Who: Natasha and Katou What: Katou goes back to work, gets an assignment When: Recently Where: The Agency Ratings/Warnings: Low/none Status: Partner Thread | Complete
It had been months since the last time Katou had stepped foot in the Agency, and he didn’t want to do it now. But somehow he’d managed to let Carolina talk him into returning to the fold. He’d stepped away for a while, convinced the Agency and the rest of the county was better off without him. After all, last time he’d tried to save the world, he’d nearly destroyed it instead. It seemed to be an unfortunate trait that he and his dreamself shared. Though, they seemed to share all of their unfortunate traits, and Katou was disappointed to realize he hadn’t inherited any of his dream selves positive traits.
As he walked in, he wondered if he even still had a job. Zatanna had asked him to work with the Magical Division in addition to his field agent responsibilities, but he hadn’t even looked into the magical division since she’d left. He’d probably have to poke his head in there later, but his first stop was his office. Assuming he even had one anymore. He couldn’t really blame them if they’d replaced him.
As if expecting him, Nat was perched on his desk. The only difference to her usual appearance was she wore a shirt that covered her chest. No cleavage today - and not until her chest wound healed. She had to maintain the appearance she was 100%.
“Look who the cat dragged in.”
Katou froze in the doorway, looking at Natasha. He really hadn’t expected her to be there, and part of him was tempted to just turn tail and stay away. He couldn’t do that though. He carefully arranged his face into a nonchalant expression, and stepped further into the room. “Guess I’m a bit late. Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque,” he said by way of explanation.
“How are you feeling, Katou?” She tilted her head, “Too many carrots?”
“Something like that,” Katou muttered, using his index finger to self-consciously scratch his cheek. “I’m feeling alright though. Off the carrots and all that,” he said, attempting a cheeky wink. He cleared his throat. “So uh, you gonna make me clean out my desk?” he asked. It was probably what he deserved, and it was probably better to head it off at the start instead of being blindsided.
Natasha regarded him for a moment, as if she were sizing him up, “No. The desk is still yours. Just next time you need a leave of absence?”
She hopped off his desk. “Ask.”
Katou couldn’t stop the look of relief that crossed his face, though he didn’t particularly want to. “Sure thing, Boss,” he said, grinning a bit. “And uh, you know. My bad. For everything.”
She chuckled, “If you want to get back into my good graces, there’s actually a favor you could do for me.”
Katou frowned a little, not too big on doing favours for people. But, well, he kind of deserved whatever he got. He just hoped it wasn’t something too terrible or difficult. “Yeah?” he asked.
“After the last Event,” Natasha started to explain. “We pushed the Orcs back to their portal and they went through it. The portal shut down after that, but the … frame still remains, dormant. Like an archway. A really creepy looking one.”
One could see through it, because the portal was closed, and yet… “I just want you to scout it out, feel for if it’s actually dormant. It’s near property owned by a company called Blizzard, in Irvine.”
Katou’s eyebrows furrowed together, partially in guilt. When the orcs had arrived, Katou’d put one foot outside and promptly decided it wasn’t his problem and someone else could deal with it while he got high instead. But the job didn’t seem that hard, not really. “I guess I could do that,” he said after a moment. “But I’m not really sure how I’d do that. I can sense auras,” kind of, though usually only ones filled with strong, malicious intent, “but beyond that I ain’t got much in the way of magical door experience.”
“I just want your opinion on it. What it looks like, what it feels like. You can get in and out without anyone really noticing, and it’s not like you’d look all that out of place near a video game company.” Unlike, say, Nat.
It was true that Katou could get almost anywhere without people noticing. It was one of the perks of being a shapeshifter. And even if he couldn’t shapeshift, he supposed it was probably more likely for some guy in his early 20s to be hanging around a video game company than some smoking hot chick, even if he never had gotten into those things before. “Alright, bosslady. I’m on it.”
“Just make sure you write the report when you’re done,” Natasha said, and strode out of the office before she could listen to any objections.