Outrun - Chapter 456 - Sean (Patreon)

Sean Sentinel adjusted his tie, and looked around the room. Honestly, he didn’t want to be here. He hadn’t slept last night—been too busy dealing with a small corporation to get a joint project off the ground. Add in the gym after that? Brunhilde was lucky he hadn’t outright told her he wasn’t coming.

‘Course, he could just get biosculpted like most of the other kids his age. The past two weeks of hitting the gym had been… therapeutic, almost. Unfortunately, that also meant he was drained quite a bit more than he used to be.

He blinked a few times, and refocused on the room. This was supposed to be a birthday party for one of the execs… but that wasn’t right. His chrome eyes narrowed, and dozens of faces were run through Sentinel’s internal database. Why would people from rival corporations show up for just a birthday party?

Sean moved past his guards, and approached the Valkyrie who’d quite obviously lied to him. “Brunhilde?”

”Ah, here he is now.” His aunt nudged a girl next to him. She had a playful look in her eyes that made him wish he’d never walked through the door. Whatever mischief she was up to, he wanted no part of it. “Isn’t he quite handsome?”

”Brunhilde? What’s this about?” Sean asked. Why did he feel like she was trying to set him up? He made the decision to stop chasing after someone he barely knew a couple weeks ago. Wasn’t this a bit fast to get him to move on?

Wait, was that the Sentinel-Tsukuyomi Roughrider? His eyes lasered onto the flyer hovering in the middle of the room. Then—

“Sean! Just who I was hoping to see.” Brunhilde slapped the girl next to her on the back, and unceremoniously pushed her toward him. “Look who it is! Recognize her?”

”I don’t think we’ve met.” For the first time, he really focused on her. His database came up totally empty, which was more suspicious than if it showed up with something. “Sorry if we have.”

“Probably for the best.” The girl rubbed at the crook of her elbow, and looked away from him. After a few seconds, everything started to click into place. 

”That’s not very nice.” Brunhilde pouted dramatically. His aunt always did have a bad habit of sticking her grubby hands into places they didn’t belong. “I know you’re going for eccentricity, but—well, you should know who this is?”

Sean glared at the Valkyrie, who innocently twisted her head like she couldn’t see him. Why did she set this up? Why now, after all of this time? After watching Shiro take down Tornado’s CEO, he’d finally gotten it through his thick head. Continuing to hold on just wasn’t healthy. 

His aunt may have been making fun of him back when she called him a creep and stalker, but she was right. Thinking back on some of it made him want to crawl into a hole and stay there. He used to think of himself as a pretty nice guy but—well, it seemed he inherited more of his father than he would’ve liked.

No matter how much he wanted to pretend it was just him looking out for her. They lived in two different worlds, and were practically strangers. Still, that made this clash all the more confusing and painful. Why was she doing this?

“Who?” Shiro glared up at his aunt. Really, he should’ve put the pieces together much sooner. Whatever she used to block perception really was quite strong. Definitely something on the magical side of things. A Remnant, maybe? It didn’t matter.

”Shiro Tsukuyomi, meet my nephew, Sean Sentinel. Sean Sentinel, meet our newest business partner and blah blah blah, Shiro Tsukuyomi.” Her eyebrows twitched as if asking him if he really wanted to do it like this. “I thought you two would get along, but…”

Wait… wait, wait, wait, wait. She was really going to try and force this, huh? It was a good thing he’d gotten better at masking his emotions, otherwise the entire room of onlookers would’ve watched an argument explode. Instead, he just pushed it down where it’d fester until they were somewhere more private.

Sean shifted his attention back to Shiro, and put on a corporate smile. Pretending he knew nothing at all would just make him look out of touch and stupid. With the eyes on him from around the room, he couldn’t afford that. “Ah, the inventor of the Roughrider.”

”Chek… heh, that’s me.” Shiro dipped her head, and most of her face was covered up by her hat. His facial recognition tech finally locked onto her, and pinned her down in the database. Thanks for nothing. “Nice to meet you.”

”I’m so sorry about this.” He glared at his aunt. He could see what she was trying to do—how could he not? Still, he managed to keep his true thoughts out of his voice. 

Brunhilde just winked at him, and subtly mouthed, ‘how about a restart?’

“I was wanting to meet Cold Moon’s genius inventor, but definitely not like this.” His eyebrows twitched. And by wanting to meet, he meant not at all. The plan was to let Brunhilde continue to handle it for now. “Valkyrie Brunhilde has a nasty habit of sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

His aunt raised her hands to her heart like her favorite nephew was an ungrateful whelp. “Ah, they grow up so fast. Just the other day, I remember changing your—“

”Brunhilde.” His voice dipped low in warning. He didn’t appreciate any of this. “Don’t think I won’t have you redeployed somewhere else.”

”Yeah, yeah.” She backed away without a care about the threat. She could see the threat for what it was—empty. “Oh, that’s the Head of Acquisitions. You kids have fun.”

His aunt practically ran away before he could find a way to wiggle out of this unexpected meeting. The two just stood there in silence for several awkward moments. He didn’t even know how to approach her given their past, and she didn’t even know that he knew they had a past.

