Tokyo Confidential

“I don’t believe this!”

Katya was sat at the bar. Not exactly a dive, but not the high-end establishments she normally frequented, either. Her anger appeared to stem from the drinks menu she was reading.

“Absolut is Swedish. Grey Goose is French. This ‘Imperial Commisar’ crap, that name doesn’t even make sense!! Why are none of your vodkas Russian!?” she demanded of the bemused girl behind the bar.

“This is practically racist, you know,” she grumbled. “Okay, best of a bad bunch, give me Grey Goose. Yeah, a large double. No, no mixer, what kind of question is that?”

Katya tapped her fingers as she waited for the glass of clear spirit to be slid her way.

Ise had searched for her expensive sunglasses in the interior in one of the pockets of her police bike before she stepped out on the street with a big goofy smile, leaving her bike defiantly standing in a non-parking zone.

One could think that a woman as boisterous as the giant cop would frown upon the use of a common police bike in the colors of the police of Tokyo, but she was quite satisfied with it. It was fast, faster than almost all regular serial models on the street, and it had an automatic *I go first* button with either a silent or loud siren. Not to speak of the fact that she could park it nearly everywhere, who would dare to write her a ticket from her colleagues?

Her massive frame cruised over the walkway and through the masses of smaller people she easily towered over when she was on the way to a bar where she was intending to meet a certain person she had to deal with, and stepped into it. And luckily for her, the young girl was easy to find. She heaved her mass on a stool beside her, putting her sunglasses down on the nose again so that her eyes could be seen.
"Lvova, Katya."
She constated, her fashion tailored women suit clinging smoothly to her massive frame.
"I am Garuga Ise, head of talent research and development of AFW. Can I have your attention for a view minutes? It is for a case that surely is of interest to you."

Katya turned her head as the tall woman entered the bar. She could see out onto the street, with the police bike parked outside.

Cops? Katya frowned. She had had a few run-ins with Russian law enforcement and knew how the system worked back home, but Japan was more of a mystery to her. Still, she was confident that she’d done nothing wrong. In Japan, anyway.

So, she was more curious than worried as the big girl sat next to her. Especially since this seemed to be AFW, rather than police, business.

“Talent, huh? Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Katya smiled confidently. She held Ise’s gaze as she gulped down the first mouthful of vodka.

“Please, go ahead.” Katya was always open and accommodating, especially when the offer was apparently of interest to her.

"Good. Let´s get straight to the point then, Miss Lvova."
Ise replied in a friendly voice while ordering a club soda with a finger pointing to a glass of soda near her. She was still on duty, although it did not seem like that for the masses.

"Your match results are barely average, and your performance against the upper mid card or main event girls were not that remarkable. Of course, one of your opponents was a future champion, but let´s be honest, that was a squash."
The cop stated the facts in a business voice, storing her sunglasses away in the process.
"Now don´t get me wrong, your place in the league is secure. I man, according to our market analysis, our customers love a girl that is looking good and humiliated by bombshell bimbos in the ring, bed, at the pool or wherever. But is that enough for a person of your social standing and ambition, a low card jobber?"

Katya gripped the bar, her knuckles whitening in a flash of anger as Ise went over her poor match record. It wasn't something she cared to be reminded of.

"Hey..." she began, but managed to hold back, letting Ise finish her piece. She licked her lips and finished her drink in a quick slug as she considered her reply.

"Ugh. Don't get me started on Azami. Look, maybe I have been struggling a bit, but I think that is true of all the new girls. It does not mean I am destined to be some low card jobber, no. Is that really what your analysis says? I'm part of a pretty good tag team... and I'm still training... anyone who thinks they can humiliate and laugh at me are going to have the smiles wiped away pretty quickly, I guarantee."

Katya realised she was getting animated and held back for a second, watching Ise closely. "I assume you aren't one of those people? You've got a better reason to visit than rubbing my match record in my face?"

"Really? I can show you dozens of debut fights that were not only victories, but convincing victories. Over top contenders. Your tag team has not come off the ground up until right now. A jab at the championship contenders is a start, but not much to write home about if you can´t follow up. There are even people at the office that think that your hired help should be pushed instead of you."
Ise resumed, smiling lightly at the reaction of Katya. Very good.
"I am indeed not one of them. I think that you have potential, and more important, the will to make it happen. The daughter of an oligarch is surely not here to be a toy for the mighty."
Indeed, Ise hd done some research on the other girl, like she always did.
"I came here to visit you because I think that you are held back by the machine, and that is something I can´t stand. You know, people like Lukretia von Creutzfeld or the current COO of talent relation. And their cronies, people like Akashi, *I get tries as long as I need* champion Angel, Mercri Wrenn, the Love Bunnies or Taylor Parker, who can come and go from the league as much as she pleases."

Katya’s jaw opened and closed a little as Ise ran though her record. She wanted to argue some of the points - imagine anyone considering Oksana as a better prospect for stardom! - but thought better of it. By the time that Ise came around to praising the rich girl’s pedigree, she smiled.

