Chapter 84 The Nine-Tailed Fox
When Tails arrived planet-side, she was not greeted by Vash and Mechanic as Rayleigh was, mostly because she had not arrived on a private ship on a private landing port, but on a commercial-class transport shuttle to a public spaceport while using a fake ID.
One of the main rules of being a spy was that, disguise or not, you could never be seen with your employer in public. That being said, the public spaceport was located near a long term parking garage and Tails' personal speeder had been stored there since her departure and was waiting to take her back.
On her arrival to the building, a notification was sent to HK-47 who mournfully called out to Rayleigh, [Shameful Recitation. As I have been given the duties of being your pager, I must now inform you that the spy called Tails has arrived and that we have been invited to meet her.]
Rayleigh replied, "You should be happier. This means we can finally get off the planet and you can, how did you put it? Oh yes, 'Properly Calibrate your new Weapons systems on acceptable targets.'"
[Supplication. I do not mean to complain, Master. But I find these additions most degrading.]
Rayleigh rolled his eyes. HK-47 was more than happy with every upgrade that increased his ability to kill, but an upgrade that essentially turned him into someone else's cellphone was enough for him to whine every opportunity he had to do so.
In this building, Rayleigh's access to everything was given to him through a service droid that had to stay with him. The droid had a built-in communication system that worked in the building, but not outside it. Once HK-47 had been upgraded from a severed head to a full body, the same system was installed so that HK could be Rayleigh's access card. If this had not been done, Rayleigh would have needed another droid to escort him through every room in the building.
Rayleigh had once suggested just using a security card or personal terminal with the same connection, but Vash said that such things can be hacked and stolen, while a key-card system tied into the hardware of a Droid could not be.
On a side note, ever since the implementation of this system, the research division of Merr-Sonn Robotics Securities maintained a record of zero successful infiltrations. Considering how many spies were on the planet, this was a remarkable accomplishment and something that was openly bragged about on the Company's Holonet Page.
Despite the complaints, HK-47 still diligently escorted Rayleigh through halls and rooms and security stations to the meeting place where Vash and Mechanic were being served tea.
Rayleigh took one look at the elderly woman elegantly pouring from the steaming teapot and asked aloud, "Tails, I presume?"
Vash snorted in amusement and the woman dressed as a servant put down the tea pot and did a backflip. Somehow, nine golden furred tails appeared mid-air before she popped in a puff of smoke.
Rayleigh only gave a short glance before turning back toward Mechanic and sitting down at the table, thus completely missing Tails' landing and heroic stance.
When she saw that Rayleigh wasn't openly staring, slack-jawed at her divine beauty, Tails was completely incensed. It was obvious how much she had imagined their first meeting going and it was clear that Rayleigh was not following the script.
Her appearance was the very definition of enchanting. In her mind, a single look was all it took to turn all men, and most women, into a drooling mess. And that was without going all out. Her golden eyes, golden blonde hair, and perfect complexion with pearl pink lips acted as the ultimate frame for her goddess-like face and the pair of divine peaks on her chest. When she wore an outfit that revealed even the slightest fragment of the heavenly valley between her divine peaks, few looking at her would even notice the golden-furred fox ears atop her head or the nine hypnotically swaying fox tails behind her back.
And then there was Ray, who didn't even glance in her direction. The contrast completely threw the shapeshifting spy off her game. It worked on every other Player she tried it on. Men and Women alike!
Mechanic and Vash had of course expected Rayleigh to become completely flustered and had come to watch the show, but the one who became agitated was not the Not-a-Jedi, but their seductive friend. And, as good friends do, they immediately pounced on the chance and switched sides to pick on the loser. Mechanic simply answered Rayleigh's question, "Yes, this is Tails. How did you guess it was her?"
Seeing that she was being completely ignored by her best friend, Tails hurried back up to the table and said, "Hey! Look at me!"
Rayleigh met her gaze without flinching and asked, "Should I pour my own cup?"
Tails then looked back at the tea set on the table and realized that she had not finished pouring for everyone yet. Without another word, she picked up the tea pot and finished pouring each cup. If she waited too long and the tea cooled down before being poured, the flavor would be ruined. Considering that the tea leaves had to be imported from another planet, that would have been an incredible waste.
After she finished pouring everyone a cup, she sat down in a formal seiza and took her steaming ceramic cup and tasted it. Seeing that it had not been ruined, she hummed contentedly to herself and softly stated, "I missed this."
