Bayle's Completely Badass Mansion

Bayle gave him a wide grin. "I knew I kept you around for a reason." she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. " I think after my father, you're my favorite person." She reached behind a bag of flower and pushed her hand into the wall. A light emanated from the barely visible clear plate embedded into the wood as it scanned her hand print. Shortly after, the wall moved aside, hydraulics hissing away revealing a dark black hallway. " Also, that was very sweet but really, I am a completely despicable person." she laughed. She walked down the hallway and after a retinal scan, another door opened revealing a dark set of stairs. After walking onto the landing the door closed, leaving them in complete darkness. She took Guy by the arm, "Just step with me slowly and you shouldn't fall." she said as she led him down the steps. All of them were laid to be different lengths and heights, ready to trip up anyone who didn't know them by heart. After making it down, a handprint scant, retinal scan, and voice recognition software were applied to open the final door. When it did open, bright lights temporarily blinded Guy. As his vision came back he was treated to quite the sight. A large garage like expanse was laid out before him, larger than a football field. There was an underground shooting range to his left, two tanks at the very end of the room directly in front of him, with a row of army grade jeep like vehicles with turrets mounted on them. A few mini guns and seated turrets scattered about the floor in random areas, and, Bayle's favorite part, every inch of every wall was covered in weapons. Guns, knives, grenades and more decorated the walls. They ranged from old muskets and flint-locks to the most recent in weapons technology. Also dotting the floor were a few counters for cleaning, designing, etc... "Welcome to my favorite room," Bayle said, smiling from ear to ear. She lit a cigarette and stepped forward, letting the door close and lock behind them. She strolled over to a counter and set the cat kennel on it. She picked up a desert eagle laying nearby on the table, took off the safey, and pointed it straight at the cat. "Talk or die." she ordered.

A terrified shiver ran up the cat's entire body, as much of a look of abject terror on its face as a cat could have. At first, it tried its best to remain cat-like, only to realize the look on its face was giving it away all to plainly.

Bayle fired a shot, blowing away a large chunk of kennel.

"S-stop!" came the cat's terrified voice. "I'll talk! I'll talk! Just stop shooting!"

"WHOA!" came Guy's surprised shout. "I-It really can talk!"

" Thanks," said Bayle, still pointing the gun at him. " You know, it's not very nice to just talk at someone like that and make them think they're going nuts. And I'm sure you understand that I can't have you trying to run around my little play area here. So just know that even though I'm pointing the gun at you, as long as you don't try to leave, you don't have to worry about getting shot. Now, why were you at that house? Do you have any good information on any recent events I may be involved in?"

Mao's expression became more serious. "If I tell you what I know, will you let me go? Before you answer, you should know that the people I work for could kill you if I tell you what I know. That's why I told you not to become involved. Not that I would rat you out; they'd kill me too. All I'm saying is that they are very resourceful."

Bayle laughed. "If they want to kill me they can get in line! Do you think I have all these guns for no reason?" she went ahead and laid the gun down, still chuckling. " As for letting you go...I don't see a problem with it. I'm sure you can tell I'm not someone to take lightly myself. If you cross me, you can bet you won't live very long after." She pulled up a rolling chair and sat down to get on the cat's level. "Well, start talking. I'm dying of anticipation." she said taking a drag of her cigarette and offering one to Guy as well.

Guy took the cigarette gladly, remaining speechless as he lit it.

"Unfortunately, there's not much to tell. Then again, I don't know how much you know. That Contractor's name is Amitabh Kapoor, and his ability is possession. Our mission is to eliminate him. He's come to Japan to kill certain employees of Fiore Cosmetics that are engaging in insider trading. We're not sure what his motives are."

"What's the deal with the perfume though? That's what's confusing me the most..."

"I mentioned insider trading. What was being traded were secret recipes. It happens a lot in big companies. Certain high-level employees were selling the formula to rival perfume companies for a high amount of cash. For some reason, the Contractor is targeting them and taking the perfume samples."

Meanwhile, Guy still hadn't lit his cigarette. He searched the pockets of his jacket, but couldn't find his lighter. "I swore I had it right--" He paused and withdrew three small perfume bottles from one of his pockets, confused.

As Bayle turned to offer him a lighter, she saw the vials. She stared at them silently for a moment before picking up her gun and pointing it at Kurosawa. " I really hope you have a good excuse for that."

