Chapter 1: Resume
Chapter Text
So, this time you come to me asking for a love story eh? Well you won’t be getting anything personal from me, that’s for sure! Our story begins with a Maliwan war monger, trained from birth to be aggressive and ruthless to the outside world. Unfortunately when one is raised under such… unique circumstances, you turn out to be a giant freaking asshole! The interesting thing is what happens when you take power away from a man born into abusing it. This sounds far from a romance you say? Well my friends, love can change a person in a few ways, but being led into a career of vault hunting in the middle of it all can sometimes speed things along.
~
As far as the vault hunters were concerned, Katagawa Jr. was dead. As Katagawa laid on the rooftop, a very large part of what was left of him wished that he was. He stared down at the large gash taken out of his midsection. He let his head fall back, and winced as it hit the concrete. Upon impact he felt something lightly bounce against the side of his head. He raised his hand as steadily as he could to retrieve it, but winced when he felt a sharp pain from his eye socket. His hand jerked back. Squinting to see it, a wave of cold washed over his face realizing it was his Echo-eye. His arm dropped and he heard glass clink as the eye left his hand and rolled away. He attempted to draw in a deep breath but stopped, feeling the pain upon his lungs expanding.
He stared up at Promethea’s night sky watching the lasers and gunfire, which to him were beginning to look like mere blinks and blurs. A large bright light flicked on above him. It grew closer and he began to hear the sounds of a ship as it approached. Upon recognizing its shape, and the familiar colour scheme he closed his eye and wished for death once more.
~
Katagawa stood leaned over the sink staring into the mirror. Holding his eye open with his thumb and pointer finger, he bit his bottom lip as he inspected the new Echo-eye. Its iris was a natural circular shape, the only thing giving it away from his normal eye being its bright purple colouring. The colour wouldn’t have been his first choice, but he supposed he was due for a new one. Usually it wouldn’t have taken getting beaten within an inch of his life by vault hunters to get it.
A knock came from the door in the other room. His head fell back as he rolled his eyes. “What?” He called, and waited a few seconds for a response which ultimately turned out fruitless. He let out a deep sigh and reached for the bathroom door. He’d not been back on Mothership for a full twenty-four hours and something was already demanding his attention.
He stepped out and the door swung gently shut behind him. As he began to descend the stairs the knock came again. He grumbled, fiddling with the buttons on his jacket to do it up, before giving up and throwing it onto the sofa as he walked by. “What do you want-” He whipped open the door expecting his father, until his eyes were drawn down. He scoffed, laughed and leaned on the door frame. “Calvin.”
Calvin, a short chubby young man, stood with his arms crossed. “Yeah, nice to see you walking, “boss”.” He shot back. “Your dad wants to talk to you like, now.” He pointed down the hall with his thumb.
“If he’s so busy he had to send his errand boy, I think he can wait.” Katagawa said, closing the door.
The door stopped abruptly as Calvin jammed his foot between it and the frame. “Yeah- here’s the problem with that.” He pushed the door open and leaned on it to keep it that way. “He’s already in the mood to rip your head off. Keep him waiting and you’ll just piss him off some more.”
Katagawa shook his head, pushed Calvin out of the way and started down the hall.
“Good luck, general.” Calvin called after him sarcastically.
Mothership acted as Maliwan’s head office and base of operations. It was also Katagawa’s childhood home. The ship was older than he was, but still had the capacity to amaze new employees with its size, only dwarfed by Hyperion’s now crashed Helios station. To them it was huge. Enough to warrant setting up a life on. Though he’d been away on his own ship for a while, Mothership was still the same tri-tanium can he’d seen every inch of. He stuck his hands in his pockets and slowed down, as it wasn’t a long walk from his room to his father's office.
He stopped in front of the secretary’s desk. “My father wanted me?” He inquired, unenthused.
She looked up at him from her keyboard and reached for a button on her headset. “Sir, your son is here.”
Katagawa stared down at her, debating on attempting small talk before deciding against it. He caught a glimpse of himself in the window out to space behind her. He tucked in his shirt and rolled down his sleeves.
There was a buzz, and the secretary nodded towards the door. “He’s ready for you.” She said sweetly, and went back to typing rapidly at her work.
He straightened his posture, rolled his shoulders back and stepped inside. Every time he did so, it reminded him of being young and wondering when it would be his. After his sorry display on Promethea, something told him it wasn’t coming any time soon. He stopped in front of his father's desk. He felt his hands ball up and start to sweat. “Dad-“
“Sit down.” His dad, who was glancing over something on the computer monitor, pointed to the chair beside Katagawa.
Katagawa did so, quickly and quietly.
His dad put his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands together. He looked Katagawa dead in the eyes. “What the fuck was that?” He spat violently.
“Uhm-“ Katagawa stammered, taken aback by his father's directness.
“I said, under no circumstances were you to go down and fight. You were to let your soldiers do their jobs, and you were to do yours and command them.” His voice grew louder as he spoke. “You convince me to let you do this Atlas job alone, and unprompted. Now, what happened?” He stopped, and waited for a response.
Katagawa drew in a small, shaky breath and attempted to force out some words. “I got... um...” They came out weak and quiet. He broke eye contact and looked down to the floor. His shoulders came up and his back slouched.
“My men bring you back beaten to a goddamn pulp by some backwoods vault hunters!” He boomed, poking his finger down on his desk.
Katagawa felt a sting in his eyes and the back of his throat. “It wasn’t that bad-“
“They brought your left kidney back in a plastic bag! What do you mean it wasn’t that bad? It took four hypo-needles to stabilize you! And what the hell did you do to your hands? They have four fingers!”
