondered if she had become the monster she had sworn to destroy to protect her country, her city, and her people.  
 
 
She took a deep pull from her flask and did her best to chase those thoughts from her mind. Now was not the time to fall apart. There was still much to do, even if that was facing that she had been wrong in some of her acts of revenge and justice. Crying and falling apart would help no one. If she was indeed wrong, she would face that when the time came. She told herself, though, that even if some innocents suffered for what she had done, more would prosper from the removal of those who had compromised the safety of the populous for their own safety and gain. It did not make her feel much better but it made her feel, for the moment at least, justified.  
 
 
She sat back and watched the apartments quietly with a sigh. She pushed those thoughts from her head by imagining the cowboy coming and taking her in this very spot. It made her hornier and ache for his touch more but she relieved some of her tension by unbuttoning her pants and sliding a hand down inside them to tease herself as she thought about him. As she did the sadness left her and she felt her thoughts clear some. She had a lot to think about but now was not the time.
 
 
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About 6:00 pm Fernando’s girls wandered back in and started asking about supper. Valentine assured them it would be ready soon and by 6:30 food was set out and the girls filled their plates and went upstairs to watch TV.  
 
 
With Charles and his group still gone, less had to be prepared, which helped Valentine somewhat, but lately the others seemed to straggle in later and later which meant she had to try to keep food warm without letting it burn or dry up.  
 
 
After the girls were done filling their plates and Monty had his and was in the basement watching American new channels, Valentine went upstairs to get Hondo.  
 
 
As she opened the door she found him looking at a computer screen with a local map on it.
 
 
“Any luck?” She asked.
 
 
He shrugged, “Hard tellin’, but found a couple areas that aren’t too far that have a lot of abandoned buildin’s. A couple are old housin’ districts an’ one a business district that seems mostly closed down. I was close to all three of them but didn’t go there as I thought they were a bit far. Not sure where else to look.”
 
 
She walked up and kissed his cheek, “Well, we can go search them in the morning. Supper is ready, though and I thought maybe you’d come down and eat with me tonight.”
 
 
He looked up at her with a forced smile and nodded, “I reckon sharin’ a meal with my beautiful wife would be a good way to spend part of the evenin’.”
 
 
“I have other ideas for after, if you’re feelin’ up to them.” She said blushing slightly at her thoughts as she gave him a seductive smile.
 
 
He chuckled lightly, “Heh, if your thoughts are what I think they are, I’d have to be dead to no be up to them.”
 
 
Her blush deepened a bit, only confirming to him what her thoughts were. It bothered him that she was tore up yet willing to let him have sex with another woman to save the girls but at the same time he felt like he was getting back the valentine he knew and that pleased him.
 
 
He stood up and followed her downstairs. He was not sure if it was his imagination or not, but Valentine seemed to have a bit more swish in her hips tonight as he followed her and it made him hungry for something else other than food.  
 
 
As they entered the kitchen she started dishing the up plates as he grabbed them a couple beers from the fridge.
 
 
“Can’t say I’m big on oriental food, but it’s smellin’ really good tonight.” HE said as he popped the tops off the beer bottles and brought them to the table.
 
 
“I hope you like it.  I made egg-rolls like you like and there is no fish in any of it, so you should be happy about that.” She said with a grin.
 
 
“I could sit and eat a dozen of your egg-rolls without flinchin’ an’ still look for more!” He said with a grin.  
 
 
She set the plates on the table as he grabbed silverware for them. He held out her chair for her and waved his arm towards it with a flourish, causing her to giggle slightly as she curtsied and then sat down, knowing he was being a bit silly for her. She had never seen him really do that for anyone else, even his family, though he had not even met them all as some had nothing to do with him anymore, and those she had did not seem to be in contact with him often. She had asked what had happened between them all, but he just dismissed it with say that sometimes people grow apart. She knew it was true but hoped that it would never happen to them.
 
 
As he went to sit down across from her his phone rang and he swore softly.
 
 
“Damn… always at supper time.” He grumbled as he pulled the phone from his pocket.  
 
 
It was not one of the custom ringtones so it was not Fernando or any of the other select few he normally had call. The number was vaguely familiar but he was not sure who it was, exactly. Normally unknown numbers he let go to voicemail but something in his gut told him to answer.
 
 
“Ya’llow?” He said into the phone as he answered it.
 
 
“Hondo?” A sort of familiar female voice ask, that seemed to have a bit of a local accent.
 
 
“This is him. Who is this?” He replied.
 
 
“This is Yuri.” The voice said
 
 
“And Kei!” Another voice yelled from the background.
 
 
Yuri sighed, “*sigh* … I have you on speaker phone.”
 
 
“Somethin’ wrong? Where’s Jefe?” He asked, immediately expecting something to be wrong if they were calling him.
 
 
“Everyone is alright. Fernando told us to call you.” Yuri said.
 
 
“We saw Chip with Gadget, I mean a Gadget look alike who he called Gadget but who called herself Law-winy or something like that!” Kei blurted out.
 
 
“Lahwhinie? You sure??” He asked
 
 
“Yeah, that’s what it sounded like she said but Chip hit her and said she was Gadget. Said something about buying supplies for his boss to make a bomb to take out Fernando and his people.” Yuri said.
 
 
“You sure it was not Gadget?” He asked.
 
 
“Yeah, Fernando said she was with him. Plus this woman’s accent was a bit different, though she could be her twin.” Yuri said
 
 
“That’s cause she might be. Gadget told me about her once. Tried to kill her years ago. If she’s with Chip that can only be bad… Still, I don’t get him out an’ about like that, an’ a boss? He always has someone else do his dirty work.” Hondo replied.
 
 
“It had to be him!” Kei exclaimed
 
 
“Not doubtin’ ya, just somethin’ doesn’t seem right… You still followin’ him?” He asked
 
 
“No, we had to break off to call Fernando and make sure Gadget was with him. He is keeping her safe but wanted us to call you.” Yuri said.
 
 
If you could, keep an eye out for him an’ text me your location. I’ll be there in a bit.” He said
 
 
“Alright. See you soon.” Yuri said.
 
 
Hondo hung up and turned to Valentine who was looking at him expectantly.
 
 
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
 
 
“Yuri and Kei saw Chip with a woman that looked like Gadget. She called herself Lahwhinie but Chip demanded that she was gadget and hit her. Fernando says Gadget is with him.” Hondo said.
 
 
“Who is it then?” Valentine asked.
 
 
“Someone Gadget told me about when we were together, but I’ve not heard ‘bout in a while. Her twin sister who disappeared when her mother did when she was little. She did not know ‘bout her until she tried to kill her on a trip to Hawaii a couple years before she an’ I met. If she’s here an’ with Chip thing’s are bad.” Hondo said
 
 
“Do we need to go try to find them?” Valentine asked.
 
 
Hondo shook his head, “No, I need you an’ Monty to stay an’ watch the place. Let the street toughs know what’s goin’ on when they come back an’ ask them to watch here for the night. Chip was gatherin’ supplies for his boss to make a bomb to take us out. We can’t give them an opportunity to sneak a bomb in here.”
 
 
Valentine gasped slightly, “Another bomb!”
 
 
Hondo nodded, “I guess. Somethin’ ‘bout this isn’t right, though. Just stay here armed an’ ready. Have Monty guard outside until dark then we need two people on watch. I’ll call you when I can. But for now I’m goin’ to meet up with Yuri an’ Kei to try to find Chip.”
 
 
“Do you have time to eat?” She asked
 
 
He shook his head, “Not really.”
 
 
“I’ll put some egg-rolls and cheese wontons in a bag for you to eat on the way.” She said as he headed to the stairs.  
 
 
He nodded as he walked off, “Sounds good.”
 
 
As Hondo headed to the room, Valentine put together a small bag of food for him and went up to the room to give them to him. He was just finishing strapping on some gear when she entered and held out the bag.
 
 
“It’s not a lot but it will give you some energy.” She said  
 
 
He shrugged into his duster and took it from her and put it into his pocket.  
 
 
“Be careful out there, please. I know Gadget wants Chip dead but it’s not worth risking your life over.” She said
 
 
He kissed quickly and grabbed his shotgun from the bed.
 
 
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He said.
 
