[center]Akira Takizawa / Lucina Cobbs [/center]

Akira was practically raised in this palace, so he found Mr. Takizawa's private room in no time. The only time the door wasn't locked was when Takizawa himself was in the room, not that anybody would try to sneak into the oyabun's room. Until now. Using his Telekineses Akira manuevered the lock mechanism and unlocked the door. He cautiously entered what seemed to be a standard office, with a desk in the middle of the room, a few bookshelves and a window with an even better view of Houston than the other room, as well as decorative statues and plants from Japan. Sitting next to the desk was a filing cabinet. Akira quickly made his way towards it, and each drawer seemed to be bolted shut. [b]"Bingo"[/b] He whispered to himself, and again unlocked all of the cabinets using Telekineses. The thought of his father, or rather anybody walking in right now almost made Akira sick, but it's not like he was attempting to sabotage the family, although in the eyes of the Yakuza, the punishment for such an offense would be severe. Akira began frantically looking through each drawer in search of anything that could have anything to do with Operation Freedom. 

 This was the third time that Luci had stumbled on the cold hard wooden staircase. She panted as she lowered her swimming head trying to catch her breath, this would be the third time she climbed the fifteen steps to reach a new floor, one more and she would finally be on the top floor.She couldn't feel anything or think about anything except [i][b]IT[/b][/i] and the task she was given. She had to scrub all the floors and walls. Every last bit of blood, teeth, spit, and other fluids had gone into her mop, but only after barley scratching the surface the mop was so saturated that she had to throw it out. So she was given a few sponges and buckets of ammonia-soap water buckets. Luci got on her knees and scrubbed. Picked up everything that didn't belong and put it into a bag. The worst part was she couldn't use her powers, Margret was staring her down the entire time so she kept having to [i]'play human'[/i].She finished in a little over an hour and was a mess in more ways than one. Her apron had blood splatters ranging from sizes, even in her black dress you could see the blood in it.her skin was covered in dried blood and flesh to the point where it got in her hair. When she turned around to Margret her eyes widened and she tried, and failed to hold back a snicker as she handed Luci a long green cape, [b]"Put this on. We don't want you startling the residents and visitors. Go to the top floor and change then report back to me for more chores. I guess you can't do the basement without getting dirty again, so someone else will do it. Don't use the elevator."[/b] So here was Luci walking up the stairs with a blank expression upon her face as she finally reached the top floor. It was even more pretty than the other floors but Luci couldn't admire it let alone remember what room she was going to. So she turned the knob on the first door she saw, not having the energy to rack her brain to remember.With unmoving eyes she reached out and pushed open the door slowly. 

Akira now sat at his fathers desk, shifting through files of places/people/events, some that dated as far back as post WWII. As interesting as it all was it was useless to Akira. The file cabinet seemed to merely be an archive but also contained information about other companies. Akira placed all of the files back in their drawers and turned his attention to the computer, which to his luck seemed to have been used earlier, because Mr. Takizawa was already logged in. Akira dove right into the seemingly endless amount of info in the computer, which held even more critical information about other companies and criminal organiziations, but of course, nothing about Operation Freedom. Akira was about to just give up, when he spotted a folder in the computer titled: [b]clients.[/b] He opened it up, and the folder seemed to obtain various individuals among Houston that were in association with the Yakuza, pretty much everything from shop owners and politicians to assassins for hire. He noticed a specific client, an Information Broker. The folder only contained a phone number and the name "Sloan" Akira recognized the name, and had heard it a few times among the Yakuza members. [b]"Information Broker huh?"[/b] Akira sighed, and leaned back in the computer chair. [b]"Some info would be really nice."[/b] He then reached for a pen and paper, and began to write down the information of the client. Akira began writing down several clients along with their information, one including what seemed to be a private detective, and another name, "Ozy" There was no profession or title in the folder, which was labeled as unknown. Strange. The odd name seemed to have distracted Akira, because he was completely oblivious to the door opening and a maid covered in blood and other, [i]substances,[/i] walk through the door. As she walked in Akira looked up and immediatley jumped in his seat. More out of confusion than from surprise. [b]"Wow."[/b] Akira blurted out, [b]"You look like you just walked out of a slaughterhouse."[/b]