Using the moment she was busy, Rayleigh answered Mechanic's question, "You wouldn't pay someone to pour tea for you, so she wasn't your employee. And Vash's guard was completely down, meaning she was trusted. Considering that I was called to meet Tails, it was a safe assumption to make."
Mechanic then casually commented, "Tails was looking forward to seeing you flustered," as if she had not been the same.
Seeing her friend calling her out so blatantly, Tails gasped and gave Mechanic a pouty look of betrayal. Mechanic lasted two and a half seconds under Tails' watery gaze before she broke and said, "Alright, alright. This was initially your idea anyways. I already warned you that you wouldn't be able to fool him."
Tails harrumphed knowingly. Obviously, she would not have been able to hide her Force presence from Rayleigh in the long term, but the point wasn't the hiding, but the reveal. She had even picked out a custom-made kimono outfit that granted the illusion that her robe was moments away from falling away, eternally teasing the idea that her glorious assets were about to completely reveal themselves to the world, thus preventing the captured gazes of her victims from ever escaping.
In a manner that could be equally called placating and mocking, Rayleigh stated, "You're very beautiful."
From the room's side, HK-47 helpfully added, [Assessment. The meatbag's possession of inflatable meatbags could prove tactically useful as a distraction to other inferior meatbags.]
At least, he thought he was being helpful.
Tails, who had never been subjected to the brutal honesty of HK-47 before, broke her seiza and took a step back as if the droid's words had physically wounded her before she theatrically collapsed to the side, right atop her place at the table.
Vash, somewhat curious as to Rayleigh's seeming immunity to Tails' sultry charms, asked, "You don't bat for the other team, do you?"
Tails seemed to come back to life at this and gave Rayleigh a hard stare, as if to see completely through him into the depths of his soul.
Rayleigh replied, "Sorry to break it to you, but I've had plenty of beautiful women press themselves against me for attention and have long grown accustomed to it."
Mechanic asked, "So you're a veteran Player then?"
Tails countered, "Bullshit! You're just pretending." She refused to believe that her charms had failed. It wasn't that she was delusional, she simply had supreme confidence in herself. Appearances can differ greatly from person to person and beauty is just a word. What determines true beauty is a woman's confidence in their appearance. It was too common for observers to judge how beautiful a woman was by how confident the woman was in her own attractiveness. In other words, a woman who believed herself to be beautiful was beautiful, and Tails believed herself to be above all others.
Rayleigh didn't bother explaining himself. Against a normal person, her appearance and confident aura would certainly be a devastating weapon, but against Rayleigh who had split his mind almost 32 times, it had no noticeable effect. The only way that Rayleigh would act as she had imagined is if every single one of Rayleigh's Wills was enchanted simultaneously. Considering that some of them remained in a constant, clear-minded state of meditation and some of them only focused on combat practices and scenarios, this was simply never going to happen. Especially since the Wills that operated the body and the Wills that took in sensory data were not even the same ones.
Still, Tails believed that she'd break Rayleigh's fake mask as long as she had the chance. As for the consequences of relentlessly teasing him? She didn't care. This was Mechanic's building after all and he would not be able to get away with anything. If Rayleigh really did something detestable after being broken, that simply meant that he couldn't be trusted.
Since Mechanic told her that Rayleigh may agree to take her as an apprentice, she had to test him and make sure that if he broke, he would not be a danger to her. It made perfect sense. Traveling the Galaxy could easily lead to high stress situations and she'd rather learn how he behaved when completely stressed out in a safe environment than in a hazardous one.
Tails turned to Mechanic and stated, "I don't need a Master. If I really wanted one, I'd just seduce Grey Matter."
Vash commented, "I thought you said you didn't target taken women."
Tailed replied, "She and Avatar have never confirmed their relationship. Even if they have, I can just grab Avatar as well."
From the Chat Room, Rayleigh knew that Avatar was also a woman, but didn't take the comment to heart. The group discussed and argued about major and minor things until the teapot was empty. After everyone finished their tea, Tails turned back to Rayleigh and said with a sultry undertone, "So Mr. Swordsman. How impressive is your swordsmanship? Would you like to come to my room and show me?"
Rayleigh raised a single brow at the obvious innuendo and asked, "Do you have the space needed for rigorous practice? If not, it would be better to train in a more suitable location."