 
She nodded and followed him out the door, stopping on the balcony to watch him head to the motorcycle. Once at the bike he put the shotgun into the scabbard, swung onto the seat, fired it up, and roared off down the road. Valentine sighed to herself and stood looking until she could neither hear nor see him anymore, and then waited a few minutes longer.  
 
 
She pulled herself together after a few minutes and got Monty out of the basement, and had him join the others to explain the situation. Fernando’s older daughters were used to higher alert situation and readied themselves before settling back in front of the TV. Monty was given a shotgun and sent outside while Valentine cleaned up the kitchen and put food into the oven on low for a while in case the others came back.  
 
 
(To Be Continued…)

[Thirty-second Floor Pent House, Tokyo Hilton; Rollback: 7:30PM]
 
The girls are dressed in one of their evening dresses after Fernando had helped measure and shape them into a fuller figure. Their parents were told that they would be out for the night as part of the Emperor’s events though in actuality they would be on a date with Fernando and Gadget.
 
At first they go out to a fine restaurant, The Garden Lounge in the New Otani Garden Tower. As any other fine restaurant, the food was in small format and was more into its artistic presentation above its flavor though flavor was strong and at time over powering, unlike the Japanese palette which prefers a hint of flavor than a flood of it.
 
The time advances to 9o’clock as they eat and talk. The price of the meal was also over powering though to Fernando it was something he would pay regardless of cost. But it seems that their meal time conversation always ends up about the subject of sex and relationships.
 
After a few minutes discussing about make-up, dress modes and of course accentuation with their Wunder Bras, Chieko throws in, “So you wine and dine us, and some entertainment, you expect us to go to your hotel room and have sex with you?”
 
“Chieko, where did that come from?” Fernando asks.
 
“It’s it like that in America? A guy takes a girl out on an expensive date with food, wine and entertainment and then they go to his place or hers and they get into bed together to do the deed?” Chieko asks.
 
“I will guess that you seen that in some movie somewhere, and I will say that it is not always like that. Maybe 10 percent of the time it is, maybe 25 percent if the couple have been dating each other for a while. But not as is with strangers, unless one of them, usually the female, is a high class – high cost whore.” Fernando tells her. He then throws in, “Including Gadget, it is seven of you females against one me – the male. I doubt you all would be in a collaborative group mode to have sex with me at the same time taking turns.”
 
“Except for Naomi and I do not know about your friend, but with the most of us, I think we can work things out for all of us to be lucky.” Chieko throws in.
 
“Hmph... as you ladies say it, I doubt all of you are that thirsty.” Fernando tells them.
 
Sakura chimes in with, “If we are thirsty, it is because of the stress we are constantly under, stress from school, stress from exams, stress from social expectations...”
 
Naomi throws in “Stress from being bullied by Aratani and her friends.”
 
Chieko and Hiromi both silently say “Yeah” with Kitsume nodding.
 
There was some silence for the moment before Hiromi points out, “Sex is a great stress reliever.”
 
“I do not mean to be demeaning, but it sounds like you girls want me to have sex with you when before you all stated that 1) I’m not a mouse and 2) I am not Japanese. And your demeanor on such is like that, well, a slut.” Fernando points out.
 
Kitsume starts to explain, “I know there are differences in our culture. Like we know you as an American are not allowed to ‘date and mate’ with anyone who is not considered as an adult by your cultural standards. But here our cultural standards are that girls being adults at 13, and thus our age of consent being so low. But it is like that with most Asian countries with China having it as no age for consent, just parental approval which can be bought for a price.”
 
Naomi throws in, “But you’re not Japanese or a mouse, so that could be a problem.”
 
“It’s not a problem if the parts fit!” Chieko throws in.
 
Kitsume turns to Naomi, “A penis goes into a vagina; that is the basic operation of how things work. Everything else is just personal choice, which can change over time. He is neither Japanese nor a mouse, but he has been kind and generous to us since we first met him and has never demanded anything from us. And he’s teaching us to stand up to Aratani and her bully friends. So maybe we can be nice to him, and perhaps give him a little something in return.”
 
“How much of a little something would be given to me in return? I am not demanding or wanting of favors to be returned to me. I just want to give some an opportunity they would otherwise would not get. This is not an American way of thinking but it is a religious one as I am Roman Catholic and with that I am taught ‘one you reached a higher level in life, reach down and help somebody to get to that higher level.’ You ladies, I’m helping you all to get to that higher level with opportunities and scholarships and I want nothing in return.” Fernando tells them, though Hiromi is seen to be shifting about on her chair for a bit.
 
Hiromi reaches over when he stops talking and from under the table, puts the panties she just taken off onto his lap as she tells him, “Here in Japan one does not expect such favors to be given and not have a return in the investment. All that you did for us earns you that much in return, and in the future as the investment continues, you would get that and more in return.”
 
Fernando reaches down to his lap finding the panties there along with her hand. She takes her hands into his with the panties between them, as Sakura explains, “Every family has a book called ‘The Book of Favors.’ In this book is a list of favors done, given, paid for, and returned over the generations of the family. That is, if it were a person or a family with such favors returned either immediately or many years later. If it is from a company favor, like they give us a scholarship, we would have to work for the company after we graduate from school. But you are giving us such opportunities, thus we must give back something just as valuable in return.”
 
“Excuse me, but in my mind, sex has a value and that value is quite high. Getting a scholarship does not equal that value of getting sex in return as with a bit of hard work you can get that scholarship on your own.” Fernando tries to explain. He turns to Gadget, “Gadget, can you explain it in a way they would?”
 
“Well, according to what they explained I owe you my life, so I have to give it to you all the time.” Gadget throws in.
 
“You owe him your life?” Naomi asks.
 
“Besides all that he did for me in rescuing me from my husband, his negative reputation and the crimes he did; I had a mind control device implanted into my brain that he discovered and had removed. Now I am no longer under the influence of that device.” Gadget explains.
 
The girls look at her in awe.
 
“He got you the medical services to have it removed?” Naomi asks.
 
“He took the risk and did the surgery himself to remove the device. See – he is a doctor if you do not know or remember. And there was a chance that removing the device would have killed me or damaged me, but he managed to do it without giving me injury and I’m back to my normal self if not better.” Gadget tells her.
 
“You owe him for life.” Naru tells her.
 
“I know...” Gadget says before dropping her head.
 
“She owes me nothing but to live a life of good deeds and helping others, just like she was when the Rangers were in their early days. I expect the same from you ladies as well – get to that higher level and when you do, reach down and help somebody else to get there.” Fernando tells them.
 
“Then why you and her ‘a couple?’” Naru asks.
 
“That’s on her and it is something that happened because we allowed it to happen because we needed that from others but it was not given so we gave it to each other.” He tries to explain.
 
“It is not cheating if emotions are not involved, just the physical connection. But it sounds to me that you two are connecting emotionally. I know you two are separating from your spouses but until that is final, sharing emotions now can be considered as cheating.” Sakura explains.
 
“Can I ask something?” Gadget asks.
 
“We’re all friends, you can ask anything.” Sakura replies.
 
“Well, let me explain. I do work for him as his secretary, and we had to go see some Yacussa leader. In that meeting, I have seen that the gangsters were being ‘serviced’ by these Geisha girls. When he sat down a couple of Geisha girls tried to service him, to which I stepped in and stopped them and serviced him myself. I was right in doing so, right?” Gadget explains and asks.
 
“Well, yeah.” Kitsume answers first.
 
“Uhm... It’s good that you did, because some of those Geishas are ill with some disease and those servicing him would not have been female, but a male made to look like a female because they would not allow a female to service a ‘Gaijin’.” Sakura throws in.
 
“A Gaijin?” Gadget asks.
 
“A foreigner.” Kitsume answers.
 
“Oh my...” Gadget says. She then bursts out laughing hard.
 
“What’s so funny?” The girls all say at once.
 
It takes a while for Gadget to recover, letting out a deep seated sigh that needed to be let out. “It’s my husband and his pals from the Rescue Rangers; they all claim that they are straight and would never have sex or be serviced by a male because that is ‘Gay Sex.’ But when they went to talk to that Yacussa leader to make that deal that made the bomb and got my husband arrested, I heard that there were some ‘Geisha Girls’ that serviced them! Now you are telling me that these Geisha girls were actually guys?! That makes them gay, which they swear they would never become!” She starts laughing again.
 
“I already knew that they were guys. There are certain things that you can not hide no matter how much you try to disguise one sex as another.” Fernando says.
 
