Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman Fan Fiction ❯ Ragdoll ❯ Will You Be My Daddy ( Chapter 1 )

Will You Be My Daddy?

In an open air park downtown two men sat, one sipping at a cup of tea--English tea--the other was stuffing down his third hotdog and smuding mustard into the hideous tie he was wearing. "Oh, leave off, Frank, who on earth could tell...."
"Mister Archer, sir?"
The almost childlike voice arrested the man in mid-sentence. He turned, a frown marring his too-slim, British overbred features. The little girl in cut offs, crop top and purple jacket was noone he'd ever seen before. He'd have remembered that white hair.
"Y..yes, I'm Reginald Archer, young lady, what can I do for you?"
The petite blonde grinned broadly, but her eyes flickered over to the other guy. 'Loser' was the first word to come to mind, 'pervert' came a close second. 'Mister Archer' might be looking at her like a lost schoolgirl, but his companion was giving her the 'once over' swelling with lust right there where he sat. She rolled her eyes and stepped up closer to 'Reginald.'
"Can I talk to you--alone--Mister Archer? I've got somethin' you might want." To keep him from going the direction his buddy was, she held up the man's brown leather wallet. "But I need to talk to you, too. It's really important."
Reginald started, patting his pockets, and finding them empty. He'd not gone home last evening, but straight in to the office this morning, he must have lost it downtown.... He looked sharply over at the girl, but she wasn't running away, just standing there waiting.
"Ah, well, yes. There is that." He stood and took her hand as if she were a much younger child. "Come along then, maybe we can find some icecream or somesuch... what did you say your name was?"
"I'm Nikki.. and I love icecream. Chocolate icecream." She almost skipped along beside him as they walked out of view of his companion, Frank. When they were safely away, however, Nikki stopped and tugged him into a doorway. She pressed the wallet into his hand. "You should be more careful, Mister Archer. The ISO has enemies around here, you know."
The poor man looked as though he was choking on a large, cold fish. "W..what?!"
"I read your ID. And I can help you. I know where they are." Along with the wallet, she added a smallish piece of worked electronics.
Reginald swallowed. He was an under investigator, he usually didn't get involved in all the cloak-and-dagger goings on of some of the other undercover agents out there. He turned the piece of electronics over in his hand and almost choked again when the filering sunlight glinted on the very distinct devil's head mask blazoned in red. "W.what? W..where..? Where did you get this?"
He sounded almost like an enraged uncle about to lecture her for bad marks in school. Damn, but Nikki liked this guy. He was... nice.
"I found it at their ... recruiting station downtown. It's even behind a hidden door and all. I can show you. I can get all kinds of info like that... but..." a light glowed in intense cobalt blue eyes, that had no business in a young teenager's. "..it's gonna cost you..."

* * * * * * * * * *

Three days later, Nikki was working at the Golden Buddha. An arrangement set up by Mister Archer's partner, the pervert Frank, but it was a good job. (She secretly thought that Reginald wouldn't have known *where* to set her up--leave it to the etchi to know!) She could wait tables, tease the upper-class clientelle, and dance for her keep. That and sniff out secrets, that was. For the ISO, from the greenies, she didn't care. It was her 'service' in exchange for a bit of cash (enough to let her be picky about the 'private dances' she had to take) and a promise that he'd personally conduct a search for her missing brother.