Chapter Text
---start chat---
takkun: this data dump you sent me...
catatonic: I thought I said not to decrypt it.
takkun: you know better, idiot
catatonic: I really do.
catatonic: Still willing to hold onto it for me?
takkun: ...yeah ok
takkun: this is trouble though. you really are a pain
catatonic: I know. Tell me about it. Just hold onto it. If I don't get back to you by tomorrow...well, you know what to do.
takkun: you sure you're ok? If you're in trouble we could help
catatonic: This is a little more trouble than hiding out for a few days at LRN is going to solve
catatonic: ...but thanks, Takkun. I know you guys would help if I asked. If you don't hear back from me in 12 hours, I'll be glad to have you come steal my butt out of trouble.
takkun: jeez, sounds like you're not putting a lot of confidence in this 'help' you say you have
catatonic: You...don't know half of it. But considering the guys I've pissed off, they're the best option.
catatonic: Assuming I can convince them to not kill me first.
takkun: ...idiot
catatonic: Don't go getting sentimental on me, pork noodles. Don't worry. I have a plan.
takkun: Whatever. I'll hold onto your toys for you. Come by LRN when this blows over. If you're not dead.
takkun: don't get dead, cat
catatonic: Same to you, Takkun. Time to hit the button. Say hi to the guys for me.
----end chat----
Cat reluctantly closed out the window and went through the route process of wiping the history. She rumpled her chin-length hair tiredly and stared at the screen.
The terminal cursor blinked like an angry star. She'd been staring at the screen for five minutes, but her tea was going cold and there was no more putting it off.
She glanced over her assembled scripts. They would be flawless, just as they were when she checked them twenty minutes ago. She'd confirmed the data dump was safe with Takuto and she knew he wouldn't let her down. With the people who were looking for her, she'd already been at this sidewalk cafe too long.
Time to ruin her life, then. Or save it. One of the two. She didn't have much of a life expectancy if she did nothing.
Cat hit enter, and a flood of terminal text began to swim past her screen. She flopped back in the booth and sighed.
Show time.
----
The Hotel Tres Spades was a well-oiled machine, and Eisuke liked it that way. So when he walked into the lobby, he initially dismissed the racket as the usual excitement, the shark-like swarming of press, that usually accompanied the days leading up to the I.V.C. But when he looked up from his phone to flash a for-the-press smile, Eisuke paused.
It was not the press, mostly because the press was loaded down with luggage, along with a large, distinctly unhappy crowd or other celebrity guests milling around the lobby. Waiting, perturbed, delayed, rather than socializing. To the hotel's credit, each guest had a very expensive complimentary cocktail in hand, but each guest also had a daggered look for the front desk.
Something was very wrong. Tres Spades staff had mobilized, and a dozen or more managers in suits buzzed behind the counter, answering questions and soothing irate celebrities. Eisuke took a step towards the desk, ready to begin firing incompetents on the spot until the problem was resolved. But then he saw the screens.
And Eisuke stopped short.
A bank of screens were set discretely into the wall above the check-in desk. They normally displayed helpful information in subtle, subdued tones and text. Announcements. Peaceful beach scenes. V.I.P. welcomes, that kind of dreck.
Today, there was a single image, not only on those screens but reflected on every visible monitor behind the front desk. It was obvious from the useless flailings of the staff that they had lost control of the computers. The glitch was an image, a black and white outline of a cat head. A cat sporting a wide, dazzling grin.
A cheshire cat. An attendee of the mad tea party.
Eisuke changed direction and strode for the V.I.P. elevator. He hit the button for the penthouse with enough aggravated force to make it stick, already queueing up calls on his phone.
Someone was not going to just lose their job. Someone was going to suffer for this.
----
By the time he reached the penthouse, he'd had his fill of stammered apologies. The problem was bigger than he thought. It wasn't just the Tres Spades, every hotel he owned reported the same interruption. Systems down, guest services disrupted, and every display over-ridden with the same. damned. cheshire cat.
The Ichinomiya Group had been hacked, and his IT director was proving less than useless. The man stammered assurances and hourly reports, but Eisuke was already mentally drafting the vacancy on his board. He had no time for incompetence, especially when it cost him money.
The damned cat was on the Penthouse's big screen as well. Eisuke turned away from it angrily and was half way to the stairs when he realized the lounge was full. Baba and Ota shared the couch, muttering some kind of gossip while Kishi snored neary-by. Soryu leaned against the wall and gave him a short nod. They all seemed to be waiting.