Katagawa looked down at his hands, and felt his cheeks go red. He tried to come up with some acceptable reason, but it didn’t come to him.
“...It was because you were trying to look like that ninja freak, right?” He leaned back in his chair, and waited for his son to attempt to offer an explanation, but all he got was a subtle nod. He brought his hand to his forehead, closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “The ship, what happened to the Zanara?”
“Vault hunters blew it up.” Katagawa finally managed to squeak out a sentence. “With the Skywell laser.”
“You took a ninety-seven billion dollar ship into shooting range of your laser?”
“I was... stupid.” Katagawa admitted.
“You’re an irresponsible brat.” His dad stood up from his desk, and walked around to its front. “You didn’t work for that ship, so you didn’t care.” He leaned back and rested a hand on his desk. “You’ve never worked for anything, and maybe that's my fault.”
Katagawa looked back up at his dad and squinted. “What are you talking about? I work.”
“Bullshit. If you’d have focused and done your job right you would’ve had Atlas under Maliwan control weeks ago. Instead, you pissed around toying with their CEO until he got some decent backup. Hell, you had goddamn sirens and their cult of psychopaths at your disposal. Every opportunity was handed to you to win, I was almost impressed, yet you failed.”
“They had a siren too... and an iron bear-“
“And you thought you could take them all at once by yourself?” His dad boomed. “You are not a vault hunter!”
Katagawa had nothing to say. His dad was right.
“You’re paying me back for the Zanara.”
“Paying you back?” Katagawa stammered. “I bought the Zanara!”
“You bought the Zanara with my money. You were irresponsible with it, and now I want that money back.”
“Fine.” Katagawa stood up out of the chair. “You want me to work until it's paid off? I can do that.”
“I hope you don’t think I mean working here. No, that would be too easy.”
“What?”
“You clearly make more than your worth here. Therefore, I’m laying you off until you’re worth it.”
“But- what?” He took a step backwards. “That's not fair, how am I supposed to pay you back if you lay me off?”
“I’m sending you to Eden-4. You’ll get a job there, and work your way back up here.”
Katagawa’s jaw dropped slightly. “No, no, Eden-4’s nothing but small towns and farmland, I’m not going-“
His dad cut him off. “You’ll go to Eden-4 or I’ll send you to Pandora. See how well you do then.” He stood up straight and took a few steps closer, staring his son in the eyes. “And you and I both know you don’t have the brains or the balls to work your way back up from there.”
Katagawa turned and started towards the door.
His dad didn’t stop him. “Your ship leaves in an hour. If I were you, I’d get packing.” He turned around to sit back down at his desk. “By the way, I know what happened on the Zanara. What you did to your brothers and sisters.”
He felt his blood run cold, Katagawa stopped in his tracks but didn’t dare turn around to look at his dad again.
“I’d rather have no kids right now, than call you my son after that display if I’m being perfectly honest.” He said, going back to his work.
Katagawa started walking again, this time faster. The distance from where he stood to the door felt like eternity. ~
Katagawa burst through the door to his room, causing it to hit the wall. He threw himself onto his bed, covered his head with a pillow and let out a long scream.
“That bad, huh chief?”
Katagawa’s brow furrowed. He pulled the pillow off his head and looked over, seeing Calvin sat down on his couch with the tv on. “The hell are you doing in here?” He asked, and whipped the pillow across the room at him, hitting Calvin square in the back of the head. “Get out! I’ll fucking kill you!”
Calvin took the pillow and threw it back. It landed several feet short of the bed. He sighed and stood up. “Your dad wants me to go with you. Make sure you keep on track.”
“Oh my god.” Katagawa rolled over onto his back and ran his fingers through his hair. “You have got to be shitting me. You are not coming, I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Look man, I’m not thrilled about it either!” He took a few steps closer. “You think I want to watch your ass stumble around for lord knows how long? No, I’d rather be up here too. Like or not, you and me are stuck together, and so help me if you don’t at least try to make it work-“
“This is it... my life is actually over.” He kicked his legs forward and hopped to his feet. “Like seriously, seriously over!” He complained, and started pacing. “I should’ve just laid down when I was at Atlas, and let the vault hunters kill me! Because there’s nothing left after this!”
“Drama king!” Calvin raised his voice, and plunked a suitcase down in front of Katagawa. “Start Packing! We need to leave soon.”
“No! You’re not ordering me around!” Katagawa stopped and crossed his arms. “I’m not going to Eden-4, because eventually my dad’ll see this is stupid!”
Calvin brought his hand to the bridge of his nose and clenched his eyes shut, letting out an exasperated sigh. “You realize this is why he’s doing this, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“This!” Calvin gestured to Katagawa as a whole. “Look, every time something doesn’t go your way, you throw a giant fit.”
Katagawa opened his mouth to retaliate but was cut off.
“Shut!” Calvin pointed at him. “You’re never held accountable to your actions. You just whine to your dad every time something goes wrong. That's not what a grown man does. You act like an overgrown child, and everybody knows it.”
Katagawa sat down on the bed and stared at the floor.
“I think you know it too.” He said, softer this time. “You wanna show him you’re not just a waste of his time. You’ll go down there, work your ass off until he caves and tells you to come back, because let's face it- we both know he will, and when he does, you’ll do it with a vengeance. Feel what I’m getting at here?”
Katagawa sat quietly for a moment. “Yeah.” He stood up and grabbed the suitcase off the floor.
“Good man.” Calvin reached up and patted Katagawa’s shoulder. “I’ll meet you at the terminal.” He turned toward the door, but stopped and backtracked slightly. “And don’t... like, bring anything weird. ...I’m talking about the sword. Don’t bring the sword.”
