Give and Take

Kota and Sano sat in the Infirmary Floor quietly waiting by the vending machines. Kota, while finally quiet, was inwardly theorizing what was the convicts' mystery.

Sano simply sat quietly watching the door to the right.

"Hey, I bet you haven't had a cold drink from a vending machine in a while? Have at it?" Kota egged, attempting to bribe answers out the inmate.

Sano rolled his eyes once again. "Kota, I haven't had my own money in years." Sano said keeping his attention on the hallway.

Kota shook his head, and HE rolled his eyes.

"I meant it's on ME, although that could be a problem." Kota said going to the vending machine.

"You got a favorite drink?" Kota asked.

Sano didn't answer right away. All he had for the past two days was a needle full of nutrients and water to drink.

"Surprise me." Sano said, trying not to respond more than he had to.

"Alright, let's take a look." Kota said. He looked the vending machine up and down, looming over cans with oranges, grapes, and even an olive.

"Oh here's a good one." Kota murmured as he inserted the money.

After hearing the machine Sano perked up to see Kota holding out a pink can.

"You'll like this." Kota said cheerfully.

Sano took the can and used his thumb to open it. As the air whizzed out, he almost dropped it, feeling how cold it was.

"Well, it is pretty cold." Sano said, sniffing the top. It was a sweet fragrance, a tad bit strong, but not overwhelming.

Sano shrugged and lifted the can over his mouth, but stopped halfway at the sound of a sliding door.

Kota and he looked down the hall to see Kanon coming out looking parched and exhausted, with her god-arc in hand. Sano got up from the bench and Kota followed suit after getting a drink for himself.

"Hey, Kanon." Kota called.

Kanon came to her senses and cheerfully waved her free hand.

"Hi, guys, I just got chewed out by Yae for bringing in my god-arc, I mean she thanked me first, but totally did a 180-I had it set to healing bullets!-Is that for me?" Kanon asked. She pointed at the pink can in Sano's free hand.

He looked down at the drink, and then Kanon. After a back-and-forth, he held up the can to her.

"Oh, thank you!" Kanon said graciously. She poured the liquid into her mouth and let out a squee.

"How did you know strawberry is my favorite!?" she asked, holding her cheeks.

"Lucky guess. How is she?" Sano asked, looking at the corridor. Kota at the moment was pleased with himself.

"Oh right, ERINA! Yae says she just needs rest. It's not visiting hours right now and even if it was, Yae has to take care of the black plague patients." Kanon said, resuming her drink.

"So we can't see her yet? Bummer. Guess I'll just hang here. ...Hey, Sano." Kota called.

Sano responded with a grunt but kept his back to the god-eater.

"Thank you for saving Erina. I'll pay you back for this, I know Emil must be happy!" Kota said with a smile.

"Actually Yae said not to tell him, at least until Erina wakes up." Kanon said, taking a guilty sip from the strawberry can.

"Well, that's that. You guys should check in with Haru." Kota said, sitting back on the bench opening his own drink.

"Good idea, ready to go, partner?" Kanon asked. Sano never took his eye off the infirmary door. Under that stoic gaze, Kanon could sense the urgency.

To her surprise though, he turned around and walked to the lift. "Hey, Kane." he said, confusing Kanon.

"After we get back, can we come straight here?" Sano said, turning to Kanon.

After the sullen look he gave her, her response was pre-ordained.

"Yeah, definitely! You don't even have to ask." Kanon said, getting ahead of him.

Seems the one who's getting the wish is looking to please the wish giver.

Sano nodded gratefully and followed her into the elevator.

Once the elevator started moving, a ring came from Kanon's pocket.

She pulled out her phone moved it to her mouth.

"Hello?" she said.

"Kanon are you with Sano and Kota right now?" Hibari's voiced came from the speaker.

"Well Kota's waiting on Emil, but I'm with Sano right now." Kanon said.

"The Director wants him in his office. Also, tell him to turn his phone on. Whether it's a loan or not he should be ready to use it." Hibari said, with a hint of grievance.

Sano rummaged through his coat pocket and pulled out a blue phone similar to Kanon's.

"It's dead." Sano said, turning the device to Kanon showing a black screen.

"What did he say?" Hibari said.

"His phone is dead." Kanon said.

"That phone might need a new battery, take it to Licca later." Hibari said.

"OH, have you met Licca, she's a great engineer, technician, whatever, if it's broke she can fix it. Especially our god-arcs!" Kanon said cheerfully.

"Actually the director wants to see her too. If you don't mind, would you call her for me, mission-critical over here." Hibari said urgently.

"Any chance she's a little short, has a ponytail, and a pair of red goggles?" Sano asked as the elevator stopped.

"Yeah, that's her! It's like that now, but a year ago she used to wear it straight down and short." Kanon said as the gate opened.

"Ya don't say?" Sano said, as his stoic expression became a scowl.

At the elevator was the devil herself.

"Oh, HEY Licca! Hibari says Director wants to see you and Sano over here. " Kanon kept on talking while Licca glared at Sano with a sickening smile.

Or perhaps sickening wasn't the right word. Vengeful.

Yes, that was it...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm glad I finally get to see you outside of that Helmet. Would've talked to you sooner, but paperwork you know. I'd like to properly introduce myself again. I am Paylor Sakaki Director."Paylor said holding out his hand.

As he and Sano shook hands. Licca glared at the god-eaters back, while leering at his god-arc.

"Sano Shimazaki." he said, taking the older gentleman's hand in his. Sano couldn't help but notice they were around the same height.

