Kat The Thief, Part 2 free porn video

Kat the Thief: How 'Fate' Messes with You, Part 2 - by Danielle Keptres Chapter 2 The streets of Tokyo are an interesting place. These days, it's an odd mixture of the conservative values of old, and the high-tech society of new. Technology and superstition make strange bedfellows. In some areas of the city, you can see billboards advertising the latest cell phones right next to a Shinto shrine, where they still worship the spirits of old. It's humbling, wierd, it will make you laugh. Life is queer like that. Thank god. I was in the downtown area, looking around for a place to stay the night. That was my first priority. I had planned to be gone, back to Osaka by this morning, but catching a bullet in the leg had derailed that plan to say the least. At least the authorities won't find me. I don't think they got a good look at Devon or myself, and even if they had seen me, I don't see how they could recognize me. That's certainly an advantage of being TG. I'm definitely feeling the pain in my leg, but I'm trying not to limp either while I walk around. I wish I had enough money to use a taxi. I do, but I need to save it. All my money is in the bank, but I don't carry any form of ID on me when I do a job. Duh, right? Well, since my ID's at home, I have to make do with what I got. I could pickpocket, but I have a Robin Hood mentality when it comes to stealing. I'm just redistributing the wealth, as I see it. This is the business district, I'm walking through. This is where all the corporate headquarters are. You can see Sony over there, Honda's building is right there. The one right there is Nintendo. I've been in that one quite a few times, let me tell you. The secretaries know me by first name now. They still haven't called me back. I passed a newsstand. Guess what the headline is? Top-secret technology stolen out of R&D at Oni corporation headquarters. I stopped at the newsstand, and picked up a copy to admire my handiwork. Of course, Oni Corp isn't going to be willing to relinquish too much detail about what was stolen, or how. It's bad business. The reporters always want more hype though. The story didn't say too much of interest. It did say that there were two unknown thieves, and there was no information regarding them at that time. That's good. I just hope it stays that way. I decided I'd keep a copy of the paper. I paid the guy watching the stand a hundred yen, and kept the copy I'd picked up. I stuffed it in my bag as I walked. That's one of the things I'll never get used to. At least, I hope I don't. You can tell which ones the fanboys are here in Japan. I see them everywhere. Some of them are kinda cute. It's the ones that just stare at you that give it away though. I know I'm not the hottest thing to hit Tokyo, but some of these fanboys seem to think otherwise. I get my inspiration for my wardrobe partly from watching too much anime, and I think they notice. There's two of them walking towards me that don't think I notice them looking. Those are the funniest ones. The one on the left is cute, though. I glance at them and smile my cutest smile as they pass right by me. Now, I'm not short, like I said before, and a lot of the Japanese are shorter than me, so I have to look down a few inches. I think I see the cute one start to drool. Might just be my imagination, though. It might also be my ego. I'm not sure. I never am! I pass a couple of shops, and look in. One of them has this pair of jeans that I want. They have this real elaborate stitching, I think it's leather, a leather detail stitched into them, that runs down the seam on the outside of the leg. The material is black, and the leather is a blood crimson. I'm always looking for more stylish clothing to add to my collection. The other thing I never have enough of is shoes. I need to get out of my work boots. They're awesome if you don't want to make any noise, but I need a pair that makes a statement! Maybe I just like attention, I don't know. I get to the section where a lot of the hotels are in the middle of Tokyo. These are all really expensive, though, and I can't stay in them anyway. The authorities always watch hotels. I have a couple of friends here in town, and I'm hoping I can crash at one of their places. My friend Kiku goes to school at the university here, maybe she'll let me stay at her dorm. That'd be fine. Or I could crash with Fox. Fox is my friend Ryan, we call him Fox, cause that's his handle online. You know, I think I'll crash with Fox. He's kewl, and we could play some Counter-Strike, or something else cool tonight. I'll call him later. Next order of business: clean out my pack. I'm near the park, so I think I'll cut through there. It's on the way to my next destination anyway. I found a nice bench to sit down at, in a