Maxima!!

TRACK 15: PARTY GIRL

Baldwin couldn't stop twitching, but he at least did it less. The waterfall above poured into the milky, steamy waters of the bathhouse; before the droplets reached the depths, they had to pass over every rugged, razor-edged muscle of his body. He felt it splash over his crown -- over jagged, cedar scars that left him half-covered in tiger stripes, and played sentry to the shrapnel embedded inside taut tissue. Only his restful breathing threw the waterfall off course. His meditation left him there on those eroded stones, still as a mountain; he sat with legs crossed and forearms set atop bared, sinewy thighs, while his hands clasped into a cup deep within his lap.

He kept his eyes shut. As much as he hated to admit it -- as much as he wanted to be elsewhere, right down to a hot battlefield -- he felt the slightest sense of relaxation. Maybe because he had the bathhouse, or at least that section of it, all to himself. No men to bother him. No noise to rattle him. Only the cascade, a concerto that gave him what he needed. Clarity. Focus. Insight. With all of it in tandem, Baldwin's twitches stopped.

"Hey, Baldwin, my man!" said Pierce. "Mind if I hop in with ya?"

Baldwin's twitches started back up.

"Come on, I'm paying for this little excursion. Can't you do your boss a favor and loosen up?"

"I don't need you to -- ugh." Baldwin sputtered out a groan and jerked his head away, but too late for it to matter. He'd made the mistake of opening his eyes; that gave him a full view of Pierce in his birthday suit -- covered just enough by steam, but for Baldwin, not nearly enough. The fact that the mayor stood with legs spread and pressed his hands into his hips like some barrel-chested superhero made it ten times worse.

"Not used to public bathing, huh? Neither am I. But, ah, you gotta have confidence in your body. The ladies dig that." Pierce stepped into the main reservoir and sank into a seat. "Man, oh man, does that feel good. Hey, why not get off that rock and take a dip with me?"

Baldwin shut his eyes. "No."

"Don't make me come over there."

Baldwin opened his eyes. Mere seconds later, he dipped into the water -- and sat as far from Pierce as the rocky walls would allow.

"There. Now doesn't that feel better?"

"What do you want?"

Pierce crawled to the opposite rock wall and set his arms atop the stone, as if to treat it like a recliner. "I don't know why you're so mad. Your boy Stalk was the one who recommended a trip like this. Well, maybe not this bathhouse per se, but we need you stress-free."

Baldwin crossed his arms tight, unfazed by the waters that rippled across his pecs and abs.

"Gonna need you to turn down the intensity by, ah, twenty notches? Let's start with that and go from there."

"I have turned it down." Baldwin rocked his head toward the waterfall. "I saw a chance to meditate, so I took it. I wouldn't call it the best session I've ever had, but I'll take what I can get."

"Had a good think, huh?"

"That's right." He tapped a finger against his elbow; even though he had no trouble lancing the mayor with his gaze, his eyes sank toward the murky waters. "I made a tactical error. I gave the order to eliminate the intruders when I should have opted for gentler measures. If I had, then we wouldn't have come so close to the brink."

"I don't follow."

"The boy -- the Maxima's son -- was there. If anything had happened to him, in her presence or not, then this campaign would have ended in a total wipeout." Baldwin covered his mouth. "Even if he has a grasp of our plans, we'll uphold the original rule: no one is allowed to hurt the boy. In any way. As for our next operation --"