Plot Exposition

That's how it came to be. I was on the bath with one of Ro's swimming trunks and with two strangers looking over me.
“I'm Alan, and this is Kim,” said Don. “We work for Mark.”
“You don't,” I said, remembering how my brother's goons had stopped these two at his funeral why I escaped. I guess it wasn't the kind of answer they expected, as they turned to each other and started speaking in Japanese. Lucky for me, this time I did know it was Japanese, not because I ever learnt, but because I used to watch a lot of VOS anime. Unfortunately, as their conversation didn't seem to be about schoolgirls, raping or saving the world by using the power of a pure heart, I could not really make out what they were talking about.
Then Ro cut in and replied to something Jet Li Kim had said.
“Ro,” I asked. “Since when do you speak Japanese?”
“Well, I learnt by watching anime.”
Don Alan looked at me again. I was feeling really naked.
“What makes you think we do not work for Mark?”
“Mark's men were at the funeral. They tried to stop you. Could you let the hot water run a bit more?”
“Sure,” he said and opened the tap. “We belong to the legal side of your brother's affairs. He's got a bunch of groups working in completely unrelated projects. Most of us don't know the others.”
So the legal group of my brother's affairs had no trouble kidnapping me at gunpoint at then making me take a really nice relaxing bath. I thought about saying that out loud, but didn't, this guys had guns after all.
“Could I get some bubbles?” I asked instead.
“No,” said Don Alan.
“Jay,” Ro came to the rescue, “these guys are working on developing some cool new tech with your brother, Augmented Reality shit and such. Dude, you've really got to check it out.”
“Is this like some contacts that make you see things?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Don Alan. “Your brother got the idea from his new girlfriend, some chick from Middle Europe, sort of refugee.”
“Can you prove you work for my brother?” I asked.
Ro took out his phone and dialled. He set the phone on speaker and we waited one, two, three ring tones.
“Fuck you, stop calling me, I'm supposed to be dead!” shouted Mark suddenly.
“Mark,” said Don Alan. “Your brother has a hard time believing we work for you.”
“My brother is an arsehole. Is this thing on speaker?”
Jet Li Kim was the only one who didn't say yes.
“Jay, trust these guys, they work with me. Sorry for not telling you before, you were supposed to meet them at the funeral, though.”
“I panicked,” I semi-lied. “I thought they were police coming to ask questions about you, and I didn't know if I could resist a third degree without snapping.”
“Jay, have you ever seen an Asian policeman outside of Asia?”
“I've never been to Asia and I don't have your knowledge about police ethnicity, Mark. And by the way, your comment is racist”
“OK, no problem, you can trust Alan and Kim.”
“Thanks, Mark,” I said.
“Don't they remind you of Don Johnson and Jet Li?”
“Mark,” interrupted Don Alan. “Shall we keep your brother here for a few days?”
“No, it's OK, let him go home. Just tell him a bit about the business, as I'll probably make him CEO or something.”
“I thought I was going to be CEO?” said Ro.
“That's the friend?”
The three of us said “yes” again. Jet Li Kim just stood there looking tough.
“OK, things are still being discussed, Roland, we'll get to it soon but you are an invaluable companion. I need to go now.”
He hung up. I opened the hot water tap and waited for one of them to speak. Ro did.
“The thing is these guys came last Thursday, told me they needed someone with some tech knowledge and gave me a couple of USB keys with the plans for a really nice set of contacts that worked by giving you this AR experience. The model seems really cool and they wanted to know if it was a hoax or something that was being used to bribe them.”
“Was it?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
“It wasn't, this thing has an amazing simple tech after all, some hard-to-come-by nano comps, but I guess we could build a prototype in two weeks if we had the labs.”
“And you don't have the labs?”
“Your brother bought two, they were sabotaged.”
“Any suspects?”
“Sure, Aliya's old gang,” said Ro.
“Who's Aliya?” I asked.
“Your brother's new girl, she moved in from some strange place in Middle Europe, she escaped with the plans for this stuff.”

It hit me more or less around that time. These two had been terrified about mics but they hadn't checked my lenses. I realised this meant that they probably had no idea that this had been done already. Of course, I only realised this because right at that moment I read a familiar message across Don Alan's chest.

+SxE+Wendy+ has come online.