somewhat secluded area of the park, and took my backpack off. At least, it's like a backpack. It's one of those multi-functional stowage packs that carries anything short of a moose. I think I tried to fit one in once. It _almost_ did. Anyway, I unlock my pack, and look around first. There's no one around right now. This cloak-and-dagger stuff is fun sometimes, but other times, it's a pain in the ass. Literally. I can feel it right now. Bullets hurt like that. I decided, might as well, and I dumped the whole pack on the grass. Okay, inventory time. I'm gonna have to throw some of this away. Crime connection stuff, if you know what I mean. You know, I should really know whether or not it's legal to carry or even own firearms in Japan, but I don't. God, I feel stupid right now. I don't think it is though, so I'll just be careful. I have my pistol registered in Australia, Canada, and the US though. I know for sure I wasn't supposed to have it on the plane though. Don't ask how I got it past the detectors. You wouldn't want to know. The pistol is a modified Berretta, with an extended barrel and stock. It holds the customary 12 round clip, with a 13th in the barrel. The silencing mechanism on it is internal, so you can't tell from the outside of it. Any form of suppressant on a weapon is illegal anywhere. I had it modified to shoot tranquilizer darts, too. The darts will disable anything short of that moose in about 5 seconds. It takes two to take down the moose. I took my pistol apart, cleaned it, and stowed it in it's case. Next up, some of my toys. I have various lockpicks, the palmtop, and some tools. I make sure the tools are clean, the palm-top is off, and that I have all my lockpicks. I dropped one of the picks before, and had to throw away the whole set because a detective found the one I dropped. Trust me, they aren't cheap. The rope is coiled up, and tied off. I fold up my clothes, and put them in there too. I'm going to throw away the gloves though, just in case. Sometimes the fibers can be matched. Don't ask me how. I'm not a forensics specialist. I'm just careful. Hey! I found a business card in my pack. It just had an address, and a time on it. 10pm, tonight. The address was somewhere over in the industrial area. That seemed like a thieve's style. He must have picked the lock on my bag. That was a 9-tumbler lock too. I had it special made. He must be pretty good. I need to do something with my stuff, this pack is heavy, and I'm getting sick of carrying it. I locked it back up, and slung it back over my shoulder. I gotta go swing by GK's place now, and thank him for his program. I also gotta see if he knows this Devon. GK ran a shop about a mile from the park. It wouldn't have been a problem getting there normally, but the walk was hell now. It took me a good 25 or 30 minutes to get there. My leg hurt quite a bit when I got there. His shop sat near some apartments buildings, up at the top of a hill. Some other shops were around it, including an old sex toy shop. This was an older area, that hadn't been updated yet. I think GK got a good price on it. I walked in through the front door of GK's shop. There was a camera that whirred as the motor coaxed the camera to follow my movement through the door. There were several other cameras inside the shop, that all moved in unison to follow me wherever I went. This always unnerved me a little every time I came in here. The shop was kinda dark. The front windows were boarded over, and inside the shop were few lights. Most of the light came from either computer monitors or colored fluorescent lights inside the computers' cases. Wires were strewn all around the room. On display was all kinds of electronics, from run-of-the-mill computer parts, to audio amplifiers, bionic ears, wire-taps, pin-hole cameras, and who knows what else. I just knew if it was something I needed, GK had it. GK was what everyone called him. I knew it was short for GateKeeper, but I didn't even know what his real name was, and I've known the guy for 5 years. I don't know if he's paranoid, or if it's just a part of his style. There was no one in the front room. That doesn't mean they didn't know I was here, though. In addition to the cameras, there was a panel of one-way glass in the back wall. I know GK had to see me coming. I didn't stop as I kept walking, right past the counter, into the back room. I could see now why GK hadn't gotten up to greet me. He and 3 other friends were all huddled up to their monitors, and the sounds of explosions and gunfire could be heard coming from their speakers. The computers were set up in a rectangle, around the center of the spacious back room. Power cords and Cat-5 network cable were strewn all across the floor, linking the computers together. I could see about 6 complete computers, and