”Again, I'm sorry about her.” Sean tiredly rubbed at his face. With just the two of them, his voice habitually slipped into the casual way he talked back in school. “She told me this was one of the executives’ birthday parties.”

“You come to things like that?” Shiro looked at him like he was an idiot. Honestly, he felt like one every time he had to wish someone a happy birthday that he couldn’t care less about. 

”Recently, yeah. Boosts morale.” That, and he was trying to get more and more involved with the corporation side of things.

To be honest, he owed her a big thanks. Her job handling the Tornado situation gave him a massive leg up. His father even personally gave him more authority over the Aythryn City branch. Saying as much would expose the past, though, and he had a feeling both of them wanted to keep that buried. 

Sean nodded to a table off to the side. Two Sentinel employees that’d been sitting there winked at him, and vacated the table. It seemed there were quite a few people with a misconception about the situation. His troublesome aunt was to blame, no doubt. “Mind if I sit down? I just got back from the gym.”

”No, go on ahead.” She didn’t follow after Sean, and instead stood rooted in place. Her eyes kept dancing back to the door like she wanted to bolt.

Sean waved two fingers to his guards, and sat back. They nodded to him, and spread out slightly around the door instead of blocking the way. If she wanted to leave, she could do so at any time. It’d probably be for the best that way, actually. 

Shiro reluctantly walked over to his table and sat across from him with the enthusiasm of a stray cat approaching a stranger. She adjusted her hat, and brushed back a strand of silver in her hair. “Sooo… my check?”

”Check?” Sean frowned. Why—? Ah, so that’s why she stuck around. He shot a glare across his room at his aunt. She was really asking to be sent to Cwalu more and more these days, wasn’t she? “Brunhilde tell you I had it?”

He’d been so busy being irritated by Brunhilde’s ambush that he overlooked the fact she was likely ambushed too. This wasn’t fair to her either. It was even worse considering Sentinel was the one holding all the leverage

”Chek…” Shiro’s eyes narrowed, and she twisted back to look at his aunt. 

Brunhilde looked up from her conversation with a Raijin employee, and twirled a thumb drive between her fingers. She winked at the two of them. ‘Be there in a minute.’

A minute. She expected them to just sit there and talk for a minute? Why’d she have to make things so complicated? Right, that’s it. After this, she was definitely being sent to Cwalu. His aunt had been totally against Shiro every time she talked to him, so why was she pressing now? Was this because of the Roughrider?

”You, uh, you wanted to meet me?” Shiro turned her glare onto him. She looked like she wanted to boil someone alive. “Do you take an interest in all Sentinel’s business partners?”

”Passing interest, at least.” He was completely surprised she took the initiative to speak up. Even when she was acting as Meno, he was the one to start conversations. “I heard the CEO of Cold Moon Solutions was my age. Not too many of us running through corporate circles in this city.”

There weren’t many people their age in corporate leadership positions to begin with. It felt like everyone he’d met were either heirs playing dress-up, ambitious lunatics, or kids who learned quarterly reports before they learned to talk to people. Meeting someone in even a remotely similar position to him would’ve caught his eye regardless of who.

”Yeah, well… now we’ve met.” She looked like she’d rather be anywhere but sitting across from him.

”Not much of the social type?” Still? He tapped on the table lightly. Right, this was a bad idea. Brunhilde could call it a restart all she wanted, but that wasn’t quite right. Shiro didn’t know him, and he didn’t know her. He wasn’t going to pretend otherwise—not anymore, anyway. “I’ll go get the Valkyrie.”

”No, wait.” Shiro stopped him just before he could stand. “There was something I wanted to talk about, actually.”

”Oh?” Sean leaned forward slightly. For looking like she wanted to bolt, she was putting a surprising amount of effort into keeping up their conversation. 

“Here.” She pulled out a piece of purple metal, and slid it across the table.

Sean could recognize something important when he saw it. Otherwise, he would’ve been ripped apart in the boardroom by now. His hand snapped forward, and enveloped it. A pulse of red flowed down his arm, and he activated an anti-scanning feature of his chrome palm. 

Dozens of eyes snapped onto the hand off. He eyed the people around them, and pulled out a scrambler. It was next-gen tech from Sentinel’s R&D lab that he’d borrowed. No one would know what they were talking about. “What is it?”

”An alloy I just made.” Shiro casually leaned back in her chair like she hadn’t just caused a stir throughout the room. With something literally on the table, she looked much more in her element. “I thought Sentinel might find it interesting.”

Her eyes curled into charming half-moons with obvious excitement, and her chin lifted proudly into the air. She looked practically giddy about the small square of dark-purple metal. He caught himself smiling, and refocused back on the material. “If it’s from our friends at Cold Moon, of course we’d be interested. You made it?”

“Ahem.” She coughed lightly, and some of her domineering look faded. “I meant my technicians.”

”Right, ‘course.” His mask broke, and his lips twitched. The technicians that she didn’t have. Whoever her netrunner was covered it up quite well, but it was obvious she didn’t have any employees. Trusting strangers clearly wasn’t high on her list. “Can I have some technicians take a look at it?”