“Like what?” Naomi asks.
 
He points as he explains, “The Adam’s Apple for one. The width of the jaw to the cheekbone, and the hands. They are smaller and in the case of the hands, fingers are thinner, tapered and pointed at the ends. Men do not have tapered fingers and the palm is wider and ticker. The Adam’s Apple is larger and apparent in males and not in females. And lastly, a male has a different smell than a female. As a male, I will say that a female smells sweeter than a male, as a male smells musky. You can try to hide it with perfume, but if you concentrate on the sweetness or musk, you can go past the perfume.” He pauses for a second, “Besides, before going in I warned Gadget that she might have to do what she did though I did not explain why but when she saw that these Geishas were going to service me, she stared them down and showed them that when it comes to me, it is she that services me and how a real female services her man.”
 
Some of them held in their laughter, while most of them were nodding.
 
Out of curiosity Naomi asks, “You and Gadget were a couple at this time?”
 
Fernando and Gadget looked at each other for a moment before they both say, “No.” Fernando adds, “We would not couple up for a couple weeks after this but this was not the reason why we did. But she did what she thought she had to do to protect me from them, as I would do what I have to do to protect her.”
 
“I see...” Naomi replies,
 
“I would have done the same thing to protect you.” Chieko throws in.
 
Hiromi pats Fernando’s hand with her panties in it and nods with a closed lip smile.
 
Naomi throws in her comment, “Chieko, I swear!”
 
Chieko throws back at Naomi, “If you were in the same situation Ms Gadget was in, you would have done the same thing because it is the thing to do to protect him as your ‘man’ from those male Geishas. Just like I stated I would have.”
 
Throwing gasoline into the fire, Hiromi challenges the other girls, “If any of you were in Gadget’s place in that meeting with the Yacussa, raise your hand if you would service Fernando to protect him from the male Geisha.”
 
Both Hiromi and Chieko raised their hands immediately. Kitsume is next to raise her hand, with Sakura right after her.
 
Naru asks, “By ‘Servicing Him’ what do I have to do?”
 
“Geishas perform sexual service to their masters and the master’s guests.” Kitsume tells her.
 
Hiromi throws in as she looks at Fernando, “Yeah, either suck his penis or put it inside your vagina.”
 
“Male Geishas would be sucking penis to hide that they are males.” Chieko adds in.
 
“I just did to Fernando what the others were doing with their ‘masters’, sucking on his dick.” Gadget says.
 
“That’s it? You didn’t gave him some, you know, nookie?” Sakura asks.
 
“No. We were only there for a few minutes. If we were there longer, then maybe?” Gadget replies.
 
“Maybe?” Chieko asks, throwing in her personal opinion, “If it were me, I would have done it for him to show those fake girl Geishas what a real girl can do for her man.”
 
“Well, it did not come down to that but if it did, I would do what needed to be done for him.” Gadget explains. She sits there perplex for a moment before she asks, “Why are you girls so willing to do things for men? Aren’t women equal to men?”
 
“This is not America where women are equal to men, Gadget.” Fernando explains, adding, “In fact, like much of the world, women take a second place to men, though in some places it is worst than others. Here in Japan, you might think it is bad but it is not. China is a hundred times worst and North Korea can be a thousand times worst. Even India is worst but there are laws that protect women. And let me not talk about Muslim Taliban and other Muslim Extremist controlled nations where women have no rights at all.”
 
“Not too long ago, women had little rights and were to a male’s whim – any male. If a male would tell you to lay down on the floor or table and be told to have sex with him, you as a female could not say ‘No.’ If you did, you would be assaulted as punishment and still have to abide by the demands of the male. So many of us complied without complaint but we did reported it to our husbands, fathers, superior male figure and they dealt with the male who made us have sex with him, because for him to have ordered sex with the woman, he had to pay a price to the family first. If he did not pay that price, then there was a heavier price to pay, often with his life, as in slave servitude or his head gets cut off from his neck.” Sakura explains.
 
Fernando adds, “All that I already know and it is still like that in most respects but many rules and laws were passed to protect women from such assaults on their persons. Like I said, it is worse elsewhere. In much of Continental Oriental Asia, you can buy a female from her family for less money than you can buy the services of a hooker in America. In the poorer nations of the Caribbean, Central and South America, young girls are throwing themselves onto men as soon as they step off the airplane at the airport to service them for money. Their parents do not care as long as they return home with money. The rest of the world is not the United States of America in matters like this.”
 
Gadget looks down at herself.
 
“In Japan males have their place and females know their place. There is no confusion about what is allowed and what it not allowed when everyone is in their respective places. There are no demands like there was once were, but there are requests. Requests can be denied.” Sakura explains.
 
Gadget looks up at them before she asks, “If he requests sex from any of you ladies, would you accept it?”
 
They all but Naomi say that they would in their own way.
 
Gadget throws in, “Even right now?”
 
“Only if he wants it.” Chieko throws out.
 
Hiromi lets out, “I hope he does.”
 
“But what about me?” Gadget asks.
 
“Though we owe him, you can join us in the fun because we know you owe him too.” Chieko chimes in.
 
“Well, what shall be the night’s entertainment? Movie, play, walk in the park?” Fernando asks.
 
“How about we just walk around, then go back to your hotel room.” Kitsume says.
 
“And after that?” He asks.
 
“Watch some TV, Girl Talk, there is no homework as we already done it in school.” Sakura explains.
 
“What about change of clothes and other basic needs?” He asks.
 
“We have Gym tomorrow, so we got a change of clothes in school.” Chieko throws back.
 
“I see. You ladies still wear polo t-shits with those, well...” He begins to ask.
 
“You mean those Bloomer Shorts? We do. Most schools still do but some are changing for girls to just wear shorts like boys do.” Kitsume explains.
 
“I prefer girl bloomer shorts to boy shorts anytime.” Hiromi says with a half smile at Fernando before she takes her panties from under his hand on his lap and tries to stuff it into his pants pocket.
 
“Not that I would go ahead to change school uniforms, but what do you girls prefer?” He asks.
 
“Does not matter to me.” Sakura replies first.
 
“Bloomer shorts.” Hiromi stars again.
 
“Why?” Naomi asks before Fernando or any of the other girls could.
 
“Well, you know. You’re a girl. You have a nice snug feeling down there from the bloomer shorts that is not there with the boy shorts. And what if you need to wear, you know – a pad, with boy shorts it could slip out, with bloomer shorts it won’t slip.” Hiromi explains.
 
“Well, it feels nice and form fitting.” Kitsume adds.
 
“Less fussing around too.” Naru throws in.
 
Everyone turns to Naomi, to which she replies, “What?”
 
“Boy Shorts or Girl Bloomer Shorts?” Kitsume throws at her.
 
“Girl Bloomer Shorts.” Naomi says.
 
“Why?” Sakura asks.
 
“Well... Alright right. So guys would be able to look up through the gap of your short’s leg and check out what panties you’re wearing.” Naomi explains.
 
Chieko throws in, “Boy Shorts always give me a wedgie.” The girls turn to face her, which she adds, “Where the legs are sewn together there is not space down there, and presses up against me and gives me a wedgie. How can boys stand that?”
 
“As I remember, ‘we boys’ do not wear our shorts so high up against us. Pants and briefs are different as they are worn high up and against us but not so high that it pushes up. But shorts? We wear them a bit lower than we do pants.” Fernando explains?
 
Hiromi throws in to Fernando, “Briefs or boxers?”  
 
“Why do you want to know?” Fernando answers.
 
“Briefs...” Gadget lets out.
 
“Gadget...” Fernando says to her.
 
“You were getting personal with them, they should get personal with you.” She tells him.
 
“I do not tell them what panties you are wearing.” He tells her.
 
“The light purple silk bikini ones with the matching bra you got me with the other things you bought for me a few days ago.” Gadget lets out.
 
“The majority of all your underwear is purple.” Fernando says to himself.
 
“What was that?” Gadget demands more than asks.
 
“I said that most of your underwear is purple.” He tells her in an annoyed tone.”
 
“What is that suppose to imply?” Gadget demands more than asks.
 