they probably had several more without monitors running game and file servers. It looked like they were playing Unreal 2k3, the latest in state-of-the- art gaming. I was never much of a fan of Unreal. GK, not even looking away from his monitor as his fingers danced across the keyboard, exclaimed, "Hey, Dani! Just a sec." I wait about half a minute, before the round ends. He smiles smugly at one of the guys at one of the other computers, who looks down, and then looks at me for the first time in a while. GK is tall, and he's about the same age as me. He's developed a little bit of a potbelly, probably from too much pizza and soda, and not enough time outside. He is a consummate geek, it's like an aura on him, or something. It doesn't mean he's not cool though. He wore a black T-shirt, with some binary code on it. I think it said, 'You are Dumb', in ASCII. It's a programmer joke. He wore his hair, a mane is a better word, unkempt but flowing, around his head. He smiled at me, and walked over and gave me a hug. We stepped apart again, and he asked if the program worked. He knew what I did. I think it bugged him a little, but I explained it to him with the Robin Hood mentality. This was understood, because he hacked. He strived to recover information for the common computer user, and I strived to return wealth to the common person. Similar idea, different execution. "Yeah, it worked like a charm." "Good. I figured it would, as long as it was connected directly into the trusted network. The underlying TCP socket connection wouldn't have been sustained otherwise." "Umm, okay. I got through, to my goal, but there were some complications when I got there." GK looked scared, and asked, "What do you mean?" "Well, someone got there before me." "Are you serious! Of course you are. They didn't catch you..." "No. I'm fine, and so are you." "Good. So, where is it?" "The complication has it." GK shook his head. "So, how are you going to get it back?" "I have a meeting tonight. I was wondering if you could watch my back somehow?" "I can bug you. The transmitter is undetectable, other than physically finding it, of course. I'm not leaving here though. You know my rules." "That's fine. Just keep tabs. I'll phone you if there's a problem. If I don't call you after the meeting, take care of it, can you?" "Not a problem." "Also, can you look up some information for me? I need you to try to find something on Devon. He's a thief, and the complication." GK understood now. He said he'd try. "One more question, you seen Fox?" One of the other gamers stands up. It's Fox. "Hey Dani! So you're just going to ignore me?" I smile, then go over and give him a hug, too. Fox was also a gamer, geek type. I guess it shows in us all. Fox had always had long blond hair, which he usually kept in a ponytail. He was a video game artist, like me. Aspiring artists, anyway. He also had piercing blue eyes. I still don't know why they're described as piercing, but there really isn't a better way to describe them. I guess it's because you can see the intelligence in them. He still has some acne, even at 25. "Fox, is it alright if I crash at your place tonight?" "Not a problem. I'll just give Jen a call. She shouldn't mind, though. Just don't give Bren any hopes this time." Fox lived with Jen, his girlfriend, and Bren, his roommate. Fox was at one time Bi, and so was GK. They actually used to have a relationship. Fox and GK both have girlfriends now, though. GK and Fox are about as devoted to their significant others as anyone could be. Bren, Fox's roommate, was gay. I think I got to close to him last time I was over, and he thought I was making advances. When I shot him down later, I think it hurt him a little much. I didn't mean to. I shot him down because I was male at the time, and it was still awkward for me. I didn't like getting involved in relationships with people because I still wasn't sure who I was. I've realized otherwise now. I doesn't really matter who or what you are, as long as someone loves you. If they really do, it won't matter how you appear outside. I still scares me to get rejected by people when they find out about both of my halves. It never gets any easier. Bren's a good person, and I'd consider a relationship with him now, if he'd have me. Well, actually, I guess it will be the first time he'll have seen me en femme, as it's so elegantly put. Actually, I don't even think he'll recognize me; maybe I'll try and play with him a little. GK and Fox both understand me, and have known me through all my trials and tribulations. It's nice to have that, people who will stick with you. GK asked if I wanted a soda, and I said yes. He left to go get it out of the fridge. Fox asked, "You wanna play a while? We have an extra 'puter set up?" I said I'd love to. > I stayed about