The Last to Know (Minako, Lucan) 12/28

[Aino Minako]

Minako rolled over, her half open eyes peering over to the clock resting on her bedside table. The bright red digital numbers read 9:04, well past her normal rising time. She yawned, still exhausted from staying up well into the night. Minako had pulled out both the set of papers Usagi had given her and the script for the new movie, intent on working on both projects. She's promised Usagi she'd have the documents signed and return within two days and she intended to keep that promise.

She'd spent hours pouring over the complicated language. Sometimes she just scribbled her name without being completely clear on what she was signing. Other times the words on the paper made complete sense. The best times were when she could hear Usagi's voice narrating because the word choice and sentence structure were obviously the queen's.

By midnight, Minako needed a break, yet she'd only accomplished half of the stack. She pulled out her script and began to practice reciting lines. She didn't know the order they'd be filming the scenes, so rather than memorize lines, she focused more on fleshing out her character through motion and voice inflection. An hour later, she settled back down to force herself through more paper work. By three am, she was too exhausted to go on. There were only four documents left, so Minako resolved to complete them in the morning.

Morning was here already. She was still tired, but she had too much to do to keep sleeping and instead called room service for a cup of coffee before heading for the shower. The hot water revived her and she settled down the coffee and breakfast, left by the palace staff on her kitchen table, and finished the last few documents.

Around ten am, she headed for Usagi's office. She didn't know if the Queen would be there, but Minako assumed she could leave the papers with the office staff and the Queen would receive them afterwards. Arriving at the office, she pushed open the doors and approached Usagi's secretary. "Hello, is the Queen here? I have some paperwork I need to return for her."

"I'm sorry," the woman behind the desk replied, "But she has stepped out. Can I take them for you?"

"I don't see why not," Minako replied as she began to fetch the papers from her bag.

[Aino Minako]

Minako nearly dropped the entire folder of papers on the floor as she jumped at Lucan's voice. A last second bobble followed by a grab of her other hand as she dropped her briefcase on the floor saved the documents from becoming a jumbled mess on the floor. "You startled me," Minako replied catching her breath and giving Lucan a smile. She tucked the folder under her arm and motioned towards Usagi's office. "I'll just put these in..."

She was about to head for the office when Lucan's comment registered. "What events from this morning?" she questioned, a confused expression crossing her features. She had no idea what he was referring to. Had she missed something important that the queen's second was supposed to attend?

[Aino Minako]

Minako stepped into Usagi's office as Lucan spoke. The moment his statement registered, the documents tumbled from Minako's hands. The sheets of paper on the top and bottom of the large stack drifted away from the center mass, taking longer to float to the floor than the rest. But when the main collection of documents hit the floor, the sheets of paper flew everywhere. Minako groaned, realizing she could have minimized the damage had she re-affixed the paper clips before bring them.

She ignored the papers for the moment. They weren't going anywhere and someone on Usagi's staff could worry about sorting them back into order. "The wedding is off? When? How? Wait a minute, when did Usagi call a meeting?" Minako tried to think back to the night before. Her communicator hadn't gone off. She didn't remember any phone calls to her private line. Her cell phone reception in the palace was terrible, but so was everyone else's so why would they have tried her on that? Had Usagi and the others simply forgotten to invite her? She had a hard time believing that two days after asking her to be second-in-command, Usagi would forget her.

Minako sunk down to her knees and began to pick up the paper. She thought about Usagi and Mamoru and Chibiusa. Usagi and Mamoru were meant to be. What could have possibly happened to cause Usagi, who'd walk through fire for Mamoru, to suddenly decide she could no longer marry him. Minako shook her head in denial. "Something can't be right. Mamoru has been with Usagi since... since junior high school! There has to be a mistake...."

[Aino Minako]

Minako groaned when Lucan mentioned email. She hadn't check her computer in a couple of days. There was just too much going on her life to even think about the computer. She was sure the fan mail was piling up as well, but compared to the movie and the queen's paperwork and the new song she was attempting to write, Minako wasn't as concerned about affairs of the internet. "I'll have to check my computer," she grumbled, feeling irritated that no one attempted a phone call when she didn't appear.

But the wedding couldn't be off. All Minako knew was that she had to find Usagi and change her friend's mind. "Where is Usagi now?" Minako asked Lucan. He was head of security. Didn't he have to know at all times?

