Back In the Business

The area around him was black save the dim glow of the cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. He held up the piece of paper given to him and read the address, following cues from random people and paying attention to the street signs. The directions he followed lead him to a complex of warehouses. It went from a small adventure to one of the situations he hated the most; it was too peaceful. He drew a jagged puff of his cigarette and exhaled the smoke from his nose, his left hand reaching for the Beretta pistol tucked in the shoulder strap under his hoodie. He had his shoulder length dyed black hair tied into a ponytail to give him the peripheral vision he needed and clenched his hand tightly over the handle, "Calm..." he muttered and crushed the light under his boots. In order to maintain his aspect of stealth he replaced his normally blue jeans and hoodie with plain black but his did not bother to disguise his heterochromia afflicted eyes with contact lenses for if the woman he met at the park was there; that would be the most distinguishing aspect of his body other than the scars.

He searched the place for a solid ten minutes before he reached the correct warehouse. Hunter approached the door and banged his fist on it, waiting for an answer.

Tsuchi rounded the corner of the warehouse and stopped, noting the figure at the door. The banging sound of his fist on the metal door echoed around the walls of the other warehouses. If they had to knock they weren't already a part of the gang. Tsuchi slid her gun from it's holster and slowly and quietly walked up behind the person. She pressed the silenced end of her gun to the person's head.

"Hands where I can see them," she hissed, her voice quiet but menacing.

Hunter froze once the gun reached his head and placed his own weapon back into the shoulder holster, "That's a feeling that I haven't been graced with for a while." he said; a small chuckle escaping, "The pang of fear in knowing that your life could end in one false move." he did as told and raised his hands, "But I'm not here for trouble. Ali sent me here for someone by the name of Tora. Any idea on where I can find him or her?"

Tsuchi blinked once but didn't lower her weapon. Nadia's been talking... "I am Tora." She took a step back, removing the gun from his head but not lowering in. "Drop any weapons you have at your feet and kick them towards me."

He felt the gun leave his head and listened to her speak, "Well then..." he removed the gun and tossed it back, then he reached into his pocket for one of two balisong butterfly knives he always had in possession, "I have one more knife on me, but since you have a gun I'm sure you won't be to worried about it right?" he tossed the first one to her and said, "Make sure my toys stay safe please. I would hate for them to get broken." A small smile crept to his lips and turned his head, peeking from the corner of his eyes in order to attempt a glimpse, "And the one knife I still have is on an ankle strap; so if I bend down and look like I'm tying my shoes you can shoot me then."

"Sounds like a deal." She bent on one knee, lowering her gun slightly but never taking her eyes off him. She gathered his weapons and slipped them into different parts of her coat. "You'll get these back once I can trust you or once you leave, whatever happens first. Or you'll find them in your grave; honestly you have three choices here." She looked the guy up and down. "So why did Ali send you to me?"

He kicked off both of his shoes and removed the socks with his feet, "Just to eliminate any chances of a small misunderstanding." Hunter turned to face the woman and folded his arms, "Me and your friend had a talk in the park a few days back." he said, folding his arms, "She saw the scars on my arms and I told her the story about my time with the Russian Guns and how I left after they abandoned me. First I got tortured by the opposite gang for info. I held my tongue and got my ass kicked for it, just to be sent to prison instead of being killed. They refused to make any attempt to help me get out so I did years. I was sixteen years old serving seven years for association with a criminal organization. I survived that hell and snuck on the first ship I could, but instead of going to America they went to Japan. After that we exchanged papers and mine told me to come here and ask for you."

Tsuchi nodded slowly. "Well that eliminates a later step." She blew out a breath into the air and stuck her gun in her pocket but her hand lingered just outside the opening. "Well then... Since you're here I'm guessing, and am probably right, that you want to join another 'criminal oranization' as the feds put it?"

He shook his head and held up his hands for 'finger quotations', "Not 'join' perse. But to help, maybe even receive help from. You see, I have a number of skills are frowned upon by police and 'upstanding' citizens." He cracked his neck, "Currently I work with someone who's after Kira. We did a few things, but I don't like the way he operates." He paused and leaned against the wall, scratching the tip of his nose with an index finger as he always did, a nervous habit of his, "To put it short I like doing things that some people won't touch; murder, assault, arson, domestic terrorism, torture and interrogation. I usually won't do anything beyond kidnapping when it comes to kids but I treat them like my own until the person pays up. If they don't pay then I groom them to be just like me."

Tsuchi nodded. "Understandable." She gestured to the articles of clothing on the ground. "Grab your stuff. Come on in. Sorry 'bout the mess." It took her a couple minutes to unlock the warehouse and ease the door open; it groaned and screeched as much as a door that hadn't been open for several years would.

Stepping inside she flicked on all the lights and soon the warehouse burst into view. A small sitting area off to one side, a small kitchen opposite. A large open area looked like it could sit three hummers side by side and a set of stairs led to a short hallway upstairs that had three rooms branching off of it. "Take a seat," she said, pointing to the sitting area. She disappeared up the staircase.

Hunter rolled up his pantlegs just in case she would try to shoot him and slipped the socks ans shows on. He followed her into the warehouse and closed the door behind him. Once she requested for him to take a seat, he did so.