“Oh- like you could stop me from bringing the sword.” Katagawa chuckled, setting the suitcase down on the bed and opening it up.
“Bring a sword to a civilized planet, and I will shoot you in the asscheek.” He said sternly, shutting the door behind him.
Katagawa’s head rolled back as he sighed.
Suddenly Calvin opened the door again. “When we unpack I better not see any fuckin’ body pillow-”
“Oh my god, leave me alone!”
~
Katagawa sat with his head leaning on the window and his knees uncomfortably pressed against the seat in front of him. “There’s no room for my legs.”
“Mhm. Maybe you’re just too tall.” Calvin said, not bothering to look up from his laptop.
Katagawa huffed and shifted to sit up straight. He rubbed his face with his hands and turned to look at Calvin. “They have the gravity turned up too high. It’s making my back hurt.” Upon seeing Calvin was now ignoring him, he reached across and slapped the laptop closed.
Calvin jerked his hands back in time and turned to look at him. “Are you five?”
Katagawa crossed his arms. “I said my back hurts-“
“I heard you the first time! What do you want me to do about it?”
“I dunno, get them to change it or something.”
Calvin’s eyebrows raised into a look of bewilderment. “Buddy, we’re on an economy class ship. They don't exactly take requests. Besides, non-private ships usually tune the gravity so it matches the destination planet. Gives you time to get used to it before you land.”
Katagawa turned back towards the window. “Economy class sucks.”
“Yeah it does, but it’s what poor people like you can afford.” Calvin jeered, opening his laptop again.
“I’m laid off, not poor.”
Calvin paused his typing and looked over. “Check your account there, chief. Your dad told me otherwise.”
Katagawa’s Echo-eye lit up. Upon accessing his bank account his jaw dropped. “He cleaned me out?” He squeaked. He blinked hard and shook his head.
Calvin stared for a moment until he saw tears start to well up in Katagawa’s eyes. “What’s the damage?”
Katagawa slumped down in the seat, digging his knees further into the seat in front of him, as if trying to hide himself from the universe. “Twenty-five dollars.”
“Woah.” Calvin’s eyes widened in surprise. “Y’know I thought he meant he was gonna leave you with like, the two thousand five hundred kind of twenty-five, not the two, five, kind of twenty-five.” He said, trying to stifle a laugh.
Katagawa turned to face the window, and attempted to draw his legs in closer to him, but the cramped space did not allow for it.
“For fucks sake-'' Calvin grumbled through his teeth as he twisted his head and looked down the aisle of the small passenger ship to check if anyone was coming. “Sit up, asshole!” He reached over and smacked Katagawa on the shoulder. “We should probably get you started on a resume. What are we coming up with here?”
Katagawa straightened upright. “Just put down my real job. It’s high up, I’ve been doing it for years-”
“So you want me to write recipient of the biggest ass-whooping in corporate history?”
Katagawa glared, not saying a word.
“Okay, maybe not the biggest. We both know biggest ass-whooping went to Handsome Jack, I mean how do you lose when you unleash a giant alien fire monster? But anyways- I’d say you’re in the top five. Anything else we can put?” He looked up from the laptop and saw Katagawa staring at the floor with his arms crossed. “I can’t tell if you’re thinking or pouting right now. You’re going to have to help me on this buddy. Just give me something.”
“It’s the only job I’ve had.”
“That’s exactly what I was afraid of. What about school? I know your dad sent you guys somewhere.”
“Demophon School of Business and Finance.”
“Ooh, fancy. And I know you passed because your dad paid all his kids' teachers off so that’s nice.” He said sarcastically.
“He did not!”
“Listen, you may be his son but I’m his assistant. I’ve spent almost every waking hour with him for the past four years. That man has told me things from so deep inside himself that it’s gonna give me sleep paralysis demons until I’m eighty.”
“Well they had to make somebody take one for the team didn’t they?” Katagawa said smugly.
Calvin squinted at him. “No sympathy going on up there whatsoever huh?”
“Not for you.”
“You’re a dick. What’s your first name?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Katagawa scoffed.
“Uh.. yes. I would, and I’m betting the person that’s going to interview you would too.”
“You’re the one that was just being a smartass about how you think you know my dad better than me, and you’re saying you don’t know his first name?”
“I don’t, actually. The only reason I can think of why neither of you would tell me is because it’s probably something super embarrassing. Plus, your dad’s not exactly the kind of person that would take nicely to his subordinates being so casual towards him.”
“Oh, but I am?”
“Yes. You are the subordinate now. You don’t get that luxury anymore.”
“Alright, here’s an idea.” He crossed one leg over the other and rested his cheek on his hand. “We use my real name, and people are going to know who I am right away if they do a quick background check. So we rearrange things a little. You’ll put down my last name as my first name, and I’ll... borrow your last name for a bit.”
“Creating an almost fake Identity, okay, but why does it have to be my last name?”
“Because then we have a story. We just say I’m your brother and any correlation with my family is coincidental.”
“Oh my god.” Calvin’s head fell into his hands.
“What?”
“A, we look nothing alike. B, I know what happened to your last set of siblings!”
“Ah, pfft. We say I’m adopted.”
Calvin sighed. “Fine, but how do we explain your giant gap in employment?”
“We tell people I was very sick.”
“Oh you’re sick alright.”
“Shut up. If anybody asks we say it was moon rock poisoning. It’s basically a less serious version of iridium poisoning, but curable and without turning your blood purple. Only cancerous seventy-eight percent of the time too.”
“You know if someone figures you out and you get arrested or someone puts a hit on you or something I am not helping you.”
