It started with a simple favor Medea had asked Mikazuki. She asked him to meet with a young woman from her home district in Philly. Mikazuki asked what it was about, but in typical fashion Medea just rolled her eyes and told him he'd find out. Mika should have known better, but he thought it was worth a try. She gave him an address and a time to meet the young lady. He did as she asked and waiting in an old abandoned warehouse. It was late and the sun had set hours ago. 

He wondered what this could be about. Why such secrecy regarding this favor Mika was supposed to fulfill. It didn't seem like it was going to be a simple one. He knew nothing of this lady, and not much more about the happenings on the other side of the country in Philly. He only hoped that it wasn't too tall of an order. He checked his wrist watch hoping she wouldn't be late to the meeting. 

As he did so, a set of headlights flared through the windows and holes in the walls of the warehouse, then cut off. He could here footsteps approaching on the gravel driveway. From what he was hearing he assumed it had to be her. It was a single set of footsteps and based on the noise it was a rather slender person.

To Mika's relief the silhouette of the woman appeared in the doorway. Mika placed his hands in his jacket pockets and then spoke in a calm voice as to not startle her. "Hey, I'm right here." She turned towards him and took a few steps closer to the point that the moonlight now illuminated her face. She seemed young. Mika smiled, "Are you Cherry? I was told to meet you about a favor?"

He shifted his wait and lowered his shoulders creating a more relaxed posture hoping she would reply and shed light on the mystery that lead up to this encounter.

Cherry tensed, seeing the gentleman place his hands in his pockets, but seeing his relaxed stance she took a deep breath. 

"Yes, I'm Cherry, you must be Mika then? Medea recommended your services." She held out a lace gloved hand and smiled tersely.  "I'm sorry, it was a long drive, but some things can't be discussed over the phone. You see, I heard you're good at finding things." She paused. "Or people.  In this case it might be both." She slowly reached into the small velvet clutch she held in left hand and pulled out a photograph.  It was a small three by three image of a teddy bear.

"I know it looks silly, but I really need you to help me find this bear.  You see, not only is he an heirloom, but he's also quite valuable to me.  I assure you that I will pay you handsomely in advance, pay any of your business expenses and amend the rest of the payment once Hans has been found.  Do we have a deal?" 

Mikazuki took the small photograph of the teddy bear named Hans from the young lady. He looked at it for a moment, and then looked at the young lady, then once more at the picture. He closed his eyes and sighed thinking to himself this was all some elaborate prank that Medea was putting on for him. He was going to flog her when he got back home. Not wanting to jump to that conclusion just yet however, he opened his eyes and nodded.

"Of course, anything for a friend of Medea's."

He scratched the back of his head and thought. There was no way he was simply going to magically find this bear or whoever stole it. He needed more informations... a lot more. He finally just began asking questions.

"Now... Where was the bear stolen from? What makes it valuable to you? Do you know of anyone that might have wanted to steal this teddy bear? and finally, when was it taken?"

He knew that this was quite a barrage of questions, but in order to take this seriously and have a chance at finding it these were the minimum pieces of information he needed.

Cherry swallowed and allowed herself to let down her guard a little.  At least he hadn't laughed in her face like the last few people she has talked to. After listening to his questions she picked through them in her mind and answered the most pertinent ones. 

"Hans was stolen from my midtown apartment, he is a family heirloom and while not worth much monetarily he has much sentimental value.  I have no idea who took him, and I almost feel like this is a joke because nothing else of value was taken.  He was stolen sometime between Thursday morning around eight am and Thursday twilight, right around five in the afternoon."  She sighed.  "I have a suspicion about the abductor but it's only a hunch.  I must warn you, I have had more trouble surrounding this bear than anything else in my life.  If it weren't for the memories I'd just chalk it up to providence." 

After a moment or two she reached back into the clutch and pulled out a very respectable sum of money, neatly wrapped in paper.  "This should be more than enough to get you started, and as I said before, all business expenses and the remaining sum will be yours when Hans is back in my arms." 

Mikazuki thought about her answers for a moment or two and decided the only reasonable next step was to go to the scene of the crime. From there Mika was confident he would be able to put more of the puzzle together. He looked at the paper wrap she produced and then into her eyes. He shook his head before speaking.

"There's no need for that miss, I'll be more than capable of funding my own investigation. As ridiculous as this case appears, Medea knows me well enough to know I will get completely obsessed with it until I solve it. I'm starting to see why she wouldn't tell me before I got here..."

He grinned more to himself than anything.

"Now, the next thing that needs to happen is I need you to drive me there."

