Not This Time [Tokyo, Japan]

[Nox]

Target: Unknown Woman - Tokyo Japan [dossier attached]  [[real name: Ishihara Satomi]]

***

Time was relative.  It all burred together after London.  Trains, busses, ferries, boats, walking, biking, travel and the shit that came with it.  This had been his life for so long that he'd never really understood what it meant to have roots.

And now?  Now, he had roots.  His time in Moscow had changed him in so many ways.  So many... Not all for the better.  Not all bad either.

Nox wanted a home.  Wanted a family.  Wanted to let his world revolve around something other than monsters.  It all started with amnesia -- forgetting everything that made him him.  And then reforging himself in the pits of hell.  It wasn't all hell.  There was Aria.  And Raffe.  Most of all there was Raffe.

Raffe wanted to find himself.  Told Nox to do the same in not as many words.  Their break up though Nox didn't remember it fondly might have solidified one thing -- Nox didn't want to live this life anymore.

Hunting monsters was all he could do.  All he thought he could do.  How was he going to get out from under the Atharim? or even the Ascendancy. They either hunted him, or he hunted for them.  There was no way around it.  Unless there was.  Hayden wasn't Atharim -- yet knew knew enough to be in the game.  Nox suspected he was more in the game than Nox really knew.  He didn't care that he was planted to spy on him.

To be used against him should it be needed.  Nox expected the Atharim to have him followed. If the Ascendancy had him followed he'd never seen them. But they likely employed more people like Sage than the Atharim.

Catching the green eyes watching him became a game Hayden didn't know he was playing.  Wherever Nox went Hayden was always there. But Nox didn't let him in on that secret.  It was better to know your devil than not.  But it was tempting to find the man, seek him out when shit got rough.  But Nox didn't.  He saught other means -- other solutions.  Sex with a stranger.  A rare steak.  A call to Thalia.  A text to Raffe with a picture of whatever scene he saw.  Letting the other man know he was still alive if only so he didn't worry.  The lingering message still a plague on his mind.

Sage kept him company.  And in the flurry of weeks he was gone Sage was always there -- maybe not a bird on his shoulder, but Nox could count on him.

Always count on The Wicked Truth. 

  I want to stay in Moscow.  Find me an apartment to buy. 

The conversation went on for several days.  What Nox was looking for, where.  How many bedrooms?  What could he afford.  Sage always told Nox to let him handle the finances.  But Nox delved into his own accounts.  He wasn't going to let Sage do something shady. 

It was an eye opening encounter.  His bank accounts were more than well padded.  He didn't spend money.  At least not anything out of the necessities.  He expected there would be room -- maybe for a down payment of equitable size between his and Aurora's stash.

But there was way more than that.  Sage enlightened Nox to the deals he'd been making -- the bonds he owned.  The companies he had a share in.  All the shit Sage did in his name -- legally of course.  But none of it was legal, Nox had no clue -- it wasn't bad.  He was grateful for Sage and his ambition -- his help -- his love for his sister.

Nox let Sage handle it all.  Let him buy the apartment, renovate and whatever else the hacker felt was necessary.  He was capable of taking care of whatever Nox needed.  Nox trusted in that.  Trusted that the Wicked Truth had his back.

Nox sent his report to the Ascendancy.  Though he wasn't sure what to expect afterwards. 

  Target eliminated