“Who knows what that implies? I am not a psychologist to determine anything from what personality one has. Nor do I care. Like I told you and the others, I’m not here to stroke other people’s egos and woo them with compliments and favors. I am here to do a job, and if and when that job I over, get paid. If you want to be part of that job, you will be paid accordingly when you get home, dollar figure on your paycheck from this job is going to look like a phone number. That is if we all survive. Until then there will be issues and problems to deal with, relationships to take care of, and each other’s safety to look after. We are going to witness and be part of history as it happens. Even these girls will be involved in recording their history as it happens. So what happens on a personal level is on all of us as individuals and as a group.” Fernando tells her.
 
“So you’re saying...” Naomi begins to say.
 
“What I am saying, which none of you are going to write on your reports is that my team and I are here under the invitation of the Emperor to do a job for him. That job is to help him determine who is going to throw a monkey wrench into this treaty which is being negotiated behind closed doors. For Japan, it means returning conquered lands to their respective countries, but it frees Japan from various War Debt from more than half a century ago and improve trade relations with those nations and other nations around the globe. But there are many war hawks that believe that Japan should not give up any territories and are willing to do anything to stop this treaty. Throw in organized crime, drug cartels, terrorists, and other criminal elements, and it is going to be a very hard year to live in and a very tough job to do.” Fernando tells him.
 
“What territories are you are talking about?” Naomi asks.
 
“Five miles inland of 50 miles of worthless beach front property on the Korean peninsula for one. That has been stifling South Korean shipping routes for years. Give it back to the South Koreans, and it frees up their shipping lanes and South Korea will allow Japanese cargo ships to sail though like before and increase trade with Japan. It is a win-win situation for both South Korea and Japan.” Fernando explains.
 
“Isn’t there a Japanese Shinto Temple there?” Kitsume asks.
 
“It’s an abandoned Shinto Temple. If the Shinto Priests want to fix it and open it, the treaty can allow it, or they can sell it to the Buddhists and let them fix it and open it as a Buddhist Temple. Either way, if either religion wants to restore the temple, it should. If not, developers might tear it down and put in a South Korean Holiday Inn Hotel in its place. It remains to be seen.” Fernando explains.
 
The girls seem to nod as if in agreement.
 
“I don’t see how all that connects to my purple panties.” Gadget says to herself.
 
“Simple. You work with me and my people and you get to stay with me and what needs to be done gets done. You will get paid for your work done, and everything I get you is yours to keep, including those purple panties that I had bought for you.” He tells her. He then slowly gets up, “You ladies go freshen up, I’ll go take care of the bill. Then we can leave.”
 
He gets up and heads to the cashier, where he has a small discussion with them and the restaurant manager as he pays the bill.
 
The girls get up in pairs heads to the ladies’ room to freshen up. Hiromi goes first with Chieko going with her. Once inside, there were just the basic necessities for a rest room – toilet, sink, mirror, toilet paper, soap, and so on, but the toilet was out in the open, not in a stall as many would in the USA. Hiromi goes to use the toilet first. Chieko notices the lack of panties Hiromi was not wearing.
 
“Hiromi – where are your panties?” Chieko asks.
 
Hiromi smiles at her, “They are in his pants pocket. I put them there to tell him want I want.”
 
“You little sneak thief...” Chieko says.
 
“A little sneak thief that hopes to get lucky tonight.” Hiromi interrupts to tell her, “I’m going to make it my mission to have him do me lovely as often as possible while we do this extra study with the emperor,”
 
“I think it is all our mission to do that but within its time.” Chieko throws at her.
 
“I think my time is now.” Hiromi tells her.
 
“What about that Gadget Lady? She looks territorial to me even though she is not his wife but is his lover.” Chieko tells her.
 
“She’s just thirsty as we are and I bet she just lays there and takes it while he does all the hard work to satisfy her. She looks like the type not to know the ancient arts of attraction, pleasure and sex.” Hiromi points out to her.
 
“Like you do?” Chieko almost challenges her.
 
“My grandmother and great-grandmother were a ‘Comfort Girl’ for the Invading Americans in the past wars we lost to them (WWII) and later supported them with (Korean and Viet Nam Wars), they sat down with me and told me and taught me those things in getting and keeping a man.” Hiromi tells her. She adds, “Why do you think my dad has never had an outside lover other than my mom? They taught her too, and because of what she does for him from what she learned from them, he has never sought out another lover other than her.”
 
“OK then, how you intend to get into his bed?” Chieko asks.
 
“Get him drunk of course.” Hiromi answers.
 
“And what about his bed partner?” Chieko asks.
 
“We need to get her drunk that she passes out or is so drunk that she would hit on Naomi.” Hiromi tells her.
 
“You think you have all the answers. How do you propose we get him drunk?” Chieko asks.
 
“Simple, we’ll go to the 7-11 Convenience Store and buy some snacks, drinks and some sake and then have a small private party at his place.” Hiromi
 
“And if you are drinking with him and us, how are you not going to get drunk yourself?” Chieko asks.
 
Hiromi takes some toilet paper to wipe herself as she only needed to urinate before she gets up and fixes her dress. She then presses on the button on top of the water tank to flush the toilet and starts washing her hands at the sink, not answering Chieko. She then goes into her purse and pull out a sealed medicine packet and opens, taking the pills inside and swallows them with some water she scoops from the sink. She then hands the packet to Chieko.
 
“RU-21?” Chieko asks as she reads it.
 
“Continue reading it.” Hiromi tells her.
 
“Alcohol absorption pills, prevents the effects of alcohol by absorbing it and neutralizing it, forcing it to leave the body when you go to the bathroom...” Chieko reads. She then looks up at Hiromi, “Where did you get this stuff?”
 
“My grandmother and great-grandmother of course. They want me to be a good party girl but not to be taken advantage of by some predatory jerk out there that would do me harm. You know – the ‘Love Them And Leave Them’ type.” Hiromi tells her.
 
“Guys can be such jerks...” Chieko says to herself. She then throws in “What about your mom? What does she thinks?”
 
“Anything that pertains to boys and sex, she sends me to grandmother. Grandmother taught me everything I know. She does not care if I’m out there screwing every guy on the street or am a complete virgin, but I should be able to do as I please and defend myself when things go wrong. I could easily be a slut like Aratani and her friends are but I prefer not to be like them.” Hiromi explains. She then throws in, “You heard? Her best friend in the bully girl group - Maemi Iwasaki might be pregnant!”
 
“No!” Chieko replies, throwing in, “How you know this?”
 
“Gossip in the locker room, as she was arguing with the school baseball team captain – Karuma Moriyama about getting married or paying for an abortion and how it is to be kept secret or both their families will be disgraced. But you know – she laid with other guys and Karuma is so pumped up on steroids that he has a low sperm count. I think it’s that nerd Techi Tachibana that got her pregnant, you know he does all her homework and reports for her, and her family pays him to tutor her at her home so she can pass her exams. Since nerds do not take steroids, they have higher sperm count.” Hiromi explains.
 
“Yeah, but Techi... he’s so.... icky!” Chieko says.
 
“A lot of the guys say the same thing about you. A short nerdy gamer girl with a super short hair cut, that if were not for your breasts, they think you were a boy.” Hiromi tells her.
 
“My hair has been kept short since that lice incident in Kindergarten. Nobody knows who brought it in but my family and I think it was Aratani or one of her friends. They did go traveling the summer before so who knows what they brought back! Anyways, it is because of that my hair has been kept short ever since.” Chieko explains.
 
“We all got lice back then, and like you said, my family also thinks it was Aratani or one of their friends as like you said, they went out of the country for their summer vacation, so who knows what they brought back. But we all let our hair grow back. You didn’t.” Hiromi explains as she takes some paper towels to dry her hands and then applies a bit of touch-up make up.
 
“I know a girl is nothing but her hair, nails and face, but short hair is easier to take care off than long hair. Maybe in college I’ll let it grow out but not before then.” Chieko explains. She then throws in, “Let’s go. Others got to use the facility before we leave.”
 
“Don’t you need to use the facilities?” Hiromi asks.
 
“No. If I have to go, I’ll use the one in his hotel room, and do some searching to find out a few things about him while I am there.”  Chieko says.
 
“Before we go, do you think I have a chance – you know – with him?” Hiromi asks.
 
“I think we all have a chance with him. He’s a foreigner for one and you know how foreigners love young girls, and he’s so stressed out that he is banging his friend all the time from the looks of it. And she is in the same situation as well, but she looks like he’s tiring her out, so a guy like that could probably take us all on and even give Naomi that orgasm she’s been desperately seeking.”  Chieko points out, throwing in quietly, “Hell, I’m desperately seeking that orgasm only a grown man can give.”
 