"So? What's so urgent? I thought we weren't supposed to meet until tonight." Soryu skipped greetings as usual.
Eisuke narrowed his eyes. "We weren't. Why are you all here?"
"Uh." Baba fished out his phone and wagged it at him. "You summoned us. See, email: 'Penthouse, now. Auction business.'"
"Does this have something to do with your new logo? I could have done better." Ota nodded to the television screen.
"Don't start." Eisuke snapped the phone out of Baba's hand. "Give me that. I didn't email any of you."
"Came from your private address." Baba pointed. Eisuke glowered, as if that would make what he saw on the phone's screen make sense.
Then the screen went blank. Eisuke tapped Baba's phone a couple times before tossing it back at him. "Carry a phone that's not crap."
"Hey. Did yours just lock up, too?" Ota had been entertaining himself with his phone, but looked up now. "Soryu?"
"Some of us actually have work to do..." Soryu's mutter fell off as he flipped open his own phone. The furrow that appeared on the mobster's brow said he was not seeing what he wanted to see.
"I don't have time today to..." Eisuke stopped when he looked down at his own phone. He'd been staring at the IT director's first report a moment before, but now all that displayed was an irritatingly familiar logo of a cat. Eisuke thumbed at the screen, but a new line of text popped up: "Knock. Knock."
"What the..."
"Look at that."
Eisuke looked up to see the logo on the Penthouse's large screen had changed. In it's place was a screen of fast-scrolling text, screenshots, images.
"That's my manager's email," Ota said.
"I recognize those blueprints," Baba added.
"Ice Dragon financials," Soryu muttered darkly as a series of bank statements few by.
"And that's police records." Kishi said, as if he hadn't been napping a moment ago.
Eisuke said nothing, but everyone recognized the Tres Spades logo as spreadsheets, invoices, and other sensitive business data began to fill the screen.
Baba cleared his throat and caught Eisuke's attention. He nodded and Eisuke looked up. The light of the webcam mounted above the screen had turned from red to green.
"Identify yourself." Eisuke said.
The screen changed, morphing from a data stream and back to the cheshire cat. It was animated this time, tail slowly swishing as it's eyes flicked around, as if it could really see them.
The voice that came through the screen was robotic, heavily altered and full of static. "You need to hire better security, Mister Ichinomiya. And Mister Baba needs to work on his Candy Crush score."
Baba snorted behind him, but Eisuke didn't find himself amused. "Whoever you are, you've made a very big mistake."
"Very, very big," Soryu said darkly. "No one blackmails the Ice Dragons."
"Blackmail? No. Consider this a simple business proposition. I have an item for your auctions, and I think it's a deal that would be profitable for everyone."
"If you know about the auctions, you should have made an appointment with a sponsor." Ota spoke up.
The cat made a robotic chuckle. "I don't think I'm the kind that would have made it into your appointment books. I needed to get your attention."
"You certainly have that." Baba said.
The cheshire cat seemed unperturbed. "I have a business proposition I wish to discuss with you, after which, I am more than happy to return your lost data to you. I promise you it is profitable to your interests."
'Profitable to your interests' is usually what a business partner said right before they tried to screw you, Eisuke thought wearily. But the animated cat plunged on before he could respond.
"I'm forwarding an address to your phones. Please meet me there in an hour to discuss the auctions. As an act of good faith, Mister Ichinomiya, if you look now, you'll find your hotel's service systems restored after this demonstration. I apologize for any inconvenience it's caused you."
At that same moment, Eisuke's phone beeped, displaying a message from IT Director. The network was still locked up, but the hotel management system had been restored. And, of course, the IT department still didn't have a clue what was going on. When he looked up, the chesire cat was gone from the screen and the usual hotel logo had returned.
"Soryu." Eisuke said and the mobster was already moving. He was forced to use the penthouse phone as his cell was still locked up, but Eisuke was certain Soryu could rally an Ice Dragon detail on the address well before they arrived. Perhaps even catch their thief for them.
"Well. He's awfully polite for a hacker." Baba commented.
"Manners won't save him." Eisuke muttered and grabbed his coat. "I assume you all are coming?"
"Things have been too dull around here anyway." Ota clapped Kishi on the shoulder and the detective let out a groan.
"Speak for yourself."
"Let's go catch us a nerd." Baba agreed as they headed to the elevator.