Aqua gripped the doorknob. She hadn't realized how white her knuckles had become from doing so. Darren poured himself a glass of whiskey. He didn't seem as surprised or concerned as Aqua thought he should be. Matsuda moved quick on his feet and as someone who was vulnerable, despite all the combat martial training she'd received, her mother knew she wouldn't stand a chance against Matsuda and his gang. Aqua pulled her hand off the doorknob and approached Darren, clear panic in her eyes and distress in her tone.
"What do we do? Darren."
The man took a swig of his alcohol, "Now, let's take a moment. Take a deep breath."
He raised his hands up, whiskey still in hand, and lowered them, as if compressing a box.
"Think carefully about this. Who found out? Your mother?"
"Yes, she did. She caught wind of him in the northeast sector."
"Northeast, eh? That's hundreds of miles from here. Did she get his last location?"
"Ah, no. Not anything specific. Mm," Aqua bit her lip. She had to think. Who would be good for a job or two? How could she get intel on Daichi? Sei was out of commission for now- she wouldn't load the woman up with another job and Sei still had yet to earn her trust. This was more personal. Art though. He had some hacking knowledge. Maybe they could track down the yakuza's exact location and determine what Daichi was planning through his network.
He was a cybernetic punk, for lack of a better word. He knew his way around technology and always sought to retrieve the best, according to Aqua's mother. There was a problem she had though- Art didn't know about her background as a former yakuza or Daichi. How would he take it? What if he decided that she'd violated his trust? She wanted to hide but knew that wouldn't help anyone, not her or her mother.
"The way I see it, you got two options," Darren started. "Hide, lock the doors and bar down, or go after that son of a bitch. Hunt him down before he hunts you. You owe your father."
"Yes," Aqua sighed. "I still can't believe my mother rejected his ashes."
"No time to worry about that now. You gonna hunt him or what?"
"I know what I have to do."
Art usually came later in the night, particularly after a long day of hacking and doing other people's dirty work. Aqua took a deep breath. She'd have to prepare herself for the worst. Lord only knew how he'd react. In the meantime, she'd sit down and formulate a whole plan with her mother. Nothing good would come of this, nothing good ever did with Daichi.
Aqua acknowledged Darren's presence and left his office. She headed home to see her mom. It was now or never.
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