Hiromi stand in front of her with her index fingers pointing up but spaced about 10 inches apart. Chieko looks at her in confusion.
 
“What is that supposed to mean?” Chieko asks.
 
“Our male friend is not a Japanese Mouse, he’s an American Flying Squirrel.” Hiromi tells her while still holding her index fingers apart to show the distance.
 
“Yeah, I know that.” Chieko says.
 
“Well, Chieko. Flying Squirrel Females have their uterus higher up on their bodies so that when they are pregnant, they do not lose their center of balance and can continue to fly when needed. A male flying squirrel’s penis must be long enough in order to reach her uterus and fertilize her eggs. If they are not long enough, she won’t get pregnant.” Hiromi explains.
 
Chieko puts her index fingers onto Hiromi to get the measurement and then turns it about to put it against her body with one finger at the base of her groin and the other just above her belly button. She chimes in, “No way! It’s past my belly button!”
 
“And your uterus is less than half that distance.” Hiromi tells her, sneaking in, “He probably split you in half.”
 
Chieko looks down to the floor, “And most Japanese Mice guys are not even a third, maybe a quarter of that size.”
 
“Well, pray for me that he does not kill me while he tries to fertilize my eggs tonight. But if he does, my corpse will have one heck of a smile on it.” Hiromi jokes with a smile.
 
“That’s not a good thing to joke about!” Chieko tells her.
 
“Look, he’s probably had sex with many girls out there who were not flying squirrels, so he knows that he can’t ram his huge penis into girls like us knowing that it can hurt us. He’ll probably take it easy with us like he does his girl pal. No way she’s taking on his entire length either, she’s a mouse like we are. I’d do anything to be in her place while he does her lovely.” Hiromi says, letting out a sigh in the end.
 
“Come on lets go. We’re hogging up the facilities.” Chieko says. She says to herself as she grabs the door knob, “And everyone says I’m the thirsty one...” She opens the door and steps out with Hiromi following her.
 
[To Be Continued...]

The motorcycle riding, blond figure in the dark oil-skin coat, western hat, boots, and aviator style sunglasses did not fit in with the normal populous, though the local want-to-be cowboys who frequented the area kept most from staring at him, though they still took notice. Hondo did not care if they took notice or stared even. If Chip was after them, he wanted to draw his attention to himself to keep the others safe.  
 
 
Yuri saying Chip was gathering stuff for a bomb was disconcerting enough as is, without the fact that he had said it was for their, his and the Gadget doppelganger’s, boss to take out Fernando and all those with him, including himself he was sure.  He knew Chip had worked some angles before, but he always had to be the boss, or at least be allowed to think that by those who really controlled things. This was different though, as Chip seemed to accept that he was working for someone.  
 
 
Hondo was not sure if Chip’s first walk on the dark-side was when he hired goons to kill him and steal Gadget from him all those years ago, or if he had started before that. He knew Chip had an ego that made him have to win, and as the stakes got higher the cost he paid to win got higher. Until a few years back, though, it seemed just petty bullshit things. Paying off goons to rough someone up, working behind friends’ backs, berating and intimidating his crew, boasting of things he never had done, and taking credit for others work, but nothing overly obvious to the general populous. He knew Chip had mistreated Gadget for a lot of years, but only he and Fernando seemed to take any notice, with the rest of the rangers and auxiliary rangers in full denial. Hondo had almost been thrown out of the Cafe for even questioning how he treated her once, and when he defended a couple of the ladies against Chip’s drunken, harassing advances, Chip’s number one fan boy, Ranger Ready called for him to be ran out on a rail. There had been some arguing and a couple tried halfheartedly to stand up for him, but in the end, he was thrown out. Fernando did not even know this had happened, yet, as it happened right before they were practically kidnapped by the CIA for the mission in South America. Still, when exactly Chip made the advance from verbal abuse to fully hurting his wife, drugging her up, and whoring her out he did not know. What had happened to make him go so far? As bad as all he had done had been, he now was well beyond that, going for full blown murder while openly abusing another woman and forcing her to be called Gadget. What made him transition from the leader of the Rescue Rangers, someone who seemingly tried to do good, though was a bit misguided and full of himself at times, to a full-on murdering, abusive megalomaniac?  
 
 
Hondo suspected it was partly that the small amount of fame the Rangers had received in the early years went to Chip’s head and he started chasing the fame over trying to do what was right. Chasing fame could be stressful and exhausting, which made him wonder if Chip started using drugs to try to keep up his energy and destress, before getting himself and Gadget addicted. Whatever it all was it seemed to have come to a head after Chip had tried to steal the glory for the success from the first and second missions to Italy and Fernando crushed his lie, leaving himself and the Rangers looking like fools.  Chip drugging his wife had seemingly started maybe even before those missions, but the whats, whens, whys, and hows were not clear and at the moment unimportant. What was important was stopping Chip, stopping him before Hondo lost family or some other innocent was hurt or killed.  
 
 
Though stopping him was all that mattered, Hondo could not help but mulling this all over as he rode along, following the GPS on his phone to Yuri and Kei’s coordinates. He knew some things could not and should not be changed, but he wondered if this was partly his fault. Had he stood up to Chip and made Gadget listen to the truth all those years ago, instead of just walking away and leaving them to believe what they wanted, would all this have not happened? Would he be with Gadget now and the rangers disbanded? Would Chip’s arrogance have been crushed early enough that he would have never fallen this far? But on the other hand, would he have been on these last several missions then and, if not, would something have happened to Fernando, worse than it already had, if he tried those missions alone? Would Bink have been rescued? Would Tammy have died? Would Valentine have died or would she still be flying cargo across the desert, being depressed and seeing no hope in life? Would Hector Hatfield (AKA El Jefe Grande) have succeeded in his drug empire and still be using Hondo’s brainwashed ex-wife as his assassin and sex doll??
 
 
In doing what they did, it was easy to look back and see how every little thing they touched rippled out in time to make things seemingly worse. It made it easy to blame one’s self for certain events when things went bad, though often hard to see their hand in certain events that made things better, for some at least. It was a curse that went along with living this life, a curse that could all too easily swallow a person up if they dwell on it all. He knew this but it did not stop him from thinking and wondering.  
 
 
He knew no mission was easy, but this one was supposed to be a cake-walk, at least in the beginning. It had been anything but easy, though, thus far, and more than half the pain and drama they had suffered had been because of Chip.  
 
 
As the motorcycle rumbled through the city street, traffic getting worse the close he approached the specified coordinates, he watched carefully, looking for anyone familiar or anyone that stuck out as foreign. Nothing caught his attention as he pulled up to a more run-of-the-mill shopping district, not one where the rich shopped but one that had more of the type of stores where your common man and woman shopped.  
 
 
Hondo coasted the motorcycle into an available parking space, right close to the coordinates given, before shutting the engine off, dropping the kick stand, and dismounted as he surveyed the area. He did not see Yuri or Kei in the immediate vicinity so he pulled out his phone and called them again. It rang about three times before an audible click said the call was answered.
 
 
“Hai?” A female voice asked.
 
 
“It’s Hondo. Where are you?” He asked
 
 
“Go a block north then take the alley to your left and go for two blocks. Meet us there.” Yuri replied.
 
 
He ended the call without reply and stuck the phone back in his pocket.  
 
 
Glancing around quickly told him there were too many people out to grab the shotgun without raising an alarm. With a frown, he locked the gun in the scabbard, locked the handlebars to the side, and took the keys before starting off up the street. To those around him his focus seemed forward, but behind the shaded lenses he wore, his eyes darted about looking for anyone or anything unusual. He lit up a cigarillo as he walked, holding it with his left as he deposited the lighter into his coat with his right. He kept his right hand in his coat pocket, with his hand on the butt of his gun, as he had removed this pocket long ago to allow him access to his hip gun and right pants pocket. He glanced back casually as he turned into the alley but no one seemed to be following him. Felling that he was being left alone, he quickened his pace to meet up with the dirty pair more quickly. He felt Chip was getting away and he did not like it, but there was not much he could do without information.
 