[Aino Minako]

Minako finished picking up the papers and set them on Usagi's desk. She pulled out a pad of post-it notes and scribbled a quick note while Lucan was talking. "Sorry these are a mess. Lucan startled me and I dropped them. We need to talk, ASAP. Call my cell. [number scribbled below]. Love you, Minako" Minako set down the pen, pulled out the post-it note and stuck it to the top of the stack of papers. She felt foolish leaving the documents in utter disarray, but sorting them would take forever, and between the script she still needed to practice, the strange meeting she missed and would have to get caught up on, the sudden news that Usagi was now single, and Lucan's desire to inform her about the security protocols when one of her best friends was likely forcing her tears from falling while talking to some strange foreign country, the papers would just have to wait until someone else got around to them. Minako had too much on her mind.

She turned back to Lucan and nodded. Her eyes shifted towards the sofas that surrounded the coffee table in the queen's office, and with the tilt of her head, she silently asked if Lucan wished to discuss security here or somewhere else. "We might as well talk about email and security and whatever else I need to know now. The sooner I'm told, the sooner I'll know I'm following the right protocol." Minako couldn't help but use the word protocol. The term seemed to be the favorite word of just about anyone who worked for the government, followed by policy, procedure, situation, and crisis. "And since you're free at the moment, and I'm free at the moment. So yes, now is fine."

[Aino Minako]

Minako's head was spinning. She understood basic security. She had her hired bodyguards, even if they probably were more brawn than Lucan liked. Minako wasn't sure they would join the government security even if she asked. They were probably better paid as private security guards for idols. She'd shuddered at Lucan's crude analogy and nodded her head as he went through each and every detail about potential assassins, travel preparations, some strange history lesson, luck, opportunity, assassins, luck again... Minako kept nodding. "So in the end, don't go anywhere without security. Don't leave without security. Don't change plans without security. Don't eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom without security..."

"Seems pretty simple if you ask me," Minako replied, tossing in a grin. "What's next?"

[Aino Minako]

Minako felt a small wave of relief when Lucan mentioned her agent. While Usagi had insisted that she could continue with her career, Minako had expected Lucan to vehemently disagree. The man was responsible for her security, and the more places she went, the harder it would be to keep her safe. His verbal confirmation of Usagi's words eased a stress that Minako hadn't realized she'd felt. Between her original career and new one, she would be no stranger to stress. The less she felt the better.

Minako stood, following Lucan's lead. "I'll send you an email later with my agent's information, and anything else you feel you need as part of the security detail." she told him as they walked. So far, Lucan's procedures appeared to be more stringent and thorough versions of her own. Idol's required security for keeping crazed fans from accidentally doing something stupid, so most security was there simply to remind them there were consequences of being too far. The detail that Lucan described wasn't needed. Minako thought back to what Usagi had said, however, regarding her security. Lucan's team needed to be right 100% of the time, while the assassins only had to be right once. Minako felt a small shiver run down her spine at the thought of anyone trying to kill either of them. She was more than willing to help Lucan out if that meant keeping her, Usagi, and the other senshi alive and well. "Where are we headed?" she asked, curious.

[Aino Minako]

Minako followed Lucan out of Usagi's office. She glanced back at the secretary whom she'd almost given the documents to, but the woman was absorbed in whatever task she was doing and Minako passed her by without a word. As they weaved through the hallways, Minako found herself struggling to keep up with the purposefully stride of the head of security. He knew where he was going, and besides the fact that he was experienced at moving through crowds, people seems to part to the side enough for him to pass through, but not enough for Minako to follow. "Excuse me!" she finally cried out, pushing past a few people in an attempt to stay at Lucan's side. Castle staff seemed so involved in their task they didn't bother to see who was walking by them - no one noticed that it was Aino Minako, famous idol, who's path they were blocking.

Minako watched as Lucan scanned his card. As she walked through the door he held open for her, she laughed nervously and joked, "So, as queen-back-up do I get security cards and full body scanning?" Anything to combat the lack of conversation between the pair.

