In Her Eyes
“See what I mean about pretty things? There’s something very familiar about Trinny though. I can’t really say what, it’s more like just in general. Like I know her from another life or something. Well, moving on! I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why does a criminal organization that doesn’t blink at murdering a cop care about sex trafficking?’ Well, when your merciless, doesn’t-blink-at-bloody-murder leader decides to give a shit, you don’t question why. Alright? Also, it probably has to do with the fact there are young girls involved, and when you used to be shuffled around yourself at that age and now you have… I’m gonna call them ninjas… at your beck and call… Let’s just say child trafficking is oddly rare in a massive population center like Chicago all things considered. The threat of being silently skewered like a fucking kabob probably has something to do with it.”
- Kantherion Onerious, ‘Chronicle of the Ages’
Chicago, 2085
Midlevel, The Sanguine Rose
The Yakuza Wars had ended nearly a decade ago and had left the Syndicate standing alone atop the pile of its broken rivals. In the decade since that time, the Oyabun had solidified her status as the unchallenged leader of the organization. She had also guided the Syndicate into its current position as the largest and most dominant criminal organization in the entire megacity of Chicago. She had made it a point to welcome any and all refugees and descendants of refugees from Japan, many of whom had fled the Infection swarms nearly thirty years ago to find themselves being settled in the newly minted Chicago megacity, the first and largest of them all.
The Oyabun had also made a point to settle any grudges and lingering animosity with the Triads. Even in the old world the two differing organizations competed and warred endlessly, each seeking dominance over the other. She had given them a generous offer of not only peace but cooperation and a fairly sizable chunk of Old Towne in which to run their organization. There had been an almost cordial relationship between the two for years now, which is why the Triads suddenly breaking one of the Syndicate’s cardinal laws for the Chicago underground was so baffling.
They would obviously know that word would eventually get back to the Oyabun. Did they believe they could withstand a war with the Syndicate? It was more likely they believed the Oyabun wouldn’t take action against them for their insolence. There were too many variables and unanswered questions to confront them directly at the moment. Though a stroke of luck had come to her attention. A known member of the Triads, a block captain named Tommy Zhao, had come to the Rose this evening. The Oyabun had been watching the human on one of the many displays that lined the walls of her office. After several long moments, she pressed one of the buttons on the arm of her desk chair with a delicate, well-manicured nail.
“Bruce, can you find Calista and have her procure Mister Zhao for a conversation,” the elfess said casually.
“Any subject in particular?” the jotunn’s deep, jovial voice replied over the comm.
“Yes, I’d like her to ask him about Detective Boone,” the Oyabun instructed.
“Will do boss,” Bruce answered quickly.
Calista had been with the Rose for a few years now. The Oyabun had made an ‘offer’ to buy out the small, Old Towne corner shop Calista had run her new-age mysticism shop out of. The Oyabun hadn’t been interested in the business or the building, but once having Calista’s attention she made an offer to retain her talents for the Syndicate. While Calista had been wary about the offer at first, the amount of money and other benefits the Syndicate had promised her were too good to pass up. Since Calista had come on board with the organization, the Oyabun had made good on her offer and then some.
Calista was a nymph, an exceedingly rare type of fae folk. So rare, in fact, the Oyabun had never met one before. Other fae in her employ had indicated that nymphs had never been as numerous as many other fae folk and that the Great War had taken a serious toll on their already small number. They had the ability to draw out a person’s inner thoughts and secrets, something that had made them dangerous to the Empire and likely had something to do with their being targeted during the war. Calista had always been very secretive about her past but had proven her loyalty to the Syndicate time and again with her gifts.
Bruce made his way into the back, slipping through the closed curtains over the entryway and walking down the hallway to the dressing room doors. The jotunn knocked lightly before he opened the door partway and leaned into the room, flashing his cheery smile at the entertainers inside.
“Hey, is Calista back here?” he asked as he glanced about the area of the dressing room he could see.
“Yes,” came the fae’s subtle, feminine voice from the back locker area.
“Boss lady would like you to chat with Tommy Zhao,” Bruce informed her.
“I just got the text on my comm. I’ll be right out,” Calista answered, still unseen behind the row of lockers.
“Thanks!” Bruce called out before closing the door and making his way back out to the floor.
Moments later Calista emerged from the curtained doorway as well. She appeared much taller than her normal five-foot-six-inch height due to the high heels she wore. The fae had chestnut brown hair that had been pulled up into a messy topknot, leaving her bangs to brush across her features from time to time. Nearly perfectly proportioned with soft pale skin, slender toned legs, shapely hips, a taut stomach, and a firm, full bust. She was clad in a silken, thigh-length kimono with black flower patterns on a white background. Many fae possessed a sort of otherworldly beauty to them that could easily catch the eyes of those around them but Calista’s appearance could outright enthrall most mortal beings.