 
As he walked he came to a narrow street that was mainly used as food traffic for some of the older stores in this district. A small grassy circle sat in the middle of the crossing of the street and the alley. A monument of some figure he did not know stood in the center and a few benches and raised flower beds sat around it. On one of the benches sat two familiar Japanese women, who stood up as he approached.
 
 
“I hope ya have some better news than that ya lost him.” He asked in a low voice as he approached.
 
 
“We honestly could not help it. I think he was starting to feel like he was being followed and we could not stay up with him and call Fernando at the same time.” Yuri said a bit defensively.
 
 
He sighed, “I understand that, an’ am not tryin’ to blame you. We just need to find him before he hurts anyone else.”
 
 
Kei frowned, “ Well, unfortunately we did lose him but we might not have to go looking for him.”
 
 
“Explain.” Hondo demanded a bit sharply.
 
 
“He will be coming back after sunset, to pick up some supplies that are being curried over from another store across town.” Yuri stated quickly.
 
 
Hondo raised an eyebrow at her, “How did you find this out?”
 
 
“I think the saying in your country it we ‘put oil on a few hands’ until someone talked.” Kei said
 
 
“Oil on a few..?? Oh, you mean greased a few palms??” HE asked
 
 
Yuri nodded, “Yes. We had to pay off a few people to get them to tell us if they saw them and the  owner of the store across from us said the loud American in a bomber jacket and fedora with the nervous looking blond American woman put in an order for some charcoal and lighter fluid. They did not have enough to fill the order, but would have it before close. He paid for it in advance and said he would return for the stuff right before closing time.”
 
 
“How long do we have?” Hondo asked, as he looked up at the darkening sky.
 
 
“An hour, maybe a little more.” Kei said.
 
 
Hondo looked down with a sigh and rubbed the stubble on his chin, as he thoughts.
 
 
“Should we try to some of the others here to help?” Yuri asked.
 
 
Hondo shook his head, “No, I don’t think we’ll need it… Just worried ‘bout the others mainly… Chip has always been pretty easy to handle when he doesn’t have back-up an’ if that’s Gadget’s Twin an’ she’s nervous as you say, then she should stand down fairly easily, especially if Chip is abusin’ her.”
 
 
“Why would she stay with him if he is hurting her?” Kei asked
 
 
“That is the question of the hour. He has somethin’ on her. Or their new boss does… Truth is, I asked myself why Gadget stayed with him so long too.” He replied.
 
 
“Why did she?” Yuri asked.
 
 
Hondo sighed again and shook his head, “I honestly don’t know. I can speculate but I don’t know.”
 
 
“Maybe he has a large member and is good in bed?” Kei asked
 
 
“The Gadget looking woman did not seem enthusiastic when he said they needed to hurry back so he could penetrate her ass.” Yuri said.
 
 
Hondo groaned at the conversation as he scratched the back of his head, shaking it at them at the same time.
 
 
“I reckon he’s no gifted there.” He said almost hesitantly.
 
 
“How do you know??” Yuri asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.
 
 
He sighed, “I was ‘round a bar when he got drunk, whipped it out, and tried to get a couple of the ladies to suck it for him. Beat his ass for it an’ got banned from there as it was owned by friends of his. On top of that, Gadget talked to my wife ‘bout some of it an’ seems like if he lasted more than a couple minutes it was a good night.”
 
 
“I thought most guys only lasted a couple minutes.” Kei said, causing both Yuri and Hondo to turn and stare at her.
 
 
“What?!” She asked defensively after several seconds of silence.
 
 
“Kei, you really need to date more.” Yuri said.
 
 
“What?!” Kei demanded again, looking more at Hondo this time.
 
 
He put up his hands defensively and took a step back, “Whoa, now! Don’t look at me!”
 
 
“How long do you last with your wife?!” She asked
 
 
“That’s a bit personal, ma’am.” He replied
 
 
“I want to know!” She half demanded
 
 
“Kei, that’s a bit of a private thing to ask someone we barely know.” Yuri replied.
 
 
“We have to trust our lives to each other, do we not?” She asked
 
 
“I don’t see how that…” Hondo started to say before being cut off.
 
 
“I think that entitles us to ask certain private information, especially when I am getting looks like that from both of you!” She half exclaimed
 
 
“Keep your voice down!” Yuri hissed before turning to Hondo.
 
 
“Just ignore her. She gets like this at times.” Yuri said apologetically.
 
 
Hondo shook his head, “Kinda feel bad, now though…. You really thought that’s how long all guys last?”
 
 
Kei frowned and nodded, looking down ashamedly.  
 
 
He sighed, “ … Depends on how tired we are an’ such but half hour is fairly common.”
 
 
“A half hour!!” Kei exclaimed.
 
 
“Shhh!” Yuri scolded.
 
 
He nodded and kind of looked away, feeling uncomfortable with the conversation.
 
 
“Yeah, that not countin’ stuff forehand… foreplay … ya know…. Sometimes we go longer…” He said hesitantly.
 
 
“Can you go more than once or twice?” Kei asked
 
 
Hondo scowled.
 
 
“Kei!” Yuri said.
 
 
“I want to know!” Kei protested.
 
 
“Yeah… three or four… longer if given time an’ lots of water.” He said with a frustrated sigh.
 
 
“One more question.” Kei said.
 
 
“Oh, good Lord…” Hondo muttered under his breath. “… what?!?”
 
 
“Would your wife loan you out for a night or two so I could experience this myself?” She asked smiling at him sweetly.
 
 
Hondo just glared at her silently until she frowned and sighed.
 
 
“I guess that is a no?” She half asked.
 
 
He just turned away shaking his head as he turned.
 
 
“So, that store is the one we’re watchin’.” He said more than asked, trying to change the subject.
 
 
“Yes. That is it.” Yuri replied.
 
 
“You have a plan?” He asked.
 
 
“We were sort of hoping you would. We usually just call back-up from head-quarters.” Kei said.
 
 
He sighed and nodded as he looked around taking everything in before speaking.
 
 
“Either I handle this alone or one of you stays an’ the others goes with the others in case there is trouble there…. Which of you is the better fighter?” He asked almost tonelessly.
 
 
“Well, I was top of my class in hand to hand and second in marksman and I ….” Kei started to say quickly and excitedly until Hondo gave her a cold, side-long glance.
 
 
“She frowned and sighed, “*sigh* … Yuri is better than I am.” Kei said with an edge of defeat in her voice.
 
 
“Why only one of us?” Yuri asked.
 
 
“Mainly ‘cause I want more fighters on alert back at base, as I’m not sure when the street toughs are gettin’ back, Chuck an’ his squad of agent goons aren’t here to add to the fire power, an’ from what you two overheard we are actively bein’ targeted by someone still. Everyone will need to be on high alert until this is dealt with an’ I’d like to end this tonight! If anyone stays I can only take one of you on the motorcycle back with me. We might have to dash fast if things get out of hand. I’m not countin’ havin’ an issue, but when ya don’t plan for it is when it’s sure to happen. I’d welcome a little back up in case Lahwhinie is more of a problem than I reckon her to be, but if ya both rather go back I’ll be fine.” He said.
 
 
 “I’ll go back and Yuri can stay, I guess.” Kei said in a defeated tone.
 
 
Yuri patted her arm, “I’ll let you stay and help him next time.”
 
 
Kei pouted and looked at him and back at her, “Probably still will not show me how long he can last even then.”
 
 
Hondo shook his head and walked off a few paces, distancing himself from that.
 
 
Kei watched him walk off then turned back to Yuri, “If I find out you take him for a ride before me I swear to god I will hate you forever!”
 
 
Yuri shook her head, “Kei, I am not going to bed him! You watch TV, right?”
 
 
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything??” Kei asked.
 
 
“He’s one of those old American western type. Fernando told me about him. He will not sleep with other women unless he has to, even if there is no emotional connection. He believes in some sort of old American honor system. One woman until one of them dies or she does wrong by him and leaves him for another man and he has to shoot them both.” Yuri said.
 
 
“He would shoot his woman for leaving him?!” Kei exclaimed in whispered tones.
 
 
Yuri shrugged, “That’s how it happened on a couple of those American movies, so probably.”
 
 
Kei scowled at her, “And you tease me for believing what I see on TV.”
 
 
Yuri chuckled, “Alright, alright, maybe he would not, but he might… You should get going. Check the car out well before driving it.”
 
 
Kei nodded, “I will and… be careful.”
 