Tsuchi came back downstairs muttering to herself and looking around. She walked over to where the guy was and dropped his weapons on the table in front of her before sitting. She looked over the stuff in front of her before picking up the gun and disassembling it before putting it back. Then she flicked open the butterfly knife, twirled it around a bit, closed it and put it back. She pointed at his ankle then looked at him. "No tricks up your sleeve."

She disassembled her own gun before setting it on the table. Then she pulled out her Swiss Army knife, flicked all the parts open, and put it on the table as well. "No tricks up my sleeve."

Hunter reached down to his ankle and held his free hand up, "No tricks." He pulled the knife from his strap and placed it on the table next to his disassembled gun, "So now that the playing field is even, is there anything that you would like to discuss?"

"Give you a run down." She shrugged. "We haven't bombed anything and so far don't intend to no matter how much Ali wants to-" A smile twitched on her lips. "Yes we've killed people obviously and we get into gun fights occasionally. There has been one interogation that I know of but that was before my time. She wasn't a child although if you met her you sure would have thought so." Tsuchi leaned back in her chair and ran a hand through her hair. "What else... No children will ever be involved in anything..." She tried to think of anything else. "Haven't burned anything else except our own materials; our way of shredding and getting rid of evidence."

She glanced around the space before looking back at him. "What are you looking for? And you know my name but I don't know yours."

"My name is Damien." he said, "As for what I'm looking for; it's just a job really. I find that playing nice becomes a bit stale after a while and let's face it; I don't like being nice to people who don't deserve it." he undid the ponytail and allowed the hair to fall down to his shoulders, "But there are some people that need to die; and I can get them to that point. You need information from someone just give them to me and I will get them to talk. You want a building gone, it will be gone. No matter what you ask, chances are that I've done it before."

Tsuchi nodded slowly, liking what she was hearing. A small voice in the back of her head offered that he was somewhat like Connan in the sense that if something had to be done they'd do it. She bet that the two would either be good friends or terrible enemies - that is, if they didn't kill each other upon their first meeting...

"Sounds good," she replied shrugging. "But you have to have a price. Someone with talents like yours wouldn't be offering them without something in return. We can pay - not much, I will be honest with you - but we can offer our own services. Protection. Munitions. Lodgings. Protection in other countries." She shrugged a shoulder and extended a hand to him, not to shake but as an open gesture for him to answer.

Hunter lit a cigarette and took a drag, "It's good to know that you have things to offer other than money." he said, "I have no problem getting cash because I have a job as a dishwasher and cook in a mom and pop cafe." He exhaled the smoke as he spoke and took another drag, "A safe place to live would be nice; it doesn't need to be very big or clean. I can cope with just about anything. I spent seven years in a hole and three weeks in a box, quite literally unfortunately." Hunter chuckled at his own joke, "But there is one thing that I would like help with," he smiled slightly, "I want to either catch or kill Kira."

Tsuchi smiled slightly and for once it reached her eyes. "Well that is something we can promise. We're after KIRA ourselves so we will gladly help you in any way we can. And as for a place to live-" She pointed up the stairs. "You can take one of the rooms. The one farest down is empty, you can move in a soon as you want. You'll have the place to yourself most of the time, though Ali and I will stop in every once in a while, maybe three times a week?" She paused, trying to think of whether to mention Connan. For Damien's safety she did:

"If you see a guy come in here... tall and blond... be careful. So either prepare that he'll try to shoot you or find a way to leave and find either Ali or I somehow."

Hunter grunted at the mentioning of a trigger happy blonde man. It reminded him of himself, "Try not to mistake me for him once this dye wears off." he said, "I'm a natural blonde." He twirled a lock of black hair in his finger, "But if he shoots first, I'll shoot back. If it turns into a fight one of us will be dead or in the hospital when you return. And by the way you speak of him he'll be a tough guy to crack; that's good because I'm tough too."

Tsuchi smiled and nodded once, crossing her arms over her chest. "You remind me a lot of him..." She sighed, laughed quietly, and shook her head slowly. "He won't shoot you on site, just don't give him any reason to ok? I don't need to cover up for him again, and I don't need to start for you either."

Hunter laughed and said, "Oh great... There will be two of us crazy people running around working on the same team. Sucks for whoever isn't on our side, no?" he put out the cigarette on his tongue, wincing slightly, "It took me a while to learn that one." Once she mentioned the cover up he said, "Sounds like he doesn't know how to keep clean. I usually throw things away when i'm done, so don't worry about me going into the ice box."

Tsuchi shook her head. "With you and him working together, if you ever did, no one could stand in your way. And he knows how to keep clean, the reason we needed a cover up was mostly my fault anyway. He's a great guy, really smart."

Hunter nodded, "That's good. From the way you speak it should be easy for me to get along with him. I'm not hostile unless someone shows hostility to me first; give respect before you ask for it, yeah?" He began putting the gun together, making sure to drop the stone before he did, "No ammo."

"Exactly." Then to his comment about 'no ammo' she shrugged. "I trust you at this point. Don't let me regret it. You don't want me looking for you, 'cause I will find you." She grabbed her own weapons before kicking her feet up on the table.

Hunter chuckled at the threat and said, "I've been betrayed and left to hang by people I considered family. Do you think that I would turn around and do that to someone else?" He loaded the gun and placed it in the shoulder holster before taking both knives and putting them in their respective places; one in the pocket and the other on his ankle, "But if I were to do something that stupid I would stay true to my name and slither away."