”… I’m surprised you even asked.” The surprise in her voice bothered him more than it should have. What exactly did she expect him to do? Just take it? 

“It is yours, after all.” Sean didn’t want to take anything from her that she was unwilling to give. He shrugged, and pushed it across the table. 

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes, and shook her head. 

He got the message, and kept the small piece of metal. Whatever it was, she must’ve been sure that her manufacturing process couldn’t be replicated. Brunhilde would probably be super interested.

Sean tapped the small piece of metal with his finger. He really had been an arrogant idiot, hadn’t he? Somewhere along the way, he’d convinced himself Meno—Shiro needed someone watching her back. She never did. She easily kidnapped a CEO, founded a corporation, and became the next big thing that all the corporations in the city had an eye on. All without his help.

He slid the piece of metal into his pocket with a bitter smile. “So… are you happy with Sentinel so far?”

”Mostly. You guys have done a pretty good job at leaving me alone.” Of course that’s what she’d appreciate. His lips faintly twitched into a smile. “Up until now, anyway.”

The smile immediately broke, and his head tipped downward. Right… she was forced to be here. “Sorry. Brunhilde has a mind of her own. It’s good in the field, but at times like these…”

“I’m familiar with the type.” Shiro sighed, and shook her head. Her raven locks of hair shifted around, and only made the silver strands stand out all the more. 

Sean made a mental note to have a serious talk with his aunt after this. Right as he was about to try to disengage again, one of the executives sent him a message. Right, there’d been that matter. He was against it, but he didn’t have total authority over the Aythryn City branch. Not yet, anyway.

”Some of the higher ups have been pushing for investor meetings with Cold Moon recently.” Everyone could see it was a poorly disguised attempt to keep the upstart corporation in check. The original woman who’d proposed it had been taken care of and sent elsewhere, but the idea had unfortunately stuck around. 

“As long as they’re every once in a while, I guess I wouldn’t mind too much.” Although she said that, Shiro already looked annoyed about it. “And on neutral ground.”

”I think I can handle that.” He could get Brunhilde to have a one-on-one meeting. That way, it’d just be for appearances, and Sentinel wouldn’t dig too much into Cold Moon. “They’ll be happy to hear it.” 

While he thought through how he should handle it, he absentmindedly focused on her face. Specifically, the scar running down her cheek. He saw it a few times back in school, but she usually covered it up quite well. It was a little weird to see the faded tissue so openly.

“Something on my face?” Shiro snapped at him.

”Ah, sorry.” He blinked, and scratched at his head. “You just look a little familiar.”

Shiro winced, and shyly half-covered her face with her hand like he wouldn’t notice anything. “Probably saw me in the dossier. I imagine you guys keep one on me?”

”Ah, you’re probably right.” Sean sighed. Dossier… ‘course they had one for her. “Your file’s a little short.”

There was basically nothing in it. Someone had gone through quite a bit of trouble to hide all traces of Shiro Tsukuyomi from the Net. They were lucky to even have a picture of her, but it was extremely outdated. 

Shiro glared at him, and lifted her chin proudly. “You trying to say something?”

”No, no… sorry.” He barely managed to keep a chuckle in. She reminded him of a cat threateningly posturing.

Brunhilde finally returned to the table. “What’s with the long faces? Did a deal go wrong?”

”Something like that.” Shiro shook her head. The money-grubbing goblin side of her appeared in an instant. “Where’s my money?”

”Here.” Brunhilde finally handed over the money that she used to lure Shiro here. “We’re expecting a lot more once sales officially start. That’s just the preorder stuff. Oh, and I didn’t have it bugged this time.”

”If you say so.” Shiro didn’t look like she believed his aunt for even a moment, though went ahead and swiped the drive.

Shiro pushed away, and Brunhilde pouted like a disappointed kid. “Not sticking around, I see?” 

“I’d rather not.” She fixed her jacket, and nodded to him. “It was nice to meet you.”

Nice to meet you… he held back a heavy sigh. Right, this was their first time officially meeting, wasn’t it? “I wish it'd been under better circumstances. The pleasure was all mine, though.”

Shiro looked around the room, and a trace of disgust crept into her expression. “Next time you ask me to come to something, make sure it’s not a party. I won’t come otherwise, even if you hold the check over my head.”

”Of course, of course. I truly am sorry about Valkyrie Brunhilde’s handling of the situation.” His eyes pulsed with a downcast light. “I’ll ensure further collaboration between Sentinel and Cold Moon Solutions is handled more directly.”

“Nova.” Shiro shook her head and walked to the door.

Sean waited until the door snapped shut before letting out a sigh he’d been holding. “Auntie?”

“Heh heh.” Brunhilde flinched when he called her name. His aunt had some serious explaining to do.

— — —

AN: I actually had something way different planned for this chapter, but I got requested a couple times to do this from Sean’s pov. I think this is the first time I’ve ever done this kind of pov swap? I mean, where I go back over the conversation just from a different pov. Don’t quite know how I feel about it, to be honest.