On the Run
A Oneshot Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Author's Notes:
I keep saying that there's plenty of room for fanfiction in Patlabor. I
really have no idea why it isn't a more popular series... well, in addition
to Patlabor: Personal Files (for which I've planned 66 episodes and (so
far) 9 OAVs), I've got MANY more ideas for Patlabor fanfiction. So,
because I was bored and wanted to try my hand at a shorter Patlabor fanfic
(one which I might be able to finish rather quickly), I came up with this
thing to work out some of the ideas I CAN'T fit into P:PF.
Enjoy!
-------------------------
Noa munched her assorted tempura happily. A good, home-cooked dinner from
her mother beat anything she'd ever had at SV2 headquarters. Sure, it
would be nice if she could work off the meal by waxing Alphonse, but she
wasn't on the reclaimed land at the moment. No, for the first time in
months, she was actually visiting her home. And this time, she wasn't
AWOL.
The reason was simple- with the first unit receiving their Peacemaker
labors, it wasn't necessary to have the Ingrams on call twenty-four hours a
day; because of that, more vacations were going to be scheduled for the
second unit. This was the first of many of those vacations, and so far Noa
was enjoying herself, despite the absence of Alphonse.
"Say, do you remember Akemi from down the street?" her father asked.
Noa thought about it for a second. "Oh, yeah! Did she get past those
college entrance exams she was studying for?"
"She decided not to take them. She got married to Mamoru- you should
remember him: the very well-to-do computer technician? At any rate, with
his job and the money she got as a dowry from his parents, she didn't need
to go to college."
Noa's face fell. She knew what was coming next. Why did her father ALWAYS
have to bring up marriage when she visited? Not only did he sound like a
broken record, but he ALSO was spoiling her vacation. "I'm NOT quitting my
job to look for the hypothetical perfectly handsome and wealthy husband,
dad," she stated firmly.
Her father sighed. "Why do you insist on such a dangerous career? You
KNOW that if you ever get hurt your chances of ever getting married are
pretty much gone. There've already been SEVERAL incidents where you might
have been killed already! WHY do you insist on risking your life time
after time for a job that BARELY pays you enough to live off of and which
no-one ever will respect you for?"
Noa glared at him. "Dad, how many times do I have to tell you I love
working with labors? I don't WANT a job which won't let me use them!"
Her dad was almost in tears by this point. "But even if you foolishly
insist on playing around with those stupid giant robots, there's any number
of safer careers involving labors out there, and many of them are much
closer to home! Construction work, maintenance services, all sorts of
things. Labors are even being used in airports to load baggage and on
fishing ships to help haul in the catch. I'd even say the MILITARY is a
safer career than the police, because the military gets called in a lot
less. But instead, you pick the most dangerous job out there for labor
use, and you insist on staying in it, despite almost being killed several
times. What's worse, you aren't even able to see us more than once or
twice a year with this job, when there are other careers- even in labors-
much closer to us! Why?"
"You wouldn't understand," Noa growled, sulking. "Excuse me, I'm full. I
think I'll take a bath and go to bed." With that, she stood up and stalked
out of the room.
She scrubbed herself off furiously in the shower, trying to calm herself
down. It wasn't until after she'd made it to the furo that she succeeded,
however.
When she finally quelled her anger, she actually wondered about what her
father had said. 'I like Alphonse,' she thought to herself. 'That's what
I always say whenever he asks me. But he's right- I already know I'm not
going to be able to keep Alphonse forever, and I've accepted that I'll lose
him one day. So why do I stay in the SV2? Dad is right- I could hurt
myself seriously one day. Some days, even Alphonse isn't enough to make
the job worth it... so why do I do it? Why do I put up with the long
hours, the risks to my life, being so far away from my family, and the
constant fear that I'm just not good enough? Why?'
* * * * *
"Dammit, son!" the father of Asuma Shinohara shouted. "I am NOT doing
anything wrong- those instances were occasions where I was using acceptable
business practices to acquire those smaller companies. I am NOT being a
corporate bully! What I'm doing is something any other business in Japan
would do!"
Asuma himself snorted. "You shouldn't believe yourself to be perfectly
virtuous just because everyone else is corrupt, too." He grabbed his
jacket and cap. "That does it, pop, I'm out of here. I'm tired of
fighting with you all the time, and I need to get back to base, anyway."