“I don’t really know about Taylor or Lukretia…” frowned Katya. “The Love Bunnies seem kind of dumb… pushed us out of the tag division, that’s for sure… Akashi, though, she’s the worst. Acts like she owns the place, when, last time I checked, she’s just a fat sumo with the right friends.”

Katya sighed and rubbed her face warily. Ise seemed to be stirring trouble, which was fine by Katya, but the wily Russian knew that picking sides was an art form. You wouldn’t just throw your hat in with the first rabble-rouser that came along.

“I appreciate your concern for my career,” Katya smiled wryly, trying to look into Ise’s eyes to gauge the other girl’s thoughts. “But what to do about the, uh, machine, as you say? I not about to start fight with the entire establishment… seems like a short cut to a von Creutzfeld - sponsored ass kicking.”

"A good question! Let´s take a look at this machine we are talking about."
Ise took a sip from her soda while putting the explaining honesty of a teacher in her eyes.
"You see, this machine has a lot of wheels and cogs in its hierarchy. There are cogs that are interchangeable without an effort, the low and mid card wrestlers. Pretty, a minimum of wrestling ability and the will to sign a contract that states that your relatives can´t sue AFW if you are killed or disabled. Easy, huh? The next are the upper carders and main eventers, girls with ambition and those are protected by management. The art is to be one of the later ones. And given your history, it is safe to assume that you are a little wheel at the moment, and also had the misfortune to grind against some big wheels."
The cop laughed silently, looking around once around to see if nobody would listen.
"But some of these cogs, even a few big ones pose a risk for AFW. This league has seen them all: Assassins, burglars, identity thieves, the list goes on and on. And here is where I come into play, a wheel that is only partially integrated in the machine and runs in another machine too, in this case the Tokyo police department. I don´t have the highest of security codes, but you can safely assume that I can get dozens of girls arrested on the spot if I really need to do it in my responsibility as a police lieutenant. Wrestling has a history with drug abuse, so I have to see for the honest wrestlers with regular checks."
She took another sip, suggesting that way that she could not really stop the machine, but hinder it.
"You are probably thinking right now: How can I benefit from this? Pretty easy. I grease your wheel by including you into a faction that generates ratings and buyrates, the oil for the machine. And besides that, I can jam some of the wheels that would grind against you. Body searches, traffic controls, drug tests. I can even write a favorable report to my superiors for certain, ahem, happenings."

Katya became more focused as Ise continued her explanation. It was obvious that this woman knew what she was talking about, knew how things worked, knew how things were done.

"Yeah... there's been a lot of grinding," she mused impishly.

She was even more interested as Ise spelt out the benefits of having a cop on her side. Katya didn't really need telling just how useful that could be, but it was good to hear it all the same. In Moscow, she knew that the police were just an extension of power, whoever happened to be controlling it. Tokyo was a different world for her, so it was nice to have this opportunity drop right into her lap.

Greasing wheels, granting favours... Ise was definitely speaking Katya's language.

"Heheh, body searches, now I can think of a few uses for that," she leered.

"Okay, Ise, you seem to have, how you say, traction. You're a good, smart, woman. Let me get you another drink?"

Katya nodded for the bartender's attention.

"So, you're just doing all this out of the goodness of your heart? Taken a shine to poor old me, and want to help out?" Katya smiled knowingly. "Or you want I should do you a favour in return?"

"Another soda please. I am still on duty for the good citizens of Tokyo at the moment."
Ise had to smile herself when she stated this, before her face turned hard and even slightly hateful. She kind of had thought that the promiscuous nature of Katya would play her into the hands when she had used the possible body searches and grinding. And as she was not stupid, she had also appealed to the benefits that a daughter of an oligarch would surely understand.
"As senior road agent and head of R&D, I was denied the respect I deserve by Aurelia and Lukretia. We could all be a lucky family and make a lot of money and enjoy the spoils of the business, but the both of them insist of being smart asses and want to run things their own way without taking care of the cogs that hold their system together."

Things could have really been smooth, she did not want the top position anyway, but nobody, not even a person like Lukretia von Creutzfeld, pissed against her leg and walked away unharmed just like that.
"Your job is simple. You will become part of a stable I plan to open, so you won´t have to do something illegal, it will all stay in the ring as far as you are concerned. I need some girls that are unhappy with their lot in AFW to build this up and shake the establishment by showing that I have valid points, get the support of some of the wrestling community until I get the respect that I deserve from them. So your promo ability is also in demand, give some interviews of how much this is a good old girls system and so on."
She sighed shortly. So much work for a little respect.
"You see, this is win-win for you. Akashi and consorts will continue to treat you like a toy if you choose to remain passive all along, so you can only benefit from this. And even if my plan does not work out, public will have noticed you besides of being an easy victim fir Azami and the other main eventers."