Night 61: Meeting Room #2

[hiddenbadass]

Mike followed the orderly, but he didn't like one bit of it. He was frowning and openly so. What the shell was going on? The orderly was telling him nothing, and he didn't like it one bit.

Part of him had wanted to defy the orderly, but Mike knew how this place worked. It was better not to piss off the captors when it would only lead to restricted movements later. Even so, part of him was curious over what this was all about. This wasn't standard procedure. Something was up.

He walked into the room behind the orderly, looking around. A meeting room of some sort. He hadn't been to it before, but it wasn't exactly impressive enough to have warranted exploring in the first place.

The orderly left, and he was left waiting. Mike would cross his arms if he had two. Instead, he simply settled with leaning against a wall.

So what was all this about?

Comments

[oneman_onekill]

"--alright, alright, I'm takin' the damn file, okay? Happy? Sheesh...yeah, yeah, I'll make sure he reads it too." Niikura walked into the meeting room, still grumbling as he leafed through the file. "Today just isn't my day...just 'cause she's got the sedatives on her side..." He looked up and blinked in surprise. "Oh. Hey, Mike-san. Ya got roped into this mission bullshit too?" Well, that was alright, he guessed. It was a good thing Shiina was taking the night off; otherwise, she'd be sitting out there right now wondering where the two of them were, and he couldn't think of a worse situation than that.

He tossed the manila file toward the other man. "Read that an' tell me what ya think."

[hiddenbadass]

"Yeah, I did," was Mike's only answer, his eyes already focused on the folder in Niikura's hand.

When he threw it, Mike caught it, then walked over to the table and dropped the folder onto it. With his hand now free, he opened it up and started reading through it slowly. He had no idea what the hell this was all about, and he wasn't going to risk missing something because he was impatient. Just one more change from when he was younger.

Mike started frowning as he read, then continued to frown more as he read further. He didn't like it. So they were going to be Landel's lap dogs, huh? Doing his dirty work for him?

Subduing Foot Police and anyone else under Shredder he could do. Subduing refugees was something that he'd rather not participate in. In fact, he was pretty sure that most of the 'patients' wouldn't want to participate in it. For him especially, it was hitting too close to home to so easily go along with it.

Their captors weren't idiots. They would know that they wouldn't easily accept missions like this. So, there had to be a catch-22 to this. Mike knew his villains well enough to know that.

"Lemme guess--somethin' bad happens if we refuse."

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura ran a hand through his hair. "...Aye. They'll punish everyone else if we fail--which includes refusin' to go in the first place, accordin' to the chick who brought me here." He paced back and forth for a bit in silence before finally stopping and looking at Mike.

"Ya know I can't let that happen, right?" It wouldn't have sat well with him in the first place, letting Landel screw around with his captives some more just because he'd offended his sensibilities, but he knew without a doubt that he couldn't not act. There was a promise he had to keep, and another he had to break.

Sorry, Shiina. Looks like recklessness is just in my blood.

His face hardened. "And I'll do it all by myself if I have to."

[hiddenbadass]

"Easy, partner," Mike raised a hand--his only hand, actually--placatingly. "I never said I was gonna make you do it on your own."

In fact, there was no way in shell he was going to let Niikura do it on his own. He trusted the young man enough to know what he said was true--that the others would be punished if they failed. People could even be killed as a result. The mission stated that they weren't supposed to be killing anyone, so it was really the lesser of the two evils.

Mike still didn't like it, but what could he do? Those that ran the Institute had all the power in the world. There was no reason to send them when they could just kidnap the refugees themselves. It was obvious enough to Mike that it was a test, but he wasn't sure what sort of test.

"They don't need us to kidnap these people," Mike stated after a moment, glancing back at the folder. "But they're gonna make sure we regret it if we don't do it."

[oneman_onekill]

That was actually pretty relieving to hear--not that he'd ever thought Mike would leave him hanging like that, but Niikura knew he stood a greater chance of living if he went with someone else merely because he wouldn't be alone. All Akumetsu seemed to have this way of attracting death even when they didn't really want it at the moment, after all, and he didn't want to have to save Shiina only to emotionally destroy her.

"Right." He nodded. "It's obviously a ploy to get us to realize who's boss in these parts; I'm kinda glad it's us and not people who...can't really play this kind of game." People who would go unnamed but who again would be really easy to identify because Mike knew his priorities.

"So you're in? 'Cause the sooner we get started, the better, y'know."

[hiddenbadass]

Mike wasn't thinking about who it was that Niikura was thinking about, but he could probably guess on the first try if he was. There were multiple people that would fit into this category. It was a good thing it was the two of them, then--they were dirtier, more soiled. No longer innocent despite how Niikura acted at times. If it wasn't them, then it would be someone else possibly on top of everyone being punished.

He didn't say anything at first, just nodded slowly and put his hand on Niikura shoulder. "Yeah, I'm in. We'll play their shellin' game. Better us than someone else."

[oneman_onekill]

"Aye, that's what I figured." Better them for sure, and at least this wasn't like some sort of assassination request, since, as indifferent as he seemed toward killing, he still had rules to follow, rules powerful enough to create hesitation.

And then the seriousness faded as he brushed Mike's hand off with a smirk and headed for the door. "And get your hand off my shoulder. You're too short for that kinda stuff.

"Have a growth spurt, and then we'll talk." The knob turned under his hand; he swung the door open and stepped out.

[moving post to come later]