Rei Hino got up from her bed, pushing the messy covers aside as
the black haired young woman grumpily greeted the day. "Are you planning
on staying in bed all day?" the panty and bra clad woman turned back to
the figure who was still laying in the bed.
He sat up, short black hair falling down into his eyes and a
slight smile on his face. "I was thinking we could....." Mamoru said.
"I'm busy," Rei shook her head firmly, "and have things to do
today."
Mamoru got out of bed reluctantly, giving Rei a thoughtful look.
"I was really surprised when you invited me here with you," he said.
"Don't expect it to happen again," Rei answered him crisply,
looking out the window at the sunlight streaming between the buildings,
"I'm not the settling down type."
"I guess not," Mamoru said with a little frown. He dressed
pretty quickly, the black pants and T-shirt tight on the handsome young
bartender, and then he walked over to where Rei stood to try and give
her a goodbye kiss.
Rei fended him off as she said, "Go get some mouthwash, your
breath stinks."
Mamoru's face went ice cold at that comment. "Whatever," he
scowled, loudly slamming shut the door to Rei's old trailer as he left.
The motorcycle that he rode in on rumbled to life and he drove by her
window, his face pinched.
'That's the last time I bring someone home with me on impulse,'
Rei thought glumly, stumbling into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She
emerged after a quick shower, feeling oddly relieved to have his scent
off of her body.
Thump! The newspaper hit her front door and Rei smiled to
herself wryly as she opened it up. She could always get the paper off of
the computers but she liked holding the sheets in her hands, the scent
and texture of the news part of her morning. She unfolded it to get a
good look at the front page then froze in shock.
"Head of Infinity Corporation dead," Rei read the shocking
headline aloud, "city's noted benefactor dies of natural causes." She
shook her head, trying to process the information as she muttered, "What
the hell is going on?"
The phone rang out into the silence and Rei swore softly. She
set the paper down and picked up the phone to hear a familiar voice say,
"Rei, it's Ami."
"You've seen the paper this morning?" Rei asked, trying to
decide if she felt happy or sad about the news. A bit of both emotions,
including some disapointment that she hadn't been the one to snuff the
old man.
"Exactly why I'm calling," Ami answered her smoothly, "we're
having a meeting today, as soon as humanly possible."
Rei raised her eyebrows at the tension in the woman's voice. "I
thought you'd be happy to see something like this happen," she said.
"There are things about this that haven't been reported in the
papers," Ami said, "something I can't talk about over an unsecured line.
How fast can you get to the Silky Doll?"
"Thirty minutes if I ignore traffic regs," Rei answered.
"Don't get caught," and with that Ami hung up.
Rei dropped the paper, sheets fluttering around her as she
hurried to grab her clothes. She pulled the nearest items she could off
of the floor, glad to see they didn't smell too bad. Her jacket was
slung over a chair and a moment's looking found her boots over by the
TV. Dressed she bolted outside, climbing onto her motorbike and rumbling
off down the street.
Rei was well over the speed limit as she ran through the
outskirts of megatokyo, eyes wary as she lept an look out for AD Police
or any other cops. Once she got into the city itself she used the
backroads, dodging traffic and smoothly making her way to the bad part
of town, leaving it before eventually pulling up to a tall office
building.
The first floor was fully occupied by a business, the Silky
Doll. Beautiful young women went in and out, carrying packages
containing some very revealing underwear and fine clothing. Rei had to
grin, thinking this was the least likely job to find Ami Mizuno involved
in.
'Probably why it''s such a good cover,' Rei thought as she
parked her bike. She walked in the front door, recognizing the young
woman who worked one of the counters from a previous visit. "Hi Catsy,"
Rei waved.
Catsy grinned, her purple hair making her look like her
namesake, "Hey, Rei." She and her four sisters worked here for Ami,
handling the day to day operations of the shop. She dropped her voice,
"Here to see Ami? She's not in a good mood."
"How bad?" Rei asked curiously.
"She has this ice queen mode," Catsy leaned over to confide, "I
think it's actually worse than when she's really pissed off."
"Catsy," Birdie called, her blue hair falling down her back in a
braid as she smiled at the three women around her, "I could use some
help,"
"Right," Catsy called back. She gave Rei an apologetic look,
"You'd better head on up, don't want to keep Ms. Mizuno waiting."
"Got it," Rei smiled. She headed to the rear of the shop, using
the key-card to open the door and stepped inside. She swiped the card to
access the upper floors and rose quickly, a soft bell anouncing her
arrival in the resident level.
"It only took you twenty-five minutes," Ami noted, her short
dark blue hair falling into her eyes, "I'm impressed." She stood rigid
by the closed window, her back ramrod straight and there was a dangerous
look in her eye.
Rei looked at her warily as she pulled her jacket off, “What
about this has you so bothered? I thought you’d be happy to see Tomoe
dead.”
Ami’s lips went white as she pressed them together. “The
situation is somewhat more complicated that that,” she answered.
“What do you mean?” Rei frowned.
Ami shook her head firmly no and said, “I want the others here
first so I can explain it all at one time.” A sigh, "I hate repeating
myself."
“Great,” Rei sighed, “I bust my butt to get here fast only to
have to wait.”
That actually brought a slight smile to Ami’s face. “My heart
bleeds,” she murmured softly. She looked over at Rei and said, “Do you
want some coffee or something else to drink?”
“Coffee,” Rei rubbed at her eyes as her concert and the night
with Mamoru began to catch up with her, “it was a very long night.”
“Mercury,” Ami looked up, almost as if she was talking to the
air, “a pot of coffee and five cups, please.”
“Yes ma’am,” the warm female voice replied before asking, “Would
you like me to make is strong, Miss Hino?”
“Ah, yes please.” Rei blinked, looking around in confusion.
“It will be ready in five minutes,” Mercury concluded.
“Who was that?” Rei blinked as she looked up at Ami in surprise.
“Mercury is the computer system that helps run my home and the
underground facilities we use,” Ami explained, “I inherited her, more or
less, from my mother.”
“Her?” Rei raised an eyebrow.
Ami shrugged, “The voice and persona seem to be female based
so....”
A few moments later a motorized cart rolled inside carrying the
pot of coffee and Minako and Makoto trailed in right behind it, the two
seemingly following the enticing scent of strong coffee. Minako was a
bit rumpled looking as if the blonde was wearing the clothes from the
day before while Makoto looked crisp and neat.
“What took you so long?” Rei smirked.
“Ami you’re timing stinks,” Minako complained good naturedly,
flopping down in a seat beside Makoto, both of them eagerly pouring
coffee.
"We're all here," Rei said impatiently, "start talking."
"Not quite all," Ami nodded to the door that swished open. The
taller woman studied them thoughtfully, her greenish black hair flowing
down her back in a wave. "Rei, Minako, Makoto I'd like you to meet
Setsuna Meiou," Ami introduced her.
"I've heard a lot about you," Setsuna said softly, "and I wish
this meeting could be under better circumstances. You see," she took a
deep breath, "Prof. Tomoe was murdered by his own creation, the super
Bio-boomer called Saturn."
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