“We’ll be fine, you won’t have to worry about a thing. We go down there, I work for a week or two, Dad realizes how stupid this is and everything’s back to normal.” He held a fist up to Calvin. “Right? Brother?” He stared at him with a wolfish smile.
“You’re talking your daddy into giving me a raise when this is over.” He said.
They bumped fists.
“We’ll see.”
~
As they walked the suitcases they pulled behind them clacked along on the sidewalk. For what was the capital of the Eden Belt’s largest agriculture producer, it was quaint. The tallest of the buildings they’d seen had only been three stories, and judging by the town’s skyline it appeared to hold the record. The traffic was sparse, and what little there was were just trucks and livestock trailers.
“So, I found a job posting I think we should send your resume in for.” Calvin said. He’d been on his Echo since they got off the passenger courier. “It’s a bakery. They just want someone for general labour-“
“Pass.” Katagawa interrupted.
“I don’t know, I think you should try starting somewhere small.”
“There’s small and then there’s settling for destitute. What else is there?”
“Well…” Calvin started scrolling. “There’s not much, it’s mostly retail and I don’t think either of us want to deal with you learning how to work with the general public.”
“Doesn’t Tediore have an office here?” Katagawa groaned. “I know they built something out here in the boonies a few years ago.”
“Distribution center. It was on this planet… hey good guess! They have two listings. One is an entry level manual labour position.” Calvin reached over and squeezed Katagawa’s arm. “You’re strong, you can spend all day lifting things, right?”
Katagawa yanked his arm away, irritated. “Tell me what the other one is, Butterball.”
“Local Marketing and Propaganda management.”
“...It’s something at least. Send it in, tell them I’ll be available in an hour. I wanna dump this freakin’ bag off first.”
“There’s a couple things wrong here. First of all, you don’t pick the interview time when you are the one being interviewed. Second, you don’t even have the experience that they have listed. Hate to break it to you, but war mongering and marketing are two totally, totally different fields-”
Katagawa stopped and threw his head back. “Oh my god, I don’t care! I’ll figure the job out when I get it. If my idiot brother did it, it can’t be that hard.”
Calvin propped up his suitcase and stopped. “Oh yeah. The idiot brother that you killed? Y’know somehow, I keep forgetting about that, it’s like you have this way of just… y-you just... you have this way of making it seem like it didn’t even happen, like it was just a normal thing to do.” He took a step closer to him. “Has it even sunk in yet? What you did? Because what bothers me is that if you were anybody else, you wouldn’t even be standing here right now.”
“Well I am here so-“
“So I’d rather have any of your brothers and sisters here right now than you. Yeah, they were all entitled jackasses like you, but at least a few of them knew how to stand up and take what life gave him some semblance of humility!” He said firmly, on the cusp of raising his voice.
Katagawa rolled his eyes. “Just send the thing in!” He pushed Calvin out his way and started walking again. “You don’t have to be so sensitive about it!”
Calvin stood stunned for a moment. He took a deep breath, shook his head and grabbed his suitcase to follow.
~
Katagawa laid on the balcony of what was definitely the most depressing motel room he’d ever stayed in. Looking up at the sky, the stars were just as clear as they were from space itself. The incessant quiet of the small town, only broken by the occasional car going by down on the road, had driven him to an Echo-net binge hours ago. Unfortunately the trending news and rumors were ones that he was already familiar with.
“Atlas-Maliwan War on Promethea Allegedly Declared Over By Company’s CEOs - Maliwan Forces Said to Withdraw in The Following Weeks.”
“Many Maliwan Higher-Ups Confirmed Dead. Company to Conduct Internal Investigation. CEO Refuses to Comment.”
“Atlas Military Working To Clear Out Remaining Violent “Children Of the Vault” Cult Members.”
“As Promethean Survivors Come Out Of Hiding, Atlas Corporation Pledges Humanitarian Aid to Those Displaced.”
“Breaking: Atlas CEO To Go Live In Response To War Outcome:”
Katagawa scoffed. “What do you have to say Rhys-ball?” He opened the link to a shot of the front of Atlas Headquarters just as morning was breaking on Promethea.
Atlas’s front doors opened and Rhys took to the microphone set up prior. Zer0 followed and stood beside him. The small crowd fell quiet. Rhys opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. He took a breath and ran his cybernetic hand through his hair. “I didn’t sleep last night.” He started. “And I’m sure a lot of you didn’t either… for weeks maybe. ...If I’m being honest there is no good way to start this conversation. I’m sure there’s many of you who maybe don’t even want to hear this conversation because you blame me. And believe me, I don’t blame you for blaming me, because you would be right. I know Atlas isn’t completely innocent. In trying to defend ourselves, we hurt people. People put themselves on the line for us, and our home and because of them we were able to keep it.” Rhys paused and wiped the tears from his eyes on his sleeve. “And for them I want to make Promethea strong. To prove to everyone that suffered and all the lives that were taken too soon from us weren’t just for some corporation’s profit and independence. I’m going to make sure Atlas is there for the people, alright? We’re going to rebuild…I’m not just going to drop it and take the easy road. If we support each other and lift each other up we can be stronger together than we’ve ever been and make sure nobody on this planet has to go through what we went through together, ever. again. Promethea stood with the Atlas corporation... and with me through that war, and now I’m asking Promethea to let me stand with them.”
The camera panned to the crowd. Gradually the silence was broken into clapping and cheers of agreement.
When the camera made its way back around to Rhys, he was smiling and blushing. “So I’ll... take that as a solid maybe?”
“You staying out here all night big man?”
Startled, Katagawa closed the stream and jolted up.
Calvin staggered back a step. “Woah buddy. ...You good?”