"Fine! Leave! But you'll never see one dime from the company from my
inheritance!"
Asuma didn't even look back. "You've made that threat so many times, I
don't think I'd be in your will right now if you were serious." He opened
the door heading out of the house. "I'm so tired of all the fighting, I
hope to never have to deal with you again. I won't be back." The door
slammed behind him.
Mr. Shinohara sighed. "Stupid boy- don't you know why I built this
company?" He shook his head. "You'll just never be good enough to run it,
will you?" The phone rang. "Get that for me, will you, Tsukai?"
Tsukai, the servant, nodded. "Certainly, sir," he said, leaving the room.
Shinohara continued to grumble about the abstinence of his son while Tsukai
was out of the room until the doorbell rang. Rolling his eyes in
frustration, he stood up and made he way over to open the door himself.
One servant was USUALLY enough to do all the chores, but from time to time-
like this occasion- more than one thing had to be done at one time. He
opened the door.
Tsukai returned from the phone, planning to tell his master that the phone
was a wrong number, to see him waiting on the open door.
"I thought you said you weren't coming back again!" Shinohara growled.
"What are you- ohmyg-"
The concussion from the explosion that followed threw Tsukai through the
wall and rocked the foundations of the house. Shinohara, however, wasn't
so lucky.
* * * * *
Noa sighed, seeing how upset Asuma was. He was always this way whenever
his father came up- surly, upset, and difficult to deal with. He'd just
gotten back from the Shinohara mansion, apparently, and this was when he
was at his worst. She walked up to him as they made their way to the
officers lounge (where they were all hoping to spend the last few minutes
of their vacation time), hoping to take his mind off things and maybe to
comfort him a little. She knew better than to try suggesting a
reconciliation again.
"Hi, Asuma," she said.
"Hi, Noa. How was your vacation?" he asked, desperate for any kind of
distraction.
Noa shrugged. "Fine for a while, but then my father started bugging me-
eep!" she cut herself off mid-thought, not wanting to bring up parents at
all. "Had all kinds of fun skiing and eating our famous Hokkaido crabs. I
thought you were coming down to join me?" she teased. She hadn't really
been expecting him- while they'd mentioned it once or twice, they hadn't
worked out any details.
Asuma shrugged. "Next vacation for sure. Pop monopolized me this one, but
he certainly won't next time around."
They were still a short ways away from the lounge when Ohta heard Asuma say
those words. "Asuma! There you are- come quick! There's a story on the
TV you need to see!"
"Huh?" he said.
Without waiting for Asuma to comply, Ohta grabbed him and dragged him at a
run back to the lounge, Noa following along as fast as she could. When
they got there, the TV was broadcasting a very important story.
"We finally have a camera at the scene. If you follow our reporter, you
can see the path the shell took as it killed Mr. Okami Shinohara, the
Founder and President of Shinohara Heavy Industries. The nation mourns the
loss of this great man...."
Asuma continued trying to listen to the rest of the report, but for some
reason the words just didn't make any sense. His knees started to buckle,
but an arm- Noa's arm- went around him to support him and keep him from
falling. He nearly dragged her down with him, but somehow she was able to
support him.
"Excuse me, Mr. Shinohara," a voice said from behind him. "Can we talk to
you for a moment? We have a few questions...."
Asuma turned to see a pair of police investigators waiting for him outside
of the room, accompanied by Captain Gotoh. "Um, sure."
"We'd like you to come down to the station with us," they said as he was
leaving. "As you probably already know, your father has been murdered.
There are a few questions we have regarding your possible involvement...."
* * * * *
"Asuma's being arrested!?" Noa screeched. She'd been there when he'd been
taken away, of course, but she'd just thought they were going to ask him a
few questions and that would be it. She'd had no clue that he was a
suspect.
"There was apparently some evidence against him," Gotoh explained. "The
servant witnessed Asuma's father open the door and make comments indicating
that he saw Asuma there, seconds before the blast occurred. Furthermore,
he testified that they had had a serious fight during that day, where Asuma
claimed he didn't want to deal with his father anymore. Finally, the
murder weapon was a firearm from a police labor- an Ingrams revolver, as a
matter of fact. Asuma is one of the few people who would have access to
such a weapon. It's believed he had an accomplice, however, as it is
assumed he was not the one operating the labor."