"Oh? Glad to meet you. Now firstly. On behalf of the Far East, we all thank you. There's enough tragedy lately, I banish the thought of losing young Ms. Der Vogelveid." Sakaki said with a smile.

"You saved Erina?" Licca asked, surprised.

She was met with silence.

"Ya know if you really did? The Maintenance Department will put in extra care for your god-arc. We all love Erina." Licca said sincerely, putting a hand on Sano's back.

Sano remained silent. These thanks were putting him off each time he heard them. Sakaki picked up on this the more silent he was.

"...That won't be necessary." Sano said finally, making Licca frown.

"I can handle the maintenance myself. I'll just take whatever junk you guys aren't using and make due." Sano said, never looking to Licca.

Licca was so appalled she begun pouting.

"We can show more gratitude than THAT!" Licca got in between the director and Sano.

"JUNK!? We have higher standards here! What kind of 2-bit grease monkey do you take me for!? I didn't learn to tune a god-arc by skimping and taking cutbacks! I'm not gonna pretend we always get the parts we need when we need them, but we sure as hell deliver nothing but our BEST! I'm no god-eater, but I'm the next best thing!" Licca ranted.

Sano at first was silent. He brushed Licca aside and aimed his sights at perplexed Sakaki.

"You're gonna let her give me the good stuff?" Sano asked.

Paylor regained himself and put his signature smile on.

"That brings us to why I called you here. Licca we'll have a problem registering our inmates' armlet into the system." Sakaki said.

"What do you mean?" Licca said, pushing herself past Sano again.

"Well I've just talked to his warden, and the specifics are his armlet can't be registered in any system outside a prison database anymore. If his armlet is so much as used to access a terminal it will enter a command to lockdown everything inside the building." Sakaki said.

"The whole building?" Licca asked.

"No power or lights, no oracle for our factories, infirmary included. The only thing left on will be the aragami wall and the reserve for 24 hours. All doors will be locked on all floors. All 110 of them." Sakaki explained with a smile.

"But why!?" Licca shouted.

"It's a security measure." Sano said eyeing the katana on the display shelf.

"Yes, it's not just information on Aragami in there. Personnel, a newsletter, building specs, and of course when supplies come in." Paylor said.

"There could be problems if a criminal gets access to a Norn." Sano added.

"Knowledge is power, I've always loved that saying." Sakaki said with a cheerful smile.

"The god-arc storage pods are accessed by an armlet recognition system. So in your case, we'd need an engineer or technician to get your god-arc every time. " Licca said pointing at the black claymore. Licca understood, and with a sigh let it go.

"Which would be time-consuming, very time-consuming. Among the staff, there are only 7 people who have that access including you. " Sakaki said tilting his glasses.

"Then couldn't we reconfigure the system to accept his armlet?" Licca asked.

"No I think, and if you did I'd have to have you arrested." Sakaki said with a cackle.

"Really?" Licca asked, growing pale.

"That being said, if I'm going to have you carry that around…

In prison, it works like this yes? Give and take? I'm going to need something in return, my boy." Sakaki said getting close to Sano.

Sano narrowed his eyes at the man.

He looked like a cloaked schemer, he thought.

This diminutive smile aggravated him because he wasn't sure what intent was behind it. Just what was this man thinking? He should've had armed men on him the moment he got here. There were no real attempts on his god-arc except by the mechanic. Not to mention it sounded like he was going to let his engineers give him good parts.

"(I'm not being treated like a prisoner much...?)" Sano thought, puzzled beyond measure.

"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. When do I leave?" Sano asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, you'll be here for a while." Sakaki said, surprising Licca and the inmate.

Is he serious?

"(This doesn't make any sense.)" Sano thought.

"How about this? Go on your mission with Unit 4 first, you'll have more time to think. You won't be staying in the infirmary for the duration of your stay. I've made new arrangements hope you find them to your liking. Licca, escort our prisoner to reception and see him off." Sakaki said as he retreated to his desk.

This left Sano with a scowl and Licca confused.

Too much to figure out, he thought.

I think we're going to need time for this.

Sano reluctantly left the office, with Licca not far behind.

"What the heck was that?" Sano asked, with aggravation in his voice.

"Dr. Sakaki isn't a straight shooter. He's hard to figure. Do you know what floor to hit?" Licca asked as they entered the elevator.

Sano stared at the floor panel.

...

And stared

...

And stared

...

And stared...

"After you get back we're giving you a tour." Licca said as she pressed the button for him.

Sano grunted in response.

"Soooo, does that earn me a chance to look at your god-arc?" she asked with a jaded grin.

Sano glowered at the mechanic startling her. He raised his guard arc making her shrink back.

"You get to look and not touch." Sano warned.

"I wish most god-eaters cared about their god-arc as much as you." Licca said with a geeky snort.

"We don't have engineers to maintain our god-arcs we have to do it ourselves. Every step of the way. With whatever we can find." Sano said staring directly at her with his wolf-like eyes.

"But then why risk sending you out? Even prisons got to have standards. You did good with the blade." Licca complimented, careful not to bump her head into it.

"Why do you care?" Sano asked, with a hint of frustration.

Erina cringed and faced him.

"Why did you save Erina?" she asked, equally hostile.

The more silent it got in the elevator, the more tension built.

Licca didn't seem to be phased by Sano's glare and he by her glower.

The elevator stopped and the gate opened to reveal a crowded lobby.

Sano was the first to move.

"Thank you." he said.

Licca while not satisfied was happy he thanked her for the elevator.

Now if only he'd let her do her job.

Give and take indeed.