Lucan began to show her around the center, telling her about email monitoring, hand-writing analysis and all the other things the group did to ensure the queen's safety. The fact that all this went on day in and day out while she and the other girls simply went along with their lives was mind-blowing. "I , uh, well, I get thousands of comments on my blog daily. Most of them I don't even have time to read. I group reply, where my staff will pull all the names together for a specific topic, such as people who propose to me, and I'll write one common reply. Or sometimes they write the replies, because really, I don't have time to write hundreds of replies either, especially on busy days like today." She looked over to one of the groups of people, "So these people will review those comments for anything suspicious? Do dangerous people really make themselves that obvious?"

[Aino Minako]

At Lucan's comment about the DLC, Minako giggled. The last time she had to renew her license , the AC had kicked on right before the camera had snapped her photo. Her hair had blow everywhere - everywhere except her face. Because her face was visible, the lady behind the counter simply shrugged when Minako had asked to take the picture again. I'm not a photographer, I'm a DLC employee. I have to take your picture. It doesn't have to look good. Minako had gone back a few months later and claimed to have lost the license in an attempt to get an improved photo. The second time around her hair laid straight, but she was a millisecond into a blink and her expression was terrible. She'd given up after that.

"That's a relief," Minako replied, still smiling. "I've had a few horror shots down at the DLC myself." As Lucan switched gears and began to tell her about all the issues surrounding web-security and sociopaths. She wondered if Beryl, Galaxia, and Professor Tomoe counted as sociopaths. She wondered how Lucan's security team would handle chaos in it's pure evil form, rather than a human influenced by the chaos in his heart. She wondered if Lucan knew just how much experience the senshi had with battling chaos. Most of their exploits were not well known, as circumstances (and the ginziushou) had managed to cover-up much of what they had done. Minako doubted that bullets would have ever stopped Galaxia. Even so, Lucan's team was likely far more effective against the human element than the senshi would have been. Minako knew Usagi could never turn her powers again a human, no matter what that person had done.

"I'll have my agent prepare a list of all the webpages we participate in, the blog information, all the IPs that have posted on the blog and how to access that information, and have it all sent to your team. If you don't mind, I'd still like him to be able to monitor the traffic as well, since my team does far more of the work on that page than I do, but if there is anything they need to change to cooperate with your team and their guidelines, you can work all that through him."

She paused, "And thanks for the advice." She smiled. "Something tells me that my name will find a way to be smudged no matter what I do. I think it comes with the job of being an idol - two-fold, if you add back-up-queen to the list."

[Aino Minako]

Minako followed Lucan into the elevators, listening as he spoke. She could tell that he disliked the way the press abused their powers - and the press did have powers. Minako knew from experience that the press could make or break someone in her business. Anyone the press ignored was hard-pressed to find a fan-base, while those celebrities the press hounded were eaten like candy by the masses. Minako had luckily managed to maintain some shred of decency, even with the pregnancy rumors that ran amok in the papers a few weeks ago.

"I'd love to see the car, Lucan," Minako replied, hoping that the vehicle didn't come with an hour long explaination of how each gadget and security feature worked. She didn't mind having conversation with Lucan, as long as he kept the topics from going over her head, a hard thing for a man of his nature to do.

[Aino Minako]

Minako jumped when they stepped from the elevator to the sound of bullets firing from guns. While her security detail for concerts often carried weapons, they had never been forced to use them for her protection. Ryu was an excellent crowd reader and often spurred Minako to safety long before violence could errupt. But that might not be the case in her new role, Minako thought to herself. Crazed crowds were not the danger. Instead stealthy assassins were far more likely to come after her, and Ryu's skills would be worthless. Minako made a mental note to think on whether she wanted to even bother keeping her old security. Something told her they would be far less effective with her new security needs than Lucan's force.

"I'd love for you to show me what she can do," Minako replied as calmly as possible. Her heart was already pounding - from what she knew of Lucan he was certain to show off something that felt a lot dangerous than it actually was. But she knew he wouldn't be happy with the calm ride. He was doing a lot for her, at least she could let him have a little fun. "Just don't kill me," she laughed.

[Aino Minako]

Lucan looked like a kid in a candy store, Minako thought as she settled into the car. She watched the rest of the practice motorcade fall in around their vehicle. "I suppose then, that buckling my seat belt isn't part of the routine? Or do I still put it on and assume my security people would have it off and have me on the floor in seconds?" The thought did send a shiver through her. She hoped she never experienced a true attack on in any way - motorcade, palace bombing, gunshot on stage, whatever else crazy terrorist might come up with.

"So really, besides follow directions, is there anything particular someone in my position should be doing?"