Noa frowned. "So the whole case is based on the testimony of one man and a
gun that any number of people who may be associated with the police could
get?"
Gotoh sighed. "I admit that seems to be a rather circumstantial case, but
Asuma did not offer an alibi nor could he offer any suggestions for anyone
else who might have a motive. Since Asuma was the only one they could find
who had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Mr. Shinohara, they
arrested him."
Noa's eyes widened. "But that can't be right! I mean, Asuma's not like
that at all... besides, he was shocked when his father's death was
broadcast on the news. He didn't know about it! You saw him, Ohta- you
remember how surprised he was, don't you?"
Ohta, however, was remembering something else. He remembered that, when
trying to find Asuma, he overheard him say that his 'Pop' wouldn't be
monopolizing him on future vacations. How could he claim that unless he
knew that his father was dead? The more Ohta thought about it, the more he
was convinced that his reaction in the lounge was staged.
"Noa," he said hesitantly. "I... think he did it."
Noa flashed him a look of betrayal. "You, too? But you know Asuma would
never do something like that!"
Now that Ohta had firmly convinced himself that the police were right,
however, he was a lot less hesitant in his reply. "No, I don't! In fact,
Asuma's such a punk kid, I wouldn't put it past him! Besides, who else
would it be?"
For some reason, Noa was seized with rage at that comment. Tears of anger
in her eyes, she reared back and slapped Ohta, nearly knocking him to the
ground. "How DARE you!" she shouted.
Gotoh's eyes widened. The situation was escalating much too quickly. "Now
hold it, hold it! Calm down!" he cried in a panicked voice, stepping in
between the two of them. In a much more subdued tone, he continued,
"Asuma's guilt or innocence is not for us to decide. At the moment, he's
only ACCUSED of murder, not tried and convicted. In the meantime, we'll
have to reorganize to fill the hole that his absence leaves us with."
Noa clenched her fists, trying to calm herself down. "If you'll excuse me,
sir, I'm not in the right state of mind to hear about this. Good bye," she
growled out through clenched teeth.
Angrily she made her way towards the hangar bay, planning to console
herself with Alphonse. As she walked, the thought about some of the things
Asuma had told her when they were visiting his brothers grave.
"He killed himself," he had said. "I think it was his last act of
resistance against our father. It was a stupid thing to do- dying never
solves anything."
Dying never solves anything. That was what Asuma believed. He thought
suicide was a stupid thing to do BECAUSE dying never solved anything. If
he believed that, then he certainly wouldn't kill anyone, would he?
"Of course not," she said to herself. "It just doesn't make sense. Asuma
knows better than to do something stupid like that." She paused. "But
no-one will believe him but me, will they? I mean, I'm the only one who
knows him that well, and all the evidence is pointing to him... I've got to
do something."
So resolved, Noa made her way to the hanger with newfound determination.
She had to come up with a plan, and Asuma wasn't there to think for her.
* * * * *
Hiromi couldn't believe all that was going on. No-one was acting like
themselves- Asuma was a cold-blooded murderer (supposedly), Noa had gotten
physically violent in a confrontation with Ohta, and, most recently, Sakaki
had shocked them all by suggesting that the mechanics load the labors on
their trucks (just in case there was a call) and then go on home for some
r&r... though he certainly seemed angry when he gave those orders. Perhaps
he was just as mad as Noa about Asuma's arrest, and wanted some time alone
to calm himself.
Hiromi himself was rather angry at that, as well. How could Ohta believe
Asuma was a murderer? And being arrested for such a flimsy set of
evidence, as well. It just didn't seem to make any sense.
He walked by the door into the hanger bay, and heard a noise coming from
the direction of the parked labor transports. 'That's funny,' he thought.
'No-one's supposed to be in there right now.'
Deciding to investigate, he quietly made his way towards the disturbance.
Finally, he caught sight of the intruder- Noa was underneath the console of
the transport carrier, fiddling with something under the wheel. It didn't
take long for Hiromi to figure out what she was doing.
"It isn't possible to hot-wire one of those things," Hiromi said quietly.
Noa tried to sit up, and bumped her head into the wheel. "Ow!" she cried,
wincing. "Hiromi, what are you doing here?" she said nervously. "And I
wasn't trying to hot-wire it- I was just, uh, practicing some of the skills
the maintenance squad was teaching me!" she continued, not very
convincingly.