even score-wise with the other guys. I was the only girl in the room, and everyone kept making nasty quips. I always made sure they were the next to die. GK got back, holding a couple of Cokes, and jumped back in. We played for a couple of hours. I really had nothing better to do until 10. > Everyone quit gaming at 7, and packed up. GK gave me a couple of devices, and told me how to work them. I thanked him. We kept a running tab. He expected me to pay him eventually. That was another debt I was hoping the tera-disk would help me with. I helped Fox collect all his equipment, and we threw it into his car. His girlfriend came by to pick him up; actually, it was her car. Jen drove, and Fox got shotgun. I was behind him. Jen was happy to have a guest. We talked on the car ride about random things. She asked if I had found anyone, I said I hadn't. Fox's real name was Ryan. I still was used to calling him Fox though, and did quite a bit. Jen always called him Ryan though. Ryan worked for Nintendo, as a 'Company Representative'. He was basically one of the people that they sent out to stores, conventions, and stuff to hype up their games. He wanted to do art though. Jen was an Anthropology major, and she worked for a historical society, I think. Fox and I talked about some of the stuff we were working on. I was still working on a side project, modeling and animating characters for a role- playing game with some friends. We were hoping to pitch the idea to a publisher. Ryan was working on something similar. We picked up some ramen and Sushi from a take-out place on the way. I think Jen had called ahead. Fox had a loft in a suburb, not too far out of the city, about a 1/2 hour drive. We arrived at the apartment. Fox lived in a pretty nice neighborhood. I helped Jen and Ryan carry the computer equipment into their abode. I didn't see Bren when we first entered. He often stayed in his room. He'd probably come out in a while to see who was home. The first floor was where the kitchen and living room were, and Bren's room, and the loft housed the computers, and Ryan and Jen's bedroom. We unloaded the equipment, and then went about eating the ramen and sushi. I always loved sushi. The eel is the best, but I like the tuna too, with some extra wasabi. If you've never had it, don't diss it until you've tried it. A lot of sushi isn't actually raw like a lot of people think, and it's as fresh as fish can be. It was about 8:30 when Bren finally came out of his hole. I don't know why, but he usually seemed to be just waking up. Maybe he kept weird hours. I'd have to ask him sometime. I had asked Ryan and Jen if they'd play along with this. Jen, being an anthropology major, thought it'd be interesting to see how Bren would react. Ryan thought it was funny, when I told him what I was going to do, but then he reminded me I'd be getting Bren's hopes up. I told him that was the idea. Bren was cute, in a teddy bear sorta way. I can't really explain how he looks too well. His hair was colored brightly, an orangeish-tone. He wore glasses, and he was well rounded in the face. We were in the living room sitting on the couch, with the food on the coffee table. Bren came down the hall, and looked out at us. I jumped up, and squealed, "Bren!" and ran up and gave him a big hug. I could tell he didn't recognize me, the look on his face. I even did the kick up with my leg when I hugged him. We were about the same height, but I tried to hang off him a little to lower myself for effect. I glanced over my shoulder, and Ryan snickered, Jen smiled big. "Where have you been! I haven't seen you in such a long time," I flirted. I played up the cute factor as much as possible, flirting and acting as feminine as I could manage without cracking myself up. I picked up some glimmer of recognition in his eyes. "Where'd we meet?" Yeah, he knew me, but it didn't click yet. "I've been over here before! You remember. I really wanted to see you again!" I decided I'd do it. I grabbed his ass, for just a second. I honestly think he jumped. "You know I'm gay, right?" "Yes, but that doesn't matter... I just think you are so cute." He looked over at Ryan and Jen, and they just smiled. Ryan shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I can't remember your name." "It's Dani. I'm hurt." "I'm sorry. I just..." I pouted some, slightly exaggerating it. He still reacted though. I thought he'd be more indifferent. "Really, I'm sorry." "That's okay. You sure you don't remember me? I did look a little different then..." I slid back to my male voice some through the middle of the sentence. That's something I didn't mention. I've gotten pretty good at controlling it. Melanie Ann's lessons helped a bit. We also have quite a bit of natural musical talent in our family, and I sing a lot by myself in the