Beautiful Disasters- Hawks x OC

Chapter 119

        Hayato had barely been home the past few weeks. He was pouring all of his time and energy into figuring out how to convince the country's most secure prison to let one of their most dangerous criminals on a field trip- that and how to rob a grave and smuggle a corpse into his workplace. There had been countless midnight meetings with the General to prepare the paperwork to justify temporarily taking Taniko Baisho out of prison and prepare Mariko's ID paperwork for when she woke up. While his absence concerned his family and his friends (the ones that weren't mentally checked out), no one said anything. They didn't say anything because, for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Hayato's eyes were filled with hope as if he knew everything was going to be okay.

        All of that effort, and now he had one of the cunning and powerful villains sitting in front of him in an interrogation room.

        The redheaded woman picked at her white jumpsuit, it was almost laughably ironic that her prison uniform was the color representing virtue and purity and she mentally criticized the government for selecting it.

        "How long do I have to be here? You took me out of a very important meeting," she quipped, turning her attention to the dark-haired man leafing through an unlabeled manilla folder.

        Hayato looked up at her and gave her a plastic smile. "Only a couple of hours if you agree. We appreciate you taking the time out of your extremely busy schedule to come here Baisho-san."

         She rolled her eyes. "Asshole."

         Snorting at her childishness, Hayato set the folder down and looked at her in the eyes. "You're here because I have a favor to ask."

         Taniko eyed him confusedly. "A favor?" she wondered. "Do you now..."

         He nodded and slid a photo towards her, it was the face of a woman Taniko had never seen before but recognized nonetheless. Mineko had talked about her so many times that there was no doubt in her mind that the woman in the photo was Mariko Saito. "Mariko Saito... what about her?"

        Hayato's eyes darkened a bit. "She's dead," he told her.

       "You serious?" she asked. "Guess Mineko-chan finally got what she wanted, the crazy bitch."

      "Mineko Shimizu is also dead."

        Taniko stopped laughing, the news that one of the most intelligent women she had ever met was dead shocking her momentarily. "Is that so?" she sighed. "How unfortunate. She was a good lab partner."

       Swallowing the acid that crawled up his throat at her nonchalance, he tapped the picture on the table to keep them on topic.

     "We want you to resurrect her."

      At this, the woman let out a snort. "What makes you think I have any interest in doing something like that? Bringing people back from the dead is hard shit, why should I waste my energy on bringing back some bitch that blew up half my research and set me back four years?"

        Hayato held back a biting comment at how Taniko wasn't really in a position to be insulting deceased federal agents, he wanted this to go as smoothly as possible, and getting on the redhead's good side was paramount to keeping this affair off official records. "I assure you you will be fairly compensated for your assistance," he said slowly.

        Taniko raised an eyebrow, the prospect of being rewarded somehow intriguing her. "What kind of compensation are we talking about? I don't come cheap," she informed teasingly.

       "We are willing to listen and comply to whatever you request within reason."

       The woman smirked and leaned back in her chair. "I want a cigarette," she told him.