Katagawa looked up at him. “What do you think?”
“Well you’ve been laying on the floor for the past three hours zoned out either to the sky looking for aliens, your own thoughts or most likely the Echo-net on your little freaky eye. So I’d say either you’re totally relaxed or you’re having an internal panic attack.”
“What do you want?” Katagawa asked, getting up.
“Honestly…” He shrugged slightly. “Just came out to check on you.”
“What, did my dad call you and tell you to make sure I don’t miss bedtime?” He asked sarcastically. He brushed past Calvin into the hotel room.
Calvin stepped in after him and slid the door shut. “He did not call me, but it is getting late.”
“Who cares.” Katagawa flopped backwards on the closest of the two beds.
“Apparently Tediore. They actually responded. They want you in for an interview pretty early tomorrow.”
“Told you they’d take me.”
“Now hang on, you’re acting like you already got the job. I still think we should put you in at a few more places just to be safe.”
Katagawa pulled the blanket down and slid under the covers. “And I think you need to have a little faith in me.”
“Because even more faith is what I need to put into the homicidal maniac I’m about to sleep in the same room with.” He said getting into the other bed.
Katagawa switched off the lamp and turned to face the wall.
~
“Do you know for what you’ve come here?” A slow ghastly voice staggered, reverberating, sounding like it was coming from all angles.
Katagawa’s eyes snapped open. The cold, misty air filled his lungs, and the dew on the grass soaked his shoes and the bottoms of his pant legs. The full moon lit up the thick, crisp vegetation of the forest around him.
He whipped around, looking for the source of the voice. He reached into his jacket to pull a gun out of his digistruct, but the unit wasn’t there.
“Anger alone will take you nowhere.”
“Where are you?” Katagawa yelled.
“I will answer… when... you are… the right person.”
He grit his teeth with frustration. “Cut the bullshit!”
The forest fell silent, the last sounds being his own voice echoing back and forth. He heard a gentle rustle of foliage and turned towards it.
Before he could make out what it was, it dashed out from the woods and had his neck clamped in its long, needle-like fingers. He felt his feet rise up off the ground. He grasped and pulled at the talons piercing his neck and kicked his legs, both proving to be acts of futility.
“You… are not yet in control.” It somehow spoke with no mouth.
He stared at the blank white face and into its eyeless sockets, feeling his own blood running down his back and chest. His gaze trailed down its elongated neck, and saw bright glowing purple wings.
He sputtered and choked, but instead of a cry for help only forced more blood up and out his mouth.
“If you could call…” It tilted its head and brought him closer to its face. “Who would come?” It continued to stare into his eyes with a piercing, yet lifeless gaze.
Katagawa froze. He desperately wanted to tear his eyes away from it, but he could not.
“You know fear…”It released its hold on his neck and he fell to the ground like a bag of sand. He grabbed at his neck to stop the bleeding, but soon gave in. He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the being, its silhouette outlined against the moon. “I like that in you.”
~
Katagawa snapped awake and immediately brought a hand up to his neck. Breathing heavily, he looked around the dark room. The light from the moons trickled in through the sliding glass door casting a glow onto the T.V. set and the wall behind it. He noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. He looked and realized it was just the outdated air conditioner gently blowing the curtains. Noticing Calvin was still asleep in the other bed, he turned on his Echo eye to check the time. Three twenty-four AM it read. He noticed an alert in his messages and opened it.
The message was from his father. “Start date for work?”
He exhaled deeply. “Tomorrow.” He wrote back.
He turned off his eye and laid back down. Despite trying, he didn’t fall back asleep. He watched the last of the moons go by, and the sun begin to rise.
Chapter 2: Interview
Chapter Text
The Tediore building was one of the better kept ones in the town. It was a small office building with a warehouse attached at the back. The walkway up to it was paved and had waist height hedges dotting its edges.
Katagawa and Calvin came to the front door of the building. Calvin stopped and pulled Katagawa off to the side. “I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you remember what I told you on the way here.”
Katagawa rolled his eyes quickly. “Make eye contact but don’t stare at them it’s uncomfortable.”
“And?”
“I’m not the one giving an interrogation, I’m supposed to be working for them.”
“Almost there.”
“Do not argue with the person interviewing me.”
“Alright, good boy.” Calvin hit him on the back lightly. “While you’re in there I’m gonna go find us some coffee. Good luck, bud.”
Katagawa nodded. He pushed the door open and went in.
Calvin turned and started back down towards the street. He reached for the Echo in his pocket but before he could grab it, someone grabbed his arm instead. He jumped and pulled away.
“Don’t turn around.” Katagawa grabbed his shoulders and urged him to walk faster.
“Dude what the hell?” Calvin asked, agitated.
“I know a guy in there, just- we need to leave.” Katagawa quickly looked over his shoulder. Upon seeing a group of people leaving the building, he pulled Calvin into one of the nearby hedges.
“Ouch!” Calvin fell back first into the bush, catching a few scratches on the way down. He looked up and saw that Katagawa was nearly on top of him. “What is the big deal? Like did you do something?”
Katagawa moved a branch aside to look out. “Ugh- yeah, I used to bully the crap outta this guy.” He whispered.
Calvin let his head fall back and land in the dirt. He covered his face with his hands. “Who is he?”
“Trevor Coldwell.”
Calvin’s eyes widened. “You used to bully Tediore’s CEO’s son?”
Katagawa put a hand over Calvin's mouth. “Shut up!” He said through gritted teeth.
Calvin pulled Katagawa’s hand away. “What, were you trying to re-ignite the corporate wars at the age of twelve?”
“No, most of it happened when we were teenagers with- uh, at summer camp and stuff.”