 
Yuri nodded, “Do not worry. I will be fine.”
 
 
Kei nodded again and looked around before turning and heading down the narrow street away from the store. After she was gone, Yuri walked over to Hondo and stood beside him.
 
 
“What is the plan?” She asked.
 
 
“Gonna go move the motorcycle closer. Have a shotgun on it, med kit, spare pistol, an’ some more ammo. Want it close just in case. You stay out of sight until I get back. Once I get back you go an’ hide in that alley across the way an’ watch. I figure I’ll sit on this bench out front an’ have me another smoke. I’ll confront him when he approaches an’ if his woman tries anythin’ you step in an’ keep her off me, alright?” He asked seriously.
 
 
“Then we go celebrate taking him out by finding a hotel and you showing me how long you can last?” She asked as an impish grin played across her face.
 
 
He raised an eyebrow at her and gave her a hard look. She giggled after a moment and shook her head.
 
 
“Sorry, I could not help it! I was just teasing.” She said smiling.
 
 
He sighed and shook his head as he walked away, “Some days I just don’t know with you women.”
 
 
As he walked off her smile faded as she bit her lip, clasped her hands in front of herself, and looked at the ground before looking back up at him, as he retreated, with a hungry look.  
 
 
“Though I would not say no if you asked me to.” She said to herself wistfully.
 
 
Less than twenty minutes later he was back, having driven the motorcycle to the alley and then turning off the engine and pushing it down a ways, leaving it out of site from the store and the narrow street that ran in front of it.  
 
 
As Yuri saw him return she faded back into the dark alley across from him, opposite from the alley where the motorcycle was parked, and watched silently. Hondo picked out a bench that obscured him the best yet allowed him to see the store front clearly.  
 
 
(To Be Continued …)

A couple of SUV drives up to Renoske’s bar and several men come out. A couple goes into the back and pulls out a couple of body bags and hefts them over their shoulders before taking them into the bar. The guards inside stop them from going further inside.
 
“Renoske Gozzomaki is expecting us.” The shortest of the group in an expensive suit says to the guard.
 
“Master Gozzomaki expects no one.” The guard says.
 
“You go tell Renoske Gozzomaki that Josef Megele is here with the money and a couple of presents. If not, you and your people here will be found floating in the river.” Josef tells him.
 
The guard turns to his partner and the two argue in Japanese, before the second guard walks away to a door behind the bar. In less than a minute, the earpiece of the first guard holding them at the door turns on loudly for all around to hear. The guard looks nervous for a moment before telling Josef to go to the door behind the bar.
 
Josef and his men walks into Renoske’s private chamber, seated at the head of the table with other Yakusa members sitting at the side of the table.
 
Renoske looks up at him as a Geisha services him. “You brought my money?”
 
“It is not your money until we get results.”  Josef tells him before putting his brief case on the table. He then signals to his men to put the body bags on the table as well, and opens them. They lift up the bodies into a sitting position, one in a leather jacket and fedora, the other in a purple jumpsuit with aviation goggles on her head.
 
Renoske looks at him in anger, “What are you doing with my experiment?!!”
 
“First of all, they are my experiments which you have running around loose in Tokyo on my mind control drug. No. These are clones of those two, complete with the CIA Mind Control Chip and my mind control drug. No doubt you are going to have them get killed outside.” Josef tells him angrily.
 
“They’re expendable if they fail on their orders.” Renoske tells him.
 
“Last thing I need is a forensic medical technician poking about their bodies and finding my drugs in them.” Josef growls at him.
 
Renoske looks at him and then at the clones. “Explain to me, how you got these... clones?”  
 
“I created them.” Josef tells him.
 
“Impossible. Cloning technology has not been perfected! Clones grow old rapidly and die in a short time from old age!” Renoske should back from shouting at him.
 
“We Germans figured out how to properly clone since the Great War. It took 5 years to grow these two. There are two more in South America still cooking in the vat.” Josef tells him.
 
Renoske puts his hand to his chin, with his elbow on top of the back the Geisha servicing him. He lets out a short sigh before asking, "What about their minds and their motor skills? One being grown in a vat will have a blank mind.”
 
“Neural template and memory engram copying from the host to the clone, an exact duplicate of brain, memory and body, in short, immortality.” Josef tells him.
 
“Immortality?” Renoske asks.
 
“When you copy the mind and memories to a cloned body, it is said that your soul moves over to the newer body. In short, immortality.” Josef says as he was selling a used car.
 
“How much for this process?” Renoske asks.
 
“For what reason?” Josef begins. He then says, “These two took over 50million USD each to do.”
 
“How long to make a clone of me with my memories but at half my age?” Renoske asks.
 
“Again, 5 years. I doubt you could afford the price.” Josef tells him.
 
“Take that money you were going to give me and use it as a down payment. I do not have that much long to live, a clone to continue where I left off would be perfect immortality for me.” Renoske tells him.
 
“This is not your money until I see results. Now, I leave you with the clones.” Josef tells him. He then pulls out a microphone, “Chip. Gadget. Take this brief case of money, credit cards and falsified papers, and establish a base. New order will come after you find a place to settle down in.”
 
Chip-clone and Gadget-clone get off the table, with Chip-clone taking the briefcase and Gadget-clone follows him out of the room.
 
Josef looks at Renoske, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
 
“What about the money?” Renoske complains.
 
“Not until I see results.” Josef tells him before gathering their things and signals to the guards to follow him out of the room.
 
[To Be Continued.]

(Roll Back: 30 Hours from Charles’ posts.)
 
Fernando, Gadget and the girls walks about the area and around the various parks within. Naomi hinted that it is dangerous to go inside the park at night as there were some “wild people” in the park that would want to do anyone harm that goes within the walled area that surrounds the park. But the walk along the fenced in wall of the park they find a teen girl, about 18 – 19 years of age. She looks like she had been through a lot, her clothes ripped and dirty, blood stains on her knees and palms of her hands, and bruises on her face and places seen not covered by her clothes. Fernando steps up to her, though Naomi takes holds of his arm to pull him back. He looks at Naomi, who is shaking her head at him. Eventually he pushes her arm off him.
 
“Like I said before, if you can help somebody, help them. First things first – find out who they are, and why are they in the situation they are in. Then see what help they need and give what you can to help them. If you cannot give all that they need, something is better than nothing.” He tells her and the other.
 
They all stand there looking at him. He walks over to the girl sitting in a ball (knees to her chest, arms around her knees, face down on her knees), and he gets down on one knee while holding his cane with hand to hold his balance. Gadget and the girls stay several feet away from them as he reaches out to her.
 
(Conversation in Japanese, unless otherwise stated...)
 
With a slight tap on her knee, he says to her, “Miss, do you need help?”
 
The girl remains silent though very soft crying could be heard by Fernando.
 
He taps her knee again and asks, “Miss, are you OK?”
 
She slowly looks up and turns to face him. She wants to scream but nothing comes out of her mouth. She tries to crab crawl away but ends up tripping and falling flat on her back. She begins to cry louder.
 
Fernando stays where he is, extending his hand to her to help her up.
 
Though she quiets down a bit in seeing that he is not going to take harmful action against her, she is still emotionally distraught. With his arm outstretched to her, he nods for her to take his hand. She looks at him, unsure what to do. He lets out a sigh before moving forward a bit to show her that he giving her his hand and nothing more.
 
“Miss. If you need help, I can help you. But you have to make that first move to want it. I am not going to force you to do something you do not want to do.” He tells her.
 
She lets out a soft “I want to be let alone. No one can help me. Let me die in peace.”
 
He looks at her sternly through his dark glasses before telling her, “No matter how bad things get, as long as you are alive there is a chance to go past your problems. I am that chance for many, and no one owes me for any help I give. All I ask is to let me help you.”  
 
Though he was aware of the situation around them, he pretended not to do or say a thing as a group of large men surround them, reaching into their jackets and pulling out firearms. The smallest of them steps up between Fernando and the girl, putting his firearm between them. Fernando slowly gets up and looks at him.
 
“Thank you for finding her. We have been looking for Mei Fung Lai Phuc for a long time.” The little man of a mouse says to Fernando while tapping the side of his gun to Fernando’s chest, adding, “You can go away and leave this to us.
 
“My Fun Lay Phuck?” Fernando says to himself as he slowly gets up.
 