He looked at her ready to follow her to her car and start making their way to the apartment.

Cherry nodded and walked out of the warehouse to her sleek black Buick coupe.  The drive back to into the city proper was slow and they didn't talk much except for a few casual observations. It was nearly dawn when they pulled up to Cherry's midtown apartment.  The doorman was in the foyer doing paperwork and he nodded as Cherry used her key to open the door.

"Barry, this is uh, my friend Mika.  He's helping me out."  Barry gave a brief nod and looked back down at his files. "Barry is the night watchman.  I doubt he saw anything if my time frame is right.  His replacement is named Frank and should be in around seven."  She walked over to the elevator and pressed the pearlescent button.  "We don't have a bellhop unfortunately, but maybe we'll find someone who saw something?"  The elevator chimed and the brass doors opened.  "Going up?" 

Mikazuki sat in the car ride anxious to get to work on the mystery. When they arrived she introduced him to a man named Barry. Mike smiled and nodded. He listened as she explained a man named Frank would be here shortly with more information. Not one to idle around though Mika looked across the street from the apartment to see that there was a barbecue restaurant. His eyes went wide. He turned and looked back to Cherry who was waiting for him to go into the elevator.

Mika shook his head and started walking back out of the apartment building. 

"I'll be up shortly. There's something I need to check out across the street."

Mika crossed the street and entered the barbecue joint. He asked to speak to the pit masters. Pit masters were known to get up early in the morning and start their slow process of creating delicious barbecue. There was a chance one of them saw something. When he met with them he offered them each five hundred dollars. They accepted and sure enough one saw a man leave with a Teddy Bear in his hand. He got into a red convertible. Not the type of car you see everyday he said. They said he was a white fella, brown hair, and slender build. They then said that's all they knew and Mika thanked them and left.

He crossed the street again back into the apartment and went up the elevator to meet with @CherryDarling. He knocked on her door and when she opened it he stepped inside.

"The man that took your Teddy is a white man, slender build with brown hair and he drives a red convertible that is hard not to notice. Does this ring a bell?"

Cherry shook her head and frowned.  Unfortunately she knew a few people who drove convertibles but none of them had red paint.  She also knew a number of people who were slim, white and had brown hair.  And even though she wasn't loose, she sure knew a lot of fellas.  

"Sorry to say that hardly narrows it down.  Say, let me make you some coffee and then Fred should be on duty huh?"  She walked into the miniscule kitchenette and brewed a pot of coffee, taking it out with two mismatched Pyrex cups and saucers.  

"I hope you like it black.  I only put milk in my tea!"  She handed Mika a cup and poured steadily, then filled her own cup and sat down on the divan.  "I hope you weren't offended at my offer to pay.  You see, my cousin and I have a strange feeling about the bear and it might not be as much of a mystery to use why it went missing.  But of course, we can't discover if we're right unless and until Henri is back in our hands!" 

Mikazuki was hoping that she would be able to shed some light, but when she revealed no knowledge of such a person Mika wansn't phased at all. He expected this type of breakthroughs and setbacks. He smiled at her and nodded.

"I see, oh and thank you."

He took a small sip of the coffee and smiled.

"It's delicious. Oh, not at all. I mainly refused because I get joy out of these sorts of matters. You wouldn't expect a theme park to pay you for the ride right?"

He grinned and flashed a wink before taking a larger sip.

"So.. When do you think this Fred fella will be around?"

Mika was hoping for another breakthrough. To have two in such rapid succession would be absolutely fantastic.

Cherry looked at the small alarm clock she had nest to the divan and squinted.  "It's five to seven.  Fred should be here now."  She took the teacups to the kitchen and gave them a quick wash, then came out and grabbed her purse.  "I need to run an errand down the street while you talk to Fred."  She and Mika went downstairs and she gave him a small wave as she stepped out into the early morning sunlight. 

The walk to the drug store was less than five minutes but she felt a prickle of apprehension as she rounded the corner.  Once inside she spent a few moments perusing then new cosmetics, then the fashion rags.  After a heft "hem hem" from the druggist she took her magazine to the counter and ordered a cherry soda.  She knew she was dawdling, but after all, she had told Mika where she was going, so if he needed to talk to her he'd catch up.  After paying her tab she felt like she'd wasted enough time and left the drugstore.  She hadn't even made it to the corner before the window behind her shattered into a million pieces. 

"God dammit!" She cursed as she dove for cover behind a Pontiac. 