“Since when did you go to summer camp?”
“Trust me I did, okay? Just be quiet they’re coming over here.”
“Are you sure it’s actually him?” Calvin whispered.
“Take a look. He’s the fake blonde with the dumb guitar.”
“Yeah I know what he looks like.” Calvin pushed a branch out of the way. One of the men had a blue and white double necked guitar strapped to his back. He waited until he caught a glimpse of his face. “Shit, that is him.”
“I cannot believe he still carries that thing around.” Katagawa whispered, still just barely peeking out of the bush. “Doesn’t even use a case for it, how preformative can you get?”
“My god he looks great, did he have a second puberty or something?”
Katagawa kneed him in the thigh. “Seriously?”
Calvin let the branch flick back into place. “You’re Jealous.” He realized.
“Oh, as if.” He said, taken aback by the accusation.
Once the group was out of eyeshot the two of them stumbled out of the bush, brushing off the leaves and dirt that clung to their clothes.
“Something tells me if you weren’t broke and jobless you wouldn’t have hid in the plant.” Calvin said, nearly jogging to keep up with Katagawa.
“If I weren’t broke and jobless I wouldn’t be here in the first place!”
He hurried in front of him and stopped him. “Fair, fair, but let's say you were here. Would you still hide? Or would you try to make it clear that you’re better than him in front of those other guys?”
Katagawa grabbed the top of Calvin's head and pushed him to the side. “Let’s just go find another job.”
“Well apparently this is the only place on this planet that meets your standards, so are you gonna lower them and find somewhere else or swallow your pride and go to that interview anyways?”
Katagawa stopped. “Who said it had to be on this planet.”
Calvin raised an eyebrow. “You suddenly get enough money for a ticket somewhere else? Because I’m not buying.”
“Give me your Echo.”
“What? No, use your eye.”
“No I need yours. It has a video chat camera.” He made a grab for Calvin’s pocket, but Calvin pushed him back. Katagawa grabbed Calvin’s arm, spun him around and pushed it up behind his back. “Give it to me!”
“Ow! Christ almighty- fine!” With his free hand he got out his Echo and handed it over. Katagawa released him and he rubbed his shoulder. “Fucking asshole.”
Katagawa turned around and started dialing. “I might know someone that can get us off this shit rock at least.” The Echo rang for a moment before it was answered.
The sound of gunfire erupted from the tiny speaker, and on the screen a stocky chrome robot with purple eyes picked up. “What do you want Dick? I’m a bit busy right now!”
“Who is that?” Calvin asked, trying to get a look at the screen. “Why does it sound like they’re in a fire fight?”
Katatgawa pushed him away to an arm's length. “Cayde, it’s been a while! Listen, I’m in a bit of an... unsavory situation here. Can I bother you for a quick favor?”
“Okay first of all-” A loud boom went off on the other end. Cayde turned around. “That’s my girl Ari, light them up!” He yelled. He turned back towards the camera. “First of all you don’t call me for what, eight years? And when you do it’s because you need something? Second of all, I’m not exactly in the Borderlands right now. Thirdly, Vaughn is on my list of people to help next. So I’m gonna have to make that a no for now.”
A female came over the ship’s speaker. “Cayde, what are you doing?”
“I’m on the phone!” He yelled. “Guess who finally called!”
“We don’t have time for this right now!”
The line went dead.
Calvin looked up at Katagawa. “Did you just use my Echo to phone the weird ship robot?”
“No, the robot in the ship is his wife. They pulled her out of a Hyperion constructor, it was weird. She was scary.” He said.
“That’s not-” He sighed. “Whatever. Can I have my Echo back now?”
~
As the day went on and the sun rose higher, so did the temperature. They sat on a bench, Katagawa leaned back with his legs crossed watching the clouds, Calvin beside him on his laptop.
“I’m telling you man, those Tediore postings were the best options, you’re gonna have to lower your standards or wait until something else pops up.” He said, scrolling through the page of job postings.
Katagawa let his head roll to the side. “Fine…” He sighed. “What is there then?”
“You’re seriously willing to try this time?” Calvin asked.
“Yeah, sure, just put my name down for a few or whatever.”
“Holy shit, what brain parasite got into you?”
“Shut up and do it.” He said, rubbing his face with his hands.
“Alright, let’s start with some small businesses. Usually they give enough of a shit to pay an almost liveable wage. Y’know… if they’re not already on the brink of shutting down.”
~
“Would you describe yourself as a people person?” The store’s owner asked.
Katagawa stifled a laugh. “Oh- god no.”
~
“You said no?” Calvin asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, it's a general store.” He gestured to the building. “I don’t wanna have to talk to every hick that walks in the door!” He said, pointing his thumb at a man getting out of a large rusty truck.
“The answer to that is always yes!”
“I” he gestured to himself in his entirety, “am not a people person!”
“Do I seem like a people person to you?” Calvin said, tapping his chest.
“No. I don’t even know why my dad hired you.”
“Yeah, it’s because I force myself to be because it pays my bills. And guess what, so does everyone else! I’m pretty sure nobody in the history of man has ever liked talking to people at work.”
Katagawa rubbed his face with both hands. “Guuhh… are there any jobs posted that aren’t that?”
Calvin pulled out his Echo and started scrolling down the list. “How do you feel about animals?
“What kind of animals?” He asked reluctantly.
~
The two men stood on the dirt road, looking towards the farm buildings that stood at the back of the swaying grain field. Katagawa lifted up his left foot, of which the bottom of his shoe was covered in a black-green substance. He looked down at Calvin.
Calvin looked down at Katagawa's shoe. “Shit.” He stated.
“Fuck…” He said quietly and wiped his shoe on the grass.