The fae’s eyes were bright, intense silver in color. Dark lining and eye shadow made her already entrancing eyes seem all the more bright beneath the lights and flashing strobes of the Rose’s main floor. Those eyes scanned the floor and the patrons crowding it. Tommy Zhao stood out among them, easily identified by his Chinese descent, sharply dressed appearance, and two large bodyguards standing on either side of him. Calista had seen Tommy in the Rose a fair share of times but had never interacted with him. Her clientele was usually hand-picked by the Oyabun for use of the nymph’s gifts.
Calista made her way across the crowded main floor of the Rose, easily slipping through the groups of patrons who seemed to move slightly to make room for her without even knowing it. As she approached Tommy, the two men standing on either side of the gangster stepped toward one another to block her path. Calista halted and glanced from one of the large men to the other before her eyes settled on Tommy as he turned to face her as his guards moved. A slow, slightly crooked smile came to the nymph’s lips as Tommy’s eyes locked with her own almost immediately.
“You can’t possibly be afraid of little ol’ me,” Calista said in that soft, feminine tone of hers.
“Let the lady through boys,” Tommy replied with a wide grin.
“Thank you, boys,” Calista said as she stepped between the two bodyguards as they made room for her.
“I’ve seen you around before but never this close,” the gangster chortled as one hand reached out to rest on the nymph’s side and draw her in closer.
“I’m not for just anyone,” Calista responded as she placed a delicate hand on the human’s chest.
“Oh? So I’m special then?” Tommy asked, the grin on his face remaining as he looked the nymph up and down. “Because I’m starting to feel really special.”
“You should,” Calista replied as she leaned in closer, her eyes still holding the human’s with ease. “I come bearing a gift.”
“From who?” Tommy questioned curiously, tilting his head slightly. “Is the Oyabun trying to recruit me again?” he added with a playful laugh.
“She appreciates all the credits you’ve spent here and the loyalty you’ve shown as a customer,” Calista explained. “She also would like to show her appreciation for the many years of cooperation between her and your boss.”
“So what’s the gift?” Tommy replied, his arm tightening around the nymph’s slender waist.
“I am,” Calista said with a playful smile. “Unless you’d prefer another.”
“Oh I’m just fine with that gift,” the gangster quipped with a leering grin. “I’ll have to send her a thank you letter.”
“Right this way then,” the nymph invited him, slipping out of his grasp and taking his hand in her own.
“Wait here boys,” Tommy instructed his bodyguards, knowing full well they wouldn’t be allowed on the VIP level of the club.
The two large humans obeyed without question, having accompanied Tommy to the Rose enough times to know exactly where he was going. Calista and the gangster slipped past the two and made their way through the crowded main floor of the Rose. The nymph caught a glance from Bruce and gave the jotunn a slight nod of her head as she and Tommy neared the roped-off stairway to the second level. The suited security member there quickly opened the way for the pair to continue.
“Have a good time,” he said in a gruff voice as the nymph and the gangster passed by.
“I intend to,” Tommy joked as the pair began up the stairway to the second level. “So what’s your name anyway?” the gangster asked as they ascended into the VIP area.
“Calista,” the nymph replied as she led the human down one of the many corridors, past several curtained, occupied rooms.
“I’ll be sure to remember that,” the gangster quipped.
“I’m sure you will,” Calista said with a slight smile, motioning to a nearby open doorway and allowing the human to step in before she followed. She pulled the curtain shut and turned to face the small room, complete with a plush lounge chair and a sunken, circular couch pit.
“So, how do you wanna do this?” Tommy asked, already unbuttoning his shirt and leering at the nymph with a wide, lecherous grin on his lips.
“Have a seat and get comfortable,” Calista replied, nodding to the couch pit as she strolled past Tommy and stepped down onto the couch and then the floor.
“Don’t mind if I do,” the human snickered as he dropped unceremoniously onto the couch as he finished unbuttoning his silk shirt.
“Good,” Calista nearly cooed, moving slowly to rest one knee and then the other on the plush couch before lowering herself astride the human’s lap and settling there. “Now, just relax,” she instructed in a breathy tone of voice, resting one hand on the man’s bare chest as her eyes captured his gaze once more.
“Sure… relax..” Tommy replied as his eyes locked with the nymph’s, his arms falling limp at his sides as he looked up at her.
“That’s a good boy,” Calista purred with a small smirk crossing her lips. “You want me to be happy, right?”
“Yes,” Tommy replied in a monotone voice, his eyes remained locked with the nymph’s, completely unblinking as she took hold of him.
“So tell me about the girls Detective Boone sold to you,” Calista instructed gently.
“The cargo container from Hong Kong,” Tommy answered flatly.
“How did he get them here?” Calista asked, maintaining eye contact, and her hold over the gangster’s consciousness.