Luci was not expecting to see that man sitting there when she opened the door. For a moment she just stared blankly at him, trying to register exactly what he said. His eyes traveling all over her body, not in a sexual way, at least that’s now what she thought but then she looked down and remembered. [b]“Oh…I-I guess I do look like that…hehe.”[/b] She laughed at it. And she kept laughing too. Soon she was bending over in laughing hysterias laughing so much that she had to gasp for breath, [b]“AHAHAHA a slaughterhouse! That’s really good! It…It was a slaughterhouse…”[/b] She stopped laughing abruptly remembering. All the blood…all the flesh…unknown fluids. She began to shake even harder than she had before as tears welled in her eyes, [b]“B-Blood and fl-flesh all over the place. Floors w-walls. She made me clean! I had to clean it all up! S-She watched! Te-Teeth an-and the clothes looked like a school uniform…They attacked him just because he…he…”[/b] She sank to her feet then, [b]“Because he was a [i]Halfling…[/i]”[/b] Her hands dropped to the floor next to her and she let them ice up and begin to cover the floor with ice. She didn’t care. She couldn’t even care. She was next after all. 

Akira chuckled as the girl laughed. [b]"Um, did you want a-"[/b] He was interrupted as the girl began to laugh somewhat hysterically, and watched her curiously as she stopped. It looked like she was remembering some kind of nightmare the way she began shaking. [b]"Whoa.."[/b] He whispered as the girl sank to the floor in tears. As her hands fell to the floor ice seemed to start covering the surface. Akira quickly grabbed the sheet of paper with all the client names and information, turned off the computer and stood up, making sure everything looked the same as it did when he came in. He then walked up to the girl carefully. [b]"Geez. I didn't know that stuff was so messy to clean up."[/b] Akira crouched next to the sobbing maid. [b]"You don't really seem like you should be working in a place like this, why are you here?"[/b]

Why? She laughed bitterly and looked up at the man. [b]"I am here practically against my will. My father used to be their top surgeon, but he left and made the mistake of borrowing money so it was either he and I came to work till the debt was paid, or one of his hands would be cut off. So I’m now a maid and he still preforms surgery here."[/b]

Akira remained quiet. He knew who her father is, David Cobbs. One of his friends was actually sent to grab him last week, but he kept quiet. [b]"That's awful."[/b] He said ironically, considering the fact Akira himself had to deal with quite a few debt situations. [b]"Hmmm"[/b] Akira checked his watch, he needed to get to his house and start investigating leads on Operation Freedom, but he didn't want to leave this girl here. Especially considering her situation. [b]"Hey, i've got to go research some stuff. What's say we tell Madame Margaret I have to take you on an assignment or something huh?"[/b]

She looked at the boy with confusion. "What authority do you have here? Margaret answers to the master of this house not some random...um person." He wanted to take her out of this place. This was her chance of escape before she went mad...but her father what would become of him? If she could just come up with the money they could go! [b][i]'Maybe if I pawned something of real value it would be enough!'[/i][/b] She looked Akira up and down. He was dressed very nicely and had the pose of some sort of wealth. [b][i]'I can't steal from him..hes the first person to show me any mercy here. Though he could have acess to some other places with expensive stuff.'[/i][/b] She then smiled at him. [b]"I would love to accomany you on your investigation if it were possible."[/b]

[b]"Well, I wouldn't say if authority is the right word."[/b] Akira scratched his head with one finger, trying to find the words. [b]"I guess you could say people respect me here, because if they didn't my father would cut their finger off."[/b] Akira said blankly. [b]"It's kinda dumb."[/b] He looked out the door and into the hallway as the girl pondered her answer. Every second he spent in this room he was nervous, but he was also burning with anticipation. He wanted to start looking into the list of clients he had written down and see what they had to offer. [b]"I would love to accompany you on your investigation if it were possible."[/b] the girl said. Akira looked to her and gave a big, dumb smile. [b]"It's settled than, let's get out of here."[/b]