“GPS doesn’t show a marked driveway,” He put his Echo back in his digistruct and started into the grain field. “Gotta love small town geomapping.” He said sarcastically.
“Ugh- you have got to be kidding.” He bent down and rolled up the cuffs on his pants. He reluctantly waded into the field, holding his arms at chest height above the plants.
“It’s not gonna drown you, y’know?”
“Yeah, but you can’t exactly know if there’s tiny creatures in here. I mean c’mon, ones with teeth? I’m already down a couple digits, I’d prefer not to lose the rest of them.” He said, wiggling his fingers.
“If there were, they’d be able to jump. Trust me.”
They crossed the field and upon exiting brushed off the grass and other clinging plant bits. There weren't any other people to be found, so they started towards the farm house.
On the way passing the barn, was a man inside who was unstacking a few large bales of hay.
Calvin stopped and nodded towards the man. “There you go.”
Katagawa let out a deep exhale before speaking up. “Are you in charge here?”
The man looked over his shoulder and turned around towards them. “Who’s askin’?”
“I’m here about the job listing.”
The man stared at them for a moment, before letting out an open mouthed smile. “Aha… Thought you lot were from the property insurance office.” He put his hands on his hips. “Are you sure you’re in the right place? I was looking for a farmhand, not a, uh, book keeper of sorts.”
“Bookkeeper?” Katagawa chuckled. “Wow, okay. Just out of pure curiosity, you wanna tell me exactly what you meant by that?”
“Don’t start this-” Calvin interjected.
Katagawa cut him off. “No no, I want to know.”
The farmer feigned a smile. “Well, the job is physical. Dirty too. You just look like the type that likes to keep it clean, is all.”
“Try me.” Katagawa stated dryly.
“Alright, then grab one of these here, follow me and let's try you out.” He heaved one of the hay bales over his shoulder by the netting holding it together.
Katagawa took off his jacket and draped it onto clavin’s shoulder and pulled the sleeves of his shirt up. He walked over to the pile of hay bales, picked one up and held it under his arm against his side.
“Alright, alright, now I can see you out here.” The farmer said. “Come on, follow me.” He turned around and started out of the barn.
Outside the air was filled with the smell of manure and the braying of animals. They made their way across the lot to a large fenced pen with an open door to a barn. The pen was sunken into the ground by a few feet, with wooden walls lining the edges under the fence.
“See that metal thing in there?” The farmer pointed down into the pen at a metal feeder. “That’s called a paddock feeder. Now what you’re going to do is take both of these, put them in the top and come back out. Simple?” He swung the hay bale over his shoulder into the pen.
“Simple as it gets.” Katagawa dropped his hay into the pen and hopped over the fence. He picked up both bundles and walked towards the feeder.
“How many animals are in there?” Calvin asked.
“Just one.” The farmer leaned on the fence. “It’s our sire, so it needs a bit of room for when he acts up in mating season.”
As Katagawa lifted the bales up into the feeder, there came a soft, multi-tone whistle from the barn. He looked back towards the farmer. “What was that?” He asked.
“Bellik mating call.” He yelled back. “If he charges you just grab a tentacle and give it a good yank!”
“I’m sorry- tentacle?” He asked.
“You just keep belliks here?” Calvin asked, panicked.
“Yep. Milk em’ too. Purebred electric ones. Radioactive milk doesn't sell too well.” The farmer said.
Out of the doorway stepped a large sleek black creature, with hooves like blue crystals. The same blue crystals streaked down its back, and tipped its tail, all of them sparking in a tesla coil-like fashion. Its head and neck split apart down the middle and it let out a cry that sounded like a flock of birds chirping at once.
Katagawa stepped away from the feeder slowly and raised his hands out in front of him. “Stay!” He sputtered out. He kept his stare on the animal and started to back away,
The bellik dropped down like a dog wanting to play, and took off towards him.
“Shit- shit!” Katagawa turned and ran.
“Don’t do that, you'll only make him excited!” The farmer yelled.
“You’re not gonna do anything about this?” Calvin asked.
The farmer shrugged. “I told him ‘bout the tentacle thing.”
The bellik skid to a stop and blue sparks started gathering at the tips of its tentacles. It let off an electrical charge, and Katagawa dove forward onto the ground to avoid it. He quickly turned over onto his back. The bellik trotted towards him, its tentacles charging up again. Katagawa reached down to his digistruct and pulled out a pistol. He shot the bellik right in the chest. He raised his free hand up to block the spattering of blood from getting in his eyes. The creature staggered back with a screech and collapsed. Breathing heavily, he let his head drop back onto the ground.
The farmer stared at the dead bellik, his mouth slightly open.
Calvin sighed, and pulled out a business card and a pen from his pocket. “Alright… So what you’re gonna want to do is call this number.” He said, writing on the back of the card. “It’ll put you through to some people that might reimburse you for the animal.” He gave the card to the farmer.
~
Back at the motel, once he’d finished washing the bellik blood out of his hair, Katagawa wrapped his hair in a towel to dry, came out of the bathroom and flopped face down onto the bed. “Now what?” He asked, his voice muffled by the bed.
“Now what?” Calvin looked up from laptop on the other bed. “What do you mean now what?”
Katagawa lifted his head up and rested it on his hands. “Jobs. What’s the next one?”
“Uh… Well, out of the ones you aren’t qualified for, will probably get fired from, or just won’t do, I’d say we wait and see what crops up tomorrow. It’s already getting kinda late.”
“As much as I’d love to put this off, I can’t. I need to find something. Today.”
“Why are you being so weird about this? Do you have some kind of money riding on how quick you can get a real job or something?”