Mikazuki followed CherryDarling down to the lobby and was introduced to Fred. He smiled and shook the man's hand before turning to Cherry as she left to run some errands. Once she was left Mika made some small talk for a little while, but once he began asking about the times and what Fred saw, Fred became visibly nervous. Mika stopped him mid answer, as he could tell it was a lie and shook his head.

"Fred, I'm not the guy you lie to in a moment like this, do you understand?"

There was a tense moment of silence before Fred busted into a sprint. He made it out of the building and into the streets. Mika simply walked calmly behind him, upholstering his pistol and firing one shot hitting Fred in the leg. Fred immediately ate shit on the sidewalk. Mika walked over to him as he begged for mercy. Without a word Mika grabbed his collar and dragged him into an alley. He propped him up against a wall.

"Why did you run? Who took the teddy? Where do they live? Answer these three things truthfully and you live a life never having to worry about seeing me again."

Without hesitation at all Fred blurted out. 'I don't want to die. His name is Harrison. He lives in a flat, here's the address I met him at.' Fred handed Mika a small business card for a barbershop with the address scribbled on it. Mika looked down at the man and sighed. 

"Get yourself to a hospital."

He then left to make his way to the address. He knew Cherry would be confused that both him and Fred would be missing when she returned to the apartment, but he simply needed to get to the address before the man had an opportunity to get tipped off of Mika's impending arrival.

"Shit." Cherry whispered to herself.  She dug into her purse and pulled out her gun.  She felt strange holding it, usually she only carried a one shot derringer.  This gun however was a revolver and much heavier than she had remembered.  She took a moment to fiddle with it and assess the danger.  She heard shouting and with a deep breath lept to her feet and aimed.  The gun recoiled in her hand and she missed her first target.  Taking a deep breath she readjusted her grip and fired again.  There was a scream and one of the men she had seen a few days prior went down to his knees.  Another, much burlier man dove for cover behind a mail box, only rising to take shots at Cherry.  

With very little concern for herself Cherry charged across the street, bullets whizzing past her.  She walked right up to the mail box and shot it four times.  She heard a moan come from the other side and nodded.  

"Tell your boss that I want to talk.  He can phone Keenan's Drugs over on Fifth street. Tell him this ends now." 

Cherry crossed the street again, kicking the man lying in the middle of the road.  She grabbed her purse and her bag and walked over to her Buick and got in, noticing a small rivulet of blood coming from her shoulder.  It looked like she'd been grazed but she didn't consider it to be bad enough to need medical care.  She drove to old teashop and called her cousin, telling her to be on the lookout for Mika and to tell him where she was hiding.  Then she got herself a glass of scotch and sat down, wondering what in the hell was going on in her life. 

Mikazuki got into his Y Job and drove directly to the address on the paper. He checked his pistol ensuring both the chamber had a round in it, and that the magazine was fully loaded. He reached into his glove box and pulled a large knife in a sheath out of it. He tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket. He spotted an old lady trying to get into the building carrying two bags of groceries. He got out of his car and ran to her. He grabbed the bags from her hands and held the door open.

"Here allow me, I'll follow you miss."

The old lady thanked him, lead him up to her apartment and he handed her her bags. She thanked him and closed her doors. He smiled and made his way three floors up to the flat Fred stated the man lived in. Mika knocked on the door and yelled out. 

"Maintenance! Anyone home?!"

A man answered and asked what the issue was. Mika smiled and lifted his hands innocently.

"We've got a report of a gas leak, I just need to check the place out and clear it. Should only be a moment."

The man raised his eyebrow and simply opened the door motioning Mika to enter. Mika quickly looked around the flat and in moments he spotted a teddy bear on the couch. He looked over to the man and laughed.

"You got a little one?"

The man shook his head and replied no. 

"No, no I didn't think so..." Mika replied pulling his pistol out and pointing it at the man's head.

The man was shocked and immediately began to panic. Mika quickly placed a finger over his own mouth. This made the man go completely still and silent. Mika picked up the teddy with one hand keeping the other with the pistol trained at the man. 

"My job was to find this little Teddy, and you. I have done my job. I'm not here to kill you, but you're coming with me. If you fuck around I will kill you and simply come back with the Teddy and some bad news. Understand." 

The man shook his head and Mika lead him out of the building and into his car. Once in the car Mika kept his pistol in his lap trained at the man's crotch. Once he got back to CherryDarling's apartment he got the message and drove instead to her hideout. He parked and waited for her to come out to his car.

Cherry heard a car pull up and looked out of the hideyhole her father had built into the side wall.  She recognized Mika but not the passenger.  She checked her gun, then warily came out and approached the car. 

"Mika, who is this?"  She kept her gun visible, waving it in the direction of the passenger.