The question was one the Oyabun had instructed to be asked. The Infection War and the swarms it had created washed over the South Pacific like a tsunami with little able to stand in its way. Only Hong Kong and its fortress-like construction had saved it from the seemingly endless tide of the infected. To this day overseas travel through the Pacific was suicide and air travel anywhere without an established airship navy to cull the flying beasts the infection created was near impossible.
“Airship,” Tommy answered dutifully.
“What airship?” Calista prodded.
“An old world destroyer. It can handle the flyers and then make a drop on the west coast,” the human clarified without hesitation.
“Then overland from the coast?” Calista asked.
“Yes, an armored convoy,” Tommy replied.
“How are the Triads able to afford all that?”
“The families back home in Hong Kong. They basically run the entire megacity now. They’ve been sending weapons, money, personnel, and product over for months now,” Tommy answered, once again in that monotone voice.
“Product meaning slaves,” Calista retorted with a slight hint of anger sneaking into her voice.
“And glitterdust,” the gangster added.
“Why?”
“The families want to take Chicago,” Tommy replied, the answer causing a chill to run down the nymph’s spine.
“Ask him who’s helping them bring all this in,” came a sultry, feminine voice from behind the pair.
“Yes, Oyabun,” Calista responded, knowing the woman’s voice without having to look. “Who’s helping get all this into Chicago?” she asked as instructed.
“That’s above my station,” Tommy answered.
“Take a guess,” Calista told him.
“Has to be some on the city council, maybe the corporate council as well,” Tommy replied obediently.
“Applebriar?” Calista asked.
“I don’t know,” the entranced human answered quickly.
“Not likely,” the Oyabun’s voice floated from behind her. “Serena has a good thing going with us, she’s not the sort to invite uncertainty into a situation she has a firm hold on.”
“Who do they contact in the Triads?” Calista continued to prod for information.
“The Three Dragons,” Tommy said, giving the obvious answer of the three men in charge of Triad operations in Chicago.
“Who gets them into Chicago without any interference?” Calista questioned the human relentlessly.
“One of the lower dock foremen.”
“Name?”
“Sully Fairbanks.”
“Thank you,” Calista said quietly, caressing the man’s cheek with one small hand.
“Not a name I know,” the Oyabun whispered.
“Should I ask for something more?” Calista asked, still holding the human’s staring gaze with her own.
“No, I have ways to find Mister Fairbanks,” the Oyabun replied.
“The Akuma?” Calista responded with a curious tone.
“Nothing quite so lethal,” the Oyabun answered. “Well, not unless forced to be.”
“The hunters,” Calista said with a slight smile coming to her lips.
“You’re getting quite good at understanding my methods, dear,” came the sultry response. “We should discuss your future here. It’s rather bright.”
“What should I do with this one?” Calista asked as she patted the gangster’s cheek.
“Convince him he had a wonderful time and ensure he doesn’t remember your little conversation,” the Oyabun instructed.
“I can do that,” the nymph said with a soft chuckle.
“Thank you, Calista. As always your help is indispensable,” the Oyabun said as she rose from the couch pit across from the nymph.
“My pleasure, Oyabun,” the nymph replied before she leaned in closer to the human, still holding his gaze with her own, and began to whisper instructions and illicit details for him to remember.
The Oyabun made her way to the hidden entrance at the back of the small room and pressed a disguised pressure plate on the wall, causing a panel to slide open and allow her to enter the corridor beyond. The hidden panel closed silently behind her and the elfess made her way silently through the dimly lit hall and ascended a stairway at one end before emerging from another hidden doorway into her plushly furnished office. She walked to her desk and settled into the high-backed chair waiting for her there.
She reached into one drawer of her desk and withdrew an oni mask that would cover the bottom half of her face. As she secured the mask in place, her long, thick golden hair shifted in color, taking on a bright pink hue. The color of her eyes also changed, from a brilliant blue to a deep red. An internal glow of the same color came to life within her pupils as she activated the effect in her cyber eyes with a thought. One hand tapped a button on the arm of her chair, bringing up a holo display over the desk with a list of comm contacts. Once she found the desired contact she pressed another button and waited calmly for the call to connect.
As the call connected the holographic image over her desk changed from the list of contacts to one of a middle-aged human male with short cut, salt and pepper hair, and a well-trimmed goatee. The Oyabun smiled beneath the Oni mask she wore. She’d always considered the human handsome and more importantly, professional and prompt with his services. She knew he would see her image on the display on his end as well and she appreciated the friendly smile that came to his face when he did.
“Oyabun, always a pleasure,” the human greeted her politely.
“The pleasure is mine,” the elf replied in her sultry tone. “I was wondering if you might have time for a little job.”
“For you? Always,” the man in the holo image said with a friendly smile.
“Thank you,” the Oyabun said with a slight bow of her head. “I knew I could count on you, Malcolm.”