“No, I just… may have already told him I had something lined up for today.”
“Great. Lemme guess, you're afraid he’ll rip you a new one if finds out you're totally blowing it out here?”
“Pfff, I’m not afraid, I’d just prefer not to have that conversation right now.”
“So what you’re saying is you’re willing to try anything right now.”
“Yeah. Sure. Anything.” He rolled over onto his back.
“Well that makes my job a lot easier,” Calvin brought up an email on his laptop and passed it over to Katagawa. “Yesterday I put your resume in with a few places you said you didn’t want to try just in case you changed your mind. One of them actually got back to us.”
He took the computer and looked the email over. “Bakery. Of course it’s the food service job.” He groaned.
~
The sun was beginning to hang low in the sky that reflected an orange glow. And the air had cooled slightly. The bakery was closer to the middle of the town, and had a hand painted pastel coloured sign hanging above the door that read “The Breadsmith”.
As the door opened and they stepped inside, the door knocked a small bell mounted above it causing it to jingle. The floorboard creaked as they walked in. The inside was small, barely wide enough for two people to stand side by side with arms stretched out. A rack down the middle was lined with boxed muffins and cookies, and breads and buns lined the shelves on the walls. The counter was at the back of the store and sat beside a glass cooler case with decorated cakes inside.
They approached the counter, and still didn't see anyone. Beside the register was a small metal bell.
Calvin gestured at the bell, and Katagawa pressed the small button on top. It dinged.
“I’ll be right there!” called a voice from the back.
A moment later a woman pushed the door from the backroom open. “Hey! Were you looking for something specific?” She asked. The woman was covered in flour, and had a few stains on the apron she was wearing.
Katagawa glanced her over. “I was here about the job?”
“Oh!” She stepped out of the door frame and over to the counter. “I almost thought you weren’t going to show up.” She laughed.
“Oh yeah, we got a little caught up in a few things.”
“No worries.” She reached across the counter for a hand shake. “I’m Rhea.”
“Katagawa.” He went to shake her hand, but retracted quickly upon catching the sight of his missing pinky finger. “Uh- sorry, I realized I didn’t wash my hands before coming in here.” He placed his hand on the back of his neck in an attempt to hide it.
Calvin quietly face palmed behind him.
“Oh, well, that’s fine.” She shifted slightly, trying to get a view of his hand. “Not to be rude but- are you missing a finger?”
“Ah, ha ha. Caught me.” Katagawa’s face turned a slight shade of red as he showed both his hands.
“Oh wow, one on both.” She looked intrigued. She took one of his hands and looked at the scar where the finger had been. “Was this recent?”
He pulled his hand away. “Yep! Recent!” He awkwardly attempted a laugh.
“Well that's a story I wanna hear. Anyways, I got sidetracked. When are you available to start?” She asked.
“What like start already?” He asked. “You don't want to interview me or anything?”
“I mean your resume was the best one I’ve seen.” She leant onto the counter. “Ever shoplifted before?” She asked.
“...No."
“Well then you have a cleaner record than me!” She smiled. “Can you start tomorrow?”
“Yeah, yeah totally!”
She smiled. “Cool. You can come at five. And, maybe when you come wear something a bit more casual? I just noticed you look a bit expensive right now.”
“Thanks? Uh- did you mean five as in night shift or…”
“No, in the morning. I’ll be here an hour before and leave the door unlocked for you, ‘kay?”
He tried to hide his disgust at having to wake so early in the morning. “Alright… sure, sounds great.”
She stood up straight again. “Thanks for coming, by the way. I had two other people this week send in resumes but they both no-showed.”
He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “Finding decent help’s a bitch.”
She laughed. “You said it, legally I’m just agreeing with you.”
Rhea had Katagawa fill out some papers, and before long he and Calvin were leaving the bakery to close.
“That was easy, like suspiciously easy.” Katagawa said as they walked down the sidewalk. “Not going to lie, it almost felt fake.”
“Not fake. That’s just how things go in tiny towns sometimes.” Calvin said.
“And you know this because?”
“Grew up in one. My mom moved for work at Maliwan when I was fifteen.”
Katagawa smirked. “Oh my god, were you a farm boy?”
“No, my mom worked at a farm before. She met my step dad, and he already worked for Maliwan.” He looked down at the sidewalk, watching his steps. “He got her an in, I guess I kinda respected him for that. He took good care of her.”
Katagawa looked at him, trying to gage the expression on his face.
He changed the topic quickly. “Anyway, keep your eyes open for an open food place. I’m dying ‘cause we didn’t eat lunch.”
Katagawa poked him in the side. “You’re dying.”
“You know what I mean, asshole.”
~
A blank white face, although lacking eyes, stared him down. He pulled at the long needle-like claws piercing his neck, the blood soaking the collar of his shirt. The mist in the air stung his open wounds. Attempts to breathe were useless, let alone scream. He kicked and writhed in attempts to get it to drop him. After an eternity it retracted its claws. He fell to the ground, staring up at the moon. The elongated silhouette, its glowing purple wings and protruding bony features were outlined in its light.
~
Katagawa drew in a sharp breath and sat up. He glanced around the room. The moonlight filtered in through the curtains. He sighed and laid back down. He’d had the same dream as the night before. A misty forest and a creature alien to him hunting him down and winning.
He started up his Echo-eye. The time read two twenty-three. He had about two and half hours before he had to be at his new job. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. He noticed an unread message.
It was from his dad. “How was day one?”
“Great, they like me.” He lied.
In reality, he had no idea if she actually liked him, or just hired him because she felt sorry for him missing a few fingers. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that with this, it would at least get his father off his tail for a few days.