car. I'm always trying to emulate whatever singer is on the radio. That's one of the best ways to learn. I noticed it clicked. His eyebrows creased, and he took a step back, and looked me up and down. "Dani, as in Daniel? Damnit! I can't believe you did that." He was kind of angry, but I could tell he wasn't terribly so. I smiled. I talked in a mid-range voice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I was just kidding." I held out my arms, and he accepted. I hugged him for real this time. "I'm sorry Bren. I was kidding, and it was kind of funny. I didn't think you'd recognize, and you didn't. I couldn't help myself." He laughed now, and Ryan and Jen did too. "So when did you go and become a girl? That doesn't happen overnight. I mean, the last time I saw you couldn't have been more than two months ago. Or is that for real?" He glanced at my tits. I looked down, "Well they're real. Actually, I've been on hormones for about a year. I had these last time you saw me, it's just I bind them if I go out as male. I spend most of my time female now, though. Ryan and Jen knew. I didn't know if you did or not, but I didn't think you'd recognize me anyway." Bren and I walked upstairs, and left Jen and Ryan on the couch. I explained to him why I had rejected him last time, and how I was sorry. We talked for a long time about all kinds of different things. It was 9:30, and my watch alarm went off. I had lost track of time, and Bren and I hugged and kissed, and I said to Ryan and Jen I'd hopefully be back soon. Before I left, Bren came to the door and yelled after me. I came back a few steps. "You know, you can grab my ass again anytime," Bren offered. I waved, and blew him a kiss. I wiggled mine a little as I left. I just told them I had an errand I had to take care of. Ryan gave me a spare key to get back in. They didn't know what my night job was. I liked it that way. Ryan also said it would be alright if I borrowed his car. I told him I'd pay him back somehow, but he just said not to worry about it. I hopped in the vehicle. It was a Hnda 4-door sedan, about 7 years old. I drove to the industrial district of Tokyo. The address was a bar. It was a seedy looking bar, at that. I wished I had come dressed appropriately, but I was short on clothes until I got back to Osaka, or I got some more money. I'm figuring a train ticket will be nearly half of what I have, and I gotta cover food. This is the kind of area where I make sure to lock the car doors. I walked into the bar. It was quite a bit past happy hour, and there wasn't too much of a crowd, being as it was a Tuesday night. There were a few burly worker types sitting at the bar, and the given white-shirt wearing office workers, loosening their ties. I had my pistol in a lag holster, under the raver pants. The pants are pretty tight, but the pockets on them are really big and baggy, big enough so to conceal a firearm. I kept it loaded with tranqs normally. I felt pretty safe. The bartender, an Aussie who could've been a bouncer, looked my way when I came in, along with several of the customers. I walked up to the bar, and asked for a beer. I have an excellent metabolism, so I can handle the calories. One of the the workers at the bar, a big Japanese fellow, grins at me, and starts talking to the guy to his other side, and then glances back at me. I try not to look his way. Never forget the eye contact rule. Don't look at them, and hopefully they won't try anything. He looked more than a little drunk, and there were quite a few longnecks sitting on the bar in front of him. I sipped at my beer. It was almost 10, and I glanced around the bar, looking for Devon. There were some tables at the back end of the bar, but I didn't see him yet. I hoped he'd get here soon. Inevitably, the guy tries his luck. He comes over to me, and gives me his best line. I can smell the alcohol on his breath. He's had a little much. I also notice he has a ring. He's married. He offers me a drink, but I turn him down. He insists, and I still refuse. He's a little perturbed, but he backs down. I see him glare my way a couple of times. Devon walks in, finally. I spot him at the same time he sees me. He walks towards a small table towards the back, and waves me over. I pick up my beer and move his way. "How's your leg, Kat?" "Doing pretty good. It'll be better in the morning after I've been off it a while." "I wasn't too sure you'd manage to get out of the hospital without a lot of police trouble, a gunshot and all. You've proved me wrong again." "Well, I'm just full of surprises. Anyway, what'd you do with it, Devon?" "I had to check it out first. I'm not getting paid for it until I'm done with it. I need it for something." "Well, just what is it you need it for? I thought it was just a prototype. I mean, you can't use it, can