“She’s a wanted Chinese National, can’t you tell?” He tells her. Fernando sees her shaking her head from the corner of his eye as he looks down at the man.
 
“And what are you?” Fernando asks.
 
“Tokyo Police.” The little mouse man tells him as he pulls out a wallet and shows a fake badge.
 
Fernando nods as he scrunches up his lips before saying, “Yeah – right...” He then turns around to Gadget and the girls but sees the men behind her. “Gaj, take them home.”
 
Gadget looks at him confused as to what to do.
 
He tells her again sternly, “Gaj, take the girls home.” He then emphasizes on “NOW!”
 
Gadget gives a slight nod before trying to turn away and leads the girls out of the area.  As she turns around, the other larger stronger men spread out to block their path. Fernando turns to the little mouse man with the fake police badge.
 
“I said for you to leave. The females are coming with me.” The fake police officer male mouse tells him.
 
“I was about to walk away from this with my friends but now you made a hostile move against me and them. So now you are leaving my no choice, so let me introduce myself: my name is Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Fernando tells him.
 
“Men, get the fema-*” The small mouse man begins to say, immediately followed by “BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!”  The men fall dead on the ground with a shot to the head except for the little mouse man who seemed to have gotten smaller as Fernando puts his gun to his head.
 
“Gadget. Take the girls to the hotel room before the police come. I will be there later after I deal with this bastage and the police.” Fernando tells her, “Now go!”
 
Gadget nods before she leads the girls out of the immediate area. As soon as Gadget has the girls at the corner of the block and crossing the street, Fernando pulls out wallet and shows him his badge, “I’m an American Agent – asshole. Licensed to Kill as needed. Now I do not care about you, who you are connected with or who you know. You #$@!ed up and there is a price to pay for #$@!ing up.”
 
“Please, sir! Forgive me! I Have A Wife And Children! I’ll tell you anything you need to know!” The man mouse says.
 
“Then start talking.” Fernando tells him.
 
The male mouse opens his mouth to start naming names and places but the side of his head explodes opposite of Fernando’s direction and falls on his side.
 
“What the...!” Fernando says as he looks at the direction where the shot came from. He sees a star like flash reflection on the roof of one of the tall buildings in the area. From there he sees a shadow move about to the exit of the roof. He takes note of the building, an office building that houses a couple of Manga Publishers. He picks up the spent casings he used to shoot the men around him and pockets them. He then makes a few calls to the Emperor and a couple of agencies he is connected too
 
The real police and a couple of ambulances arrive a couple of minutes later. They start asking questions, which Fernando tells them to wait for his supervisor. The Emperor’s private guards, the American Agency and a few others arrive. Eventually Fernando enters the ambulance with the young female being taken to a hospital. The police, American Agency supervisors and the Emperor’s guards follow them to Saiseikai Central Hospital, located at: 1 Chome-4-17 Mita, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0073, Japan.
 
The young female is treated and put into a private room while Fernando answers the questions from a couple of medical staff, but not the of the police, American Agency Supervisors or the Emperor’s guards. They were forced to listen to the answers being given and taking notes from there on. Eventually he is allowed to see the girl in her room. She is sleeping with an oxygen mask on her face; he takes her arm and looks at the hospital tag on it. It has the name of Taro Yamada, “Jane Doe” in Japan. A doctor walks up to him.
 
“You’re the one that found her?” The doctor asks.
 
“You can say that.” Fernando asks. “What is going to happen to her? I would like to see her before she is released; make sure she does not end up in the situation I found her in.”
 
“She will be here for a couple of days. There were several drugs found in her systems, from the looks of it, were forced into her. Intravenous drug users inject themselves along the veins of their forearms, not on the back and shoulders like she was. While she is being cleaned out, her finger prints are being checked with the missing people’s database to see if there is a match.” The doctor explains before asking, “What would you want with her?”
 
“The asshole pretending to be the police before he was killed said that she was a Chinese National and that her name was ‘Mei Fung Lai Phuc.’ I seriously doubt that because the name sounds like a fake or stage name for an American Sex Doll, and knowing the differences between the various Asian races, she does not look Chinese. She does look Japanese. Question is who is she?” Fernando explains.
 
“So you are seeking a family favor for rescuing her?” The doctor asks.
 
“Oh hell no. I understand the culture of owing favors when a life is saved and other matters being done, I am not looking for favors.” Fernando explains.
 
One of the Emperor’s guards walks over to the doctor and whispers in his ear. The doctor looks at the guard who nods at him. The doctor turns to Fernando, “Excuse me, sir. I need you to step over to my office and wait there for a moment.”
 
Fernando nods at him before following him out of the patient’s room. He then takes a seat in the doctor’s office and waited as he was told. Some fifteen minutes later a couple of the Emperor’s guards step into the room, followed by the Emperor himself.
 
“How do you mange to do the things you do? It seems that you have the devil’s luck.” The Emperor asks Fernando.
 
“What are you talking about?” Fernando asks.
 
“That girl you found and rescued. She’s a distant relative of the royal family who has been missing for several months. Tell me, where and how you found her?” The Emperor explains and asks.
 
“My companions and I found her at the South entrance of Shiba Park, curled up in a ball crying. Some Yakusa asshole tried to say that she was somebody else and that he was a police officer for the Tokyo Police, which we know does not exist. He probably thought that a tourist like me would have fallen for that. He orders me to leave which I signal to my companions to leave ahead of me, but then he orders his men to take my companions. They drew out their guns to take my friends, so I had to kill them except for their leader and order my companions to go to my hotel room. As soon as they left, I was about to shake down the idiot leader for answers. But before he could say anything, somebody shot him in the head from far away. Looking where the shot came from, it seemed to have come from the roof of a tall building in the Minato City Sector by Shiba Park as I saw a shadow on the roof of the building there.” Fernando explains.
 
Hearing this, the Emperor snaps his fingers and signals his guards to go outside, in a sign language few knows to “gather some men and investigate the area.” Three guards leave the room momentarily.
 
“So who is she? Other than some distant relative of the royal family.” Fernando asks.
 
“She is Shoda Ichinaru (first name Ichinaru, family name Shoda), and is connected to the royal family through the Emperor Meiji’s Second wife Shoken and her relatives. Thus, she is a minor princess and is 47th in line to the throne, similar to your position with the Spanish throne. Like many others, she came here to witness and be part of history as Japan prepares for this treaty signing until one day she disappeared. And We have been looking for her since, with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police reporting that there were no clues to her disappearance. Yet, you managed to have found her. How?” Emperor Akihito explains and asks.
 
“I was just walking with my friends when I found her. I did not know she was connected to the royal family in any way or that she was missing. I just saw somebody in trouble and in need of help. So I decided to give that help. Nothing more; and the rest, shall we say, is history.” Fernando explains. Then he asks, “How is she? She going to recover? Or do you need one of my little pills?”
 
“We hope she will recover in a few days. You will be put on the list of visitors to see her while she recovers. Meanwhile the medical staff will conduct tests to see what drugs she was injected with and what they can do for her. If they can do nothing, I will be calling you for one of those ‘little pills.’ Now, about your friends you were out with?” Emperor Akihito says and asks.
 
“Gadget and the girls from the high school. We spent a whole day shopping, and then a movie and a late night dinner. They, the girls asked if we can walk to the hotel and then I would get them a cab to go home from there. It is in that walk we found the girl by the park entrance. Thing is...” Fernando explains before pausing.
 
“Yes, go on.” The Emperor says.
 
“Well, OK.” Fernando begins. “Naru said to leave her alone because she could have been one of the ‘Feral People.’ Now, I do not know what that means but it sounds like a serious issue to deal with.” Fernando explains.
 
“I see. I have heard of these ‘Feral People’ but many think of them as lore and fairy tales.” The Emperor says.
 
“I think it is a symptom of drugs being brought in and given out, making people crazy and do stupid things. Going into a feral state of mind, definitely sounds like a drug to me.” Fernando points out. He throws in, “Do not ignore it. Japan’s reputation is at stake. Just look at New York’s Homeless problem if you want an example.”
 
The Emperor nods.
 
“Anything else? I need to get to the hotel room and initiate damage control.” Fernando asks and says.
 
“We’ll keep in touch. Another party dinner in two days.” The Emperor tells him.
 
Fernando bows at his friend before leaving the room.
 
[To Be Continued...]