"I heard a noise, and thought I'd take a look." He paused. "So why are
you trying to steal Alphonse?"
"Hiromi..." Noa began, realizing how pointless further protests of her
innocence would be. She wasn't sure what to say, though- she had prepared
what she was going to say to anyone else, but she'd just overlooked him.
She decided to try and explain. "I can't let them do this to Asuma. I've
got to get him out of jail- there's something really wrong about the way he
was arrested. I mean, they basically imprisoned him on hearsay... there's
something suspicious about that. Either the investigators don't care to
look any further than Asuma, or... or there's something really wrong going
on. If it's the later, I don't think Asuma's going to stand a chance of
getting a fair trial...."
"You know we'll have to stop you," Hiromi said simply.
Noa looked down. "Yeah... but once I get Asuma free, it won't matter. I
won't need Alphonse any more..."
"You won't?"
Noa's eyes widened when she realized what she'd said. "I don't mean never-
I mean, I won't need him to finish my plans. I can just leave him behind
somewhere safe, and wait for you guys to pick him up and take care of him
for me. Asuma and I can then hide out until we figure out who it is who's
doing these things to him."
Hiromi nodded, sighing. "Well, you can't do it without this, I don't
think," he said, producing a key and tossing it over to her. "Good luck.
Take care of him."
"Don't I always protect Alphonse?" Noa asked.
Hiromi just smiled, walking away. "Alphonse wasn't who I was talking
about," he said to himself, making certain that Noa wouldn't hear.
* * * * *
"You have to realize, Ohta, that women don't really like it when you
contradict them so fiercely," Takeo was saying.
"I was just telling her the truth- that Asuma's a punk and that the
evidence convinced me that Asuma's guilty," Ohta, holding an icepack to his
cheek, grumbled.
Takeo raised an eyebrow. She found that assertion of Ohta's hard to
swallow, as well. She didn't know Asuma as well as most of the others, but
what she'd seen of him showed him to be a very honest, forthright, and
decent man. A bit rough around the edges, perhaps, but certainly no
murderer. "That may be, but the way you put it was-"
She was cut off when the siren came on warning of a possible call to
action. "We have a 999. Repeat, a 999. All personnel on station please
report to your duty station. This is NOT a drill."
A 999. The one call everyone felt was impossible- a call no-one would ever
want to answer. It meant that a member of the SV2 had stolen a labor with
criminal intent. It meant they would have to fight one of their own.
"Shit!" Ohta exclaimed, running out of the room.
Takeo thought about that. "A 999? Hmm..." Whistling, she strolled her
way out of the room, a slight smile on her face.
* * * * *
Shinobu stared over where the second unit was getting ready, a scowl on her
face. Gotoh wasn't driving his men at all, and only Ohta was moving like
he wanted to go out. Sure, she knew that Noa was his top pilot, but still-
that was no excuse for not stopping her when she committed such a serious
crime.
She was about to walk on over to him to reprimand him when Gomioka ran up
to her and saluted, drawing her attention.
She saluted back. "Yes, Mr. Gomioka?" she inquired.
"Captain Nagumo, ma'am," he said. "I regret to report that it is
impossible for us to answer this call."
Shinobu was surprised. "Oh? Why?"
"None of the labor transports are working, ma'am. They appear to have been
sabotaged."
"Sabotaged?"
"The starters aren't working at all."
Shinobu's eyes widened. "But Ms. Izumi wouldn't have had time to sabotage
all the carriers for both units AND steal her labor after the mechanics
left... the mechanics!" She cursed.
It seemed as though Noa had more help then perhaps even she realized. The
mechanics were on her side, and so, it seemed, was most of Unit 2. They
probably all knew what Noa was going to do before even she did.
She almost laughed. Of course they would- and she couldn't blame them,
really, either. After all, she didn't believe Gotoh's protege was guilty
any more than they did.
* * * * *
The warden of the prison which contained Asuma's holding cell smirked to
himself. It wasn't often he got cops handed over to him. It was even less
often that he was specifically instructed to place those cops in with the
hardest criminals in his pen. Apparently, some of the higher-ups were
hoping that they wouldn't have to bring the cop to trial, since that would
be a very embarrassing thing for the force, and thought that he wouldn't be
able to survive some of the... attentions... of those rougher criminals who
might hold a grudge against a former cop. For some reason, the politics
involved amused him.
He