you?" "Well, kinda. I have a friend that can read the info off it. And, no, it's not just a prototype. It's functional. Oni's been developing it for a secret project of their's. The technology is a nice by-product for them, and they can profit from it, but that's not the primary purpose they made it. " Devon settled into his chair. "This could take a while to explain. Seriously though, you were just stealing it for the money?" "Yeah, why else?" He shook his head. "You really are in the dark. We gotta find a better place to talk. I think your going to get involved in this too, once they place you at the scene. I don't like this place, but it was the safest place to meet that I could think of at the time. Did you drive?" I told him yes. He got up to leave. I paid my tab, and we went outside. Devon walked up to a nice Yamaha motorcycle. He hopped on, and strapped on a helmet. I told him I didn't feel safe leaving my car here, and he told me to just follow him. Well, this was a bit to think about. First off, how would they know I was there too? There was no possible way! I had left no evidence, in fact had tripped no sensors, wasn't seen by any cameras, and I know none of the guards got a good look. Devon seemed to be kind of paranoid now. He was so sure of himself the other night, but now was a different story. Someone behind me had their bright's on. It was bugging me. It kept reflecting off my rear-view mirror, right in my eyes. Also, how is it that that cube was in use already? I thought you needed a quantum computer to use it, and last I heard, the scientists were still a couple years away from having a working one. The guy behind me was tailgating now, too. I braked a couple of times, to flash my lights, hoping he'd back off. He was getting much too close. I knew something wasn't right when he rear-ended me. Devon looked over his shoulder, and he pulled a gun out. I swerved across both lanes, trying to get control back. I'm a pretty good driver, but this car is not a racecar, and the handling isn't that good. The car behind me tried to get to my side. Devon kept trying to get a clear shot at them, but I couldn't let them on my side, or they'd run me off. I could see now that it was a truck, a big one with a raise kit on it. The cab was a good couple of feet up off the ground. My back window shattered, and I ducked down. I heard the shotgun blast, the pellets wizz by into the dashboard, and the back of my seat. Devon sped up in front of me, and like a cartoon character doing a double-take, he swerved left, right, then left again before braking hard. His bike stood up on the front wheel, and we shot past him. I think he emptied a whole clip into the side of the truck. I didn't know what kind of gun it was that he had, but it sounded like an Uzi, and I'm sure it was an automatic. It sounded like a pissed off rattler, the bullets lighting up the side of the truck. The truck backed off for a second, hesitating. Devon sped up, taking the opportunity, and shot out one of the truck's tires. The truck turned hard right, and rolled into the oncoming lane, narrowly missing oncoming traffic, flipping twice before stopping off the road. The whole thing was over in less than ten seconds. I pulled over as soon as I could. Devon stopped a few seconds after I did. I was all right, but a little shaken. That's a lot of action for me. I'm used to action, but I expect it most of the time, and get to approach it on my terms. This _definately_ was not cool with me. Devon came over to me, while I leaned against my vehicle. "Are you alright?" he asked with concern. "I'm fine. Why the hell... well, who are they, and I'm guessing they want the tera-drive." Devon grasped my shoulder, made sure I was steady, because I staggered a little at first. My leg suddenly hurt again. It hadn't hurt that much earlier. Stress, probably. Devon was walking over towards the overturned truck, gun drawn. I noticed the driver and a passenger were trying to climb out the windows. The driver appeared to be bleeding out of the head. I walked towards the passenger side, drawing my pistol. It wouldn't do all that much if I needed to take one of them down quick, but they didn't have to know that. I leveled my gun at the passenger's neck. He noticed me as I stood about 10 feet away from him. "Get up," I commanded. He obeyed, and made it clear he didn't hold any weapons. I couldn't see Devon over the other side of the truck. I made him face the vehicle, kicked his legs wide, and patted him down with one hand, checking everywhere. He had a gun on his leg, but I removed it, and threw it a good 50 feet. I didn't have any handcuffs, but I was hoping he'd just try something, cause I'd kick his ass good. I was pissed now. He looked like a typical goon, with a Japanese twist. Actually, I think he