She declared, "I think you'll find that I have everything I need. Would you like to take a look?"
Mechanic helpfully added, "She has the largest room in the building. And that's not including her closet."
Vash then added, "And the ship won't be finished until tomorrow, so you can use the day to get to know each other."
Rayleigh gave a relaxed nod and got up, already plotting the woman's complete downfall.
HK-47 did not accompany them as Tails' had the security clearance that Rayleigh did not, meaning that Ray didn't need his access-card carrying droid to follow him, allowing HK-47 to return back to their room and continue enjoying his free time by using the building's computers to run high-end combat simulations using specs from modern droids and militaries.
Upon entering Tails' room, she waved at the corner and said, "Give me a moment to change into something more fitting."
Rayleigh called back with the intonation of a dojo instructor, "Wear something breathable since proper lessons don't end before you start sweating."
Tails' ability to feel impending doom from the Force had been heavily weakened since she had to restart her character, but something about the way Rayleigh spoke gave her a bad feeling. Still, she had plenty of breathable clothes that showed off everything she wanted to show off and she was completely determined to break Rayleigh's mask of indifference.
She returned a few moments later in what almost looked like training robes, but it was thinner, silky beyond reason, and did absolutely nothing to hide the figure beneath them. It was held closed by the knot of a single large belt that seemed a single gentle pull from coming loose and fully revealing the treasures beneath them.
Her confident smirk locked onto Rayleigh's gaze as if daring him not to freeze up or blush.
Unfortunately for her confidence, Rayleigh remained unmoved. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, he just didn't want to lose and he had a secret weapon that any of his Wills could use to render him completely immune to her charms. This weapon was even more effective when she had her fluffy fox tails and fox ears out on display. The weapon? Memories of the Carnival's Bearded Woman trying to flirt with him.
With such a weapon at hand, her alluring display could not even raise his heartbeat. After all, when a woman you're not in a relationship with wants to play games, the only way to win is not to play. Trying to win is a futile effort since the woman can change the rules and even if you somehow beat them at their own game using their rules, they'll still be upset with you for not letting them win, meaning you still lose.
Of course, playing games was not exclusive to women.
Rayleigh conjured a sword. It was not the Sword of Babylon and there was nothing special about it. Its only purpose was a prop to use as a demonstration.
Instead of reacting to her divine appearance, he said, "If you're going to become my apprentice, you need to know what you'll be learning from me. Please sit over there and I'll show you."
Although she had not gotten the reaction she wanted, she did not intend on giving up so easily. He had told her to sit on her bed, so instead, she laid face down flat on the bed, breasts pressed tightly together as she leaned up to give a better view. Her eyes feigned innocence as if this was exactly what she had been asked to do.
Rayleigh ignored this and continued, "Younglings are taught to use the Force through Lightsaber forms. Before I continue, do you have good talent in Haki or Nen?" He didn't ask about her talent in the Force as he could sense that it was the Prodigy level, the highest level a normal Player could get on Character Creation if they didn't roll an 18.
Disappointed that she had been asked such a bland question instead of a good one like, 'what's beneath that robe,' she answered, "I only have above average Talent in Haki since I wanted a Devil Fruit. And I sacrificed a 3rd Class to get more points for my Main Class, so I don't have any Nen."
Above Average was the Genius level, below Prodigy but above Basic. She couldn't use Conqueror's Haki, but she'd be fine with Armament and Observation.
Rayleigh nodded and said, "Then I'll teach you some sword moves that use the Force and Haki together, letting you train both of them at the same time through practice."
It was obvious that Tails never intended to become a frontline fighter. She didn't need to use a Sword, it was just an exercise used to train her control over the Force.
"First, I'll demonstrate some basic moves." Rayleigh pulled his sword back, took a stance, and seemed to vanish for an instant before reappearing a few steps forward, sword outstretched forward in a sharp lunge.
Tails was actually impressed. It wasn't that he moved faster than her eyes followed, it was that she simply hadn't seen him strike forward. Or more like her eyes refused to see him. Her Force skills mainly centered around how others observed her. When she was interacting with a target, she needed to be seen and when she was snooping around, she needed not to be seen, so this application already interested her.
Tails asked, "How did you do that?"
Rayleigh answered, "The trick is how the intention moves through the body. It starts from the moment I twist my hips. If you can get attention focused away from that, the rest falls into place pretty easily."