"H-Hold on!" Guy said nervously. "I-I'm sure I can explain!" He slipped off the jacket and looked over it carefully, finally stopping at the tag on the neck. "S-See, look at this! This isn't my jacket! This isn't my size, it's just a little off! I must have picked up the wrong jacket when I was at lunch today!"

Bayle looked the jacket over and lowered her gun, smacking him on the arm. " Dammit Matsukichi! Keep track of your stuff!" she took a deep breath. She had to deal with one thing at a time here. She turned back to the cat. "Tell me about the guy in the mask."

"He's my partner. You could say that I'm the brains and he's the muscle. At least, that's mostly how our situation works." He paused and looked at Guy. "More importantly, don't you see? Your friend here may have just solved both our problems."

" I'm aware of that, and I'm going to move onto that situation in a moment. I was just curious about the masked guy. What's his name?"

The cat sighed. "Hei. And if you are so curious, I'm Mao."

She snorted a little, "Mao? How cute~" she cooed. " So what should we do with this jacket we have?" she asked out loud.

Mao grunted uncomfortable at being called cute, but let it pass. "What we know at this point is that Kapoor is after the perfumes. If you have it, he'll be after you. That can give you an opportunity to draw him out into the open."

"Alright then...looks like I'll be taking a short vacation. You wanna stay here with me, Matsu-san? I think it's safer that way."

"Yeah, that seems like the best idea..." Guy said nervously. "I'm sure Kiko and Emma will actually be totally fine without me."

"Of course, our mission is still to kill him, if we find him first. For obvious reasons, I can't tell Hei not to kill him without giving away what I've been doing here. And even if I did, he'd hardly listen to me anyway."

"Well, then, I suppose that means if your guy gets to him first, we'll never find out what ties everything together..."

" Well the widow might still have a clue, in that case. We'll just have to hold off talking to her. " Bayle thought for a moment. "Well, if it's not too much to ask, and I certainly understand if it is, if you happen to catch the guy alone, maybe you could see what's up with everything? You could get back to us on your own time." she suggested to the feline.

"I can't guarantee anything. He won't be willing to talk, and without my friends I'm--very obviously--somewhat unequipped to deal with a hostile enemy."

" Oh, I know that. It's simply on the off chance that you get the opportunity." she said smiling at him. "Well, that's all I need from you. Thanks for cooperating." She led the two back up from the basement and to her front door. "Oh, I forgot..." she dug around in her pocket and took out the bell from Mao's collar. "Do you need this?"

"Yes. It's my connection to my superiors. I'll be in big trouble without it, I'm afraid," he laughed.

Bayle knelt down and re-attatched it to his collar. "There you go. Good luck with everything."

"Remember never to speak of any of this. You look like you are good at keeping secrets, but my warning goes double for your clumsy friend here. Good luck to you too." Without waiting for a response, he slinked off into the night.

She watched the cat dart off before closing the door and heaving a big sigh. "Wow...What a day. I need a drink." She went into the kitchen and poured her and Guy some screwdrivers. "Sorry about the gun by the way. I'm so glad I didn't have to shoot you. I really didn't want to."

"No, no it's okay! I completely understand. I mean, with a Contractor who can steal bodies, you just never know." He looked down at the jacket over his arm. In all but the slight size difference, it was virtually identical to Guy's own jacket. "I mean, the jacket looks just like mine. I could have sworn I picked up the right one."

"It's actually a very fortunate mistake. Don't worry about it." she said patting him on the back. "Let's watch a movie or something, did I tell you about my mini movie theatre? It's really nice..." she said leading him off down the hallway. It should be a nice vacation.

"Movie theater?!" said Guy. "You should have said so sooner!" He laughed loudly, going back to his more relaxed self. Now that he wasn't around the cat, he wasn't so stressed anymore. "Let's go watch a movie! And then maybe we can figure out what to do now..."

"Well... " she began as she rooted around trying to find a movie to play. " I think we should stay here for a few days...probably three or so. If he hasn't come to us by then, we should probably go around places he's likely to be for a short time, so he can follow us. If I have to have a fight, I'd prefer to have it here." she picked up a disc and looked it over, smiling to herself. "I think you'll like this one." she said loading it into the projector and heading down to the theater area.