was Korean. Anyway, I walked him over to where Devon was, keeping a couple of feet of distance between him and me. Devon had his knee in the other goon's back. "What do we do with them?" I asked Devon in English. I hoped the goons wouldn't know it. Actually, that was the first time I used English with him. Previously, I had used Japanese, but I figured he knew it. He spoke Japanese with the Australian accent, and most of the Aussies speak English first. Now that I think of it, Devon looked pretty Australian. He did know English. Good. "Well, we could just tie them up, and leave them for the cops. Doubtless, some bloke heard the tearing metal." Yeah, he was definitely Australian. "You think we can get any useful information out of them?" "Nothing I don't know already. Let's just leave them." "Okay, but no need to tie them. That could look bad. I think we'll give them a chance." I shot the guy I had in my sights in the neck. He reached up for the dart, but he quickly slumped over, like a bag of cement. Devon seemed a little shocked, until I explained," They're tranq darts. They'll sleep like babies for a couple hours. That should do them good anyway. Let them heal." Devon smiled, and we pulled the bodies back towards the truck. The truck didn't look like it was in danger of exploding or anything, so it looked fine to leave them. Now I had other things to worry about. How the hell am I going to repair Ryan and Jen's car? It didn't look too bad from the front, but the back looked pretty messed up. It was drivable, though, which was good. Actually, I thought for a sec, and yelled to Devon, "Hold on a sec!" I skipped over to the truck, and crawled into it. I opened the glove compartment, and wrote down the vehicle information, the license number, and the insurance info. I skipped back my Honda. Devon looked at me quizzically. I just smiled, and started my car. > We drove to a park, and Devon got in the Honda. We both reclined a little. "Okay, is this safe enough?" I asked. "As safe as it's gonna get." "So, who were the goons?" "Probably Yakuza. Not too certain, though. They wanted to make sure I didn't get my job done, though. You just happened to be along for the ride." "Okay, so what's going on?" "You comfortable?" I nodded. "Good. This might take a while," Devon cleared his throat, and began. "Here's what I know. There's a group that includes all kinds of influential people in power. I think the president of Oni corp. is involved in it, and quite a few political types are involved. They are interested in controlling the quantum computing technology first. In fact, it's imperative they do. This technology is so powerful it would destroy their power base. In fact, it will likely destroy the economy, politics, and society as we know it." I was really interested, but that seemed even a bit far-fetched to me. Now, remember, I watch anime, and read sci-fi, and fantasy. I'm used to far-out stuff. I was caught though, and listened attentively. "You know a little bit about quantum technology, right?" I nodded again. "Well, I'll explain anyway. It'll make it easier to explain. Basically, the theory is that you can take an atom, and you can give it any decimal value between 0 and 1, but it always gives you either 1 or 0 back whenever you look at it. It's kinda like a transistor, without extra weird properties. Scientists figured out though, how to look at it, without actually looking at it. It's called quantum probability. This also allows you to see what is the most probable future, up to a certain number of timelines ahead. If I'm getting to complex for you, just tell me." "Do you mean you can tell the future?" "No, not exactly. I could tell you what is most likely to happen in the future, to a certain extent. But that's not the incredible part. What this group's after the drive and the quantum computer for is it's processing power. Basically, a quantum computer can figure out the answer to a near infinite-variable equation in seconds. That means you could compute the stock market on one, or figure out who is going to be president in an election before it happens. The possibilities are endless, and that's their problem with it. There is a battle right now, over whether to just destroy the technology, or to use it to their own ends. "That also means that's how they could place us at Oni Corporations' R&D floor," I surmised. "Yup. Too sci-fi for you?" "Almost. My brain's doing back-flips trying to handle this, but it's not too bad." "Well, don't even get me into the parallel universes, or string theories." "I won't ask." We sat there for a few minutes, while I digested. When I thought I had a grasp on the situation, as momentary as it was, I began again. "So, what do we do? We're kinda in the together, huh?" "Right again. And I think I have a plan, too."