He then patiently said, "I'll show you a few more times. Once you get the feeling of how it works, you can try it yourself."
Although Tails had not given up on breaking Rayleigh's mask, she was at least interested in his lessons. Besides, the real challenge would come when she had practiced into 'exhaustion,' her robes clinging provocatively to her form, and she had 'collapsed' into the bed. If he didn't succumb to that, then she'd admit that he probably wasn't going to break under pressure.
The next morning, Rayleigh and Tails entered the room where breakfast had always been served. They had of course entered from different rooms. After training Tails to 'collapse' on her bed, Rayleigh ended the session, had another droid call for HK, and then returned to his room without devouring the 'defenseless fox.'
Tails was not happy that she had failed to break his mask, but she had gained more than she gained through self-practice which brought a satisfaction of its own.
Mechanic and Vash seemed to have delayed the finishing of their own breakfasts to wait for their arrival. Seeing them coincidentally arrive together, Mechanic teased, "You two looked like you're getting along well. How was last night?"
Before Tails could say anything, Rayleigh answered for her. She relented with the assurance that she could turn anything he said around to tease him.
Rayleigh started, "It probably went as you imagined. She invited me in and undressed herself. I warned her that my lessons would make her very wet."
The caffeine-addicted fox had been half-way through downing her morning coffee, another interplanetary import, before spewing it across the table at Rayleigh's ridiculous wording of the prior night. Her mind drew a blank at trying to recall the words that were just said because she could not believe that Rayleigh had just said them.
Before she could recover, Rayleigh continued, "I motioned her to the bed and she positioned herself so that I could demonstrate my Thrusting Technique."
Somehow, Tails was now coughing on air. She couldn't fathom how the man she had spent hours tormenting was now viciously teasing her back in front of her best friend.
As if talking about something as mundane as the weather, Rayleigh finished, "She wanted to know the secret of my Thrusting Technique and I told her that it was all in the hips. I demonstrated for her many times before she joined me. We practiced Thrusting Techniques for hours until she collapsed onto her bed, claiming that she was completely unable to move."
Vash gave Rayleigh a gentleman's nod of respect while Mechanic gave Tails a wicked Cheshire grin that promised she would get every detail from her friend, one way or another.
Finally regaining some composure, Tails shouted, "That's Not What Happened! He didn't do anything to me!"
Rayleigh calmly continued eating and asked, "Was there anything I said that was inaccurate or false?"
Tailed rose to speak before halting upon re-examining his wording. Technically, his words were not untrue. But he had clearly left out so many things and said them in a way that implied that she had been completely conquered by him. If she was going to get conquered by him, she should at least be able to participate!
Seeing the blush that had drifted all the way down to Tails' neck, Mechanic couldn't hold her composure a moment longer and started laughing. Vash held it in a little better, but was still caught in a chuckling fit.
Tails had never been so embarrassed in her life. What was worse was that she couldn't even be mad. Not really. Rayleigh had completely turned her own plan against her. She had been so focused on making him blush or sputter or freeze up that she had completely missed that he was setting her up from the moment she invited him into her room. The reason he hadn't fallen for her was because he wouldn't have been able to pull off this complete reversal if he had.
After taking a few breaths to calm herself, Tails refilled her coffee mug and finished it off.
She gave Rayleigh a deadpan stare mixed with equal parts resentment and respect and said, "Well played."
Tails knew that Mechanic didn't really think anything had happened. She has access to every security log in the building so she'd know that Rayleigh left and did not spend the night in her room.
At least she got the answer to the question, 'How would he react if she goes too far teasing him?' The answer? He'd tease her back. That was definitely something she could live with.
After finishing breakfast, Vash took them to a shuttle which then took them to their ship manufacturing site.
Rayleigh had been there for two or three hours almost daily for a few months until recently. He'd drawn Divine Script on the frame and outer haul and numerous components, large and small.
Now the ship had been fully assembled and fueled, ready for its maiden voyage.
Mechanic started her explanation, "From the outside, it looks identical to every other VCX-100 Light Freighter. On the inside though, it's an entirely different monster. First, most of the wiring between systems was replaced with fiber optic cables. Normal Fiber cables melt too easily, but once we figured out how to apply Rayleigh's Divine Script to them, that was no longer a problem."
Rayleigh had been the one to apply the Divine Script so he knew this part of course. HK-47's internal wiring had also been replaced with indestructible fiber optic cable as well, granting him the fastest reflexes of any robot in the Galaxy and high resistance to EMPs.
Mechanic continued, "Combined with a second engine that runs completely cold, you can achieve a form of stealth that makes it nearly impossible for anything but visual sensors to target or track your location."
Although Rayleigh had been required to assemble most of the parts for this ship, he didn't actually know what they were for, so this explanation was for both him and Tails.
"The armor is lighter than a ship of this size has any right to be and has undergone extensive testing to confirm that it can hold under almost anything."
Tails asked, "Almost?"
Vash added, "Yeah, don't pilot it through a star or black hole. Even if the ship survives, the occupants will not."
Rayleigh nodded. Divine Script would prevent the structure from collapsing, but there were many ways to die in space.
Mechanic walked them to the front and pointed below the cockpit and at the top of the ship. "These are the nose turret and dorsal turret. Externally, they look like low powered laser turrets, identical to stock models. Internally, these are actually slug thrower cannons that fire special shells at speeds far faster than anything powered by tibanna gas. There are different shells with different effects. Proton Torpedo shells. Incendiary Shells. Concussion Shells. High Explosive Shells. The only downside is that most of them are complete overkill."
Tails' eyes shined and asked, "How much overkill are we talking about?"
Vash once again answered, "The most dangerous ones required Swordsman and I to work together to make. There's a thousand shells in that ship that will explode with the force of a mini nuclear warhead upon impact, and the dual turret can fire them at a rate of fifty per second."
Rayleigh preferred not to use those since making more took up too much time. They'd be handy in an emergency, but would not be used unless the proverbial shit had hit the fan.
"Ninety-eight percent of each cannon was made indestructible by Rayleigh, so they can outperform the turbo laser cannons of large class vessels with ease. The only real limitation to the gun's firing rate and bullet velocity was the recoil to the ship. We ramped it as high as possible without throwing off the pilot's ability to fly through the eye of a needle while in full combat."
Mechanic motioned to HK-47 and said, "You can wire yourself directly into either turret and combine your aiming systems with the ship's. Just like yours, they were built with divine script parts that wouldn't destroy themselves when overheated, so the entire system can be overclocked to thousands of times normal processing speed if necessary. The only catch is that you can't overclock the systems while in Stealth Mode since the heat would give the ship's location away."
[Statement. Hiding is not necessary if everything seeking you has been eliminated.]
Mechanic continued, "When you don't need to hide using the Stealth engine, the main engine is stronger than most middle class ships, which, on your overly light-weight ship, grants you speed and maneuverability that physics would balk at for a ship of this size. You can basically pilot it as if it were a speeder bike. The Hyperspace engine was custom-made using some Divine Script parts and would be considered a Point Four Five Class Hyperdrive."
Tails whistled appreciatively. That kind of speed could outrun anything in the Galaxy. Though even when not traveling through Hyperspace, this ship could already outrun anything in the Galaxy.
"The shields are mostly for show and will still short out if they receive too much damage or take a proton torpedo. There is over three thousand cubic feet of storage, about three shipping containers worth, so when needed, you can really act as traders. The deck has four rooms, three of which have been set for you two and Vash while the last has been set for HK-47 and includes a pod he can use to customize his weapons, reload, recharge, and repair anything that isn't indestructible."
She was now walking them inside the ship. "The ship has a few other features I'll leave as a surprise. The only thing it doesn't have is a name. So, what do you think?"
*Author's Note*
-me saying I'm back.
-me then vanishing for months.
As it turns out, writing semi-realistic semi-romance scenes that don't feel forced or cliché is harder than writing actual plot. Who knew?
Hopefully some of the dialogue scenes I worked pretty hard on made you laugh.
In any case, I got the introduction out and the rest is much easier. I have a backlog of ideas for more chapters through the start of the Clone Wars so I should hopefully be releasing more soon.
Tails is obviously the Female lead and I am going to shamelessly say that she looks like a slightly younger Yasaka from DxD. I tried to give some insights into her personality which is filled with contradictions, something that is perfectly normal for most people.
Rayleigh's interactions with her are not that of an ignorantly dense protagonist, but of a selectively dense protagonist. He is still a Enhancer and has the Enhancer mindset, something I try to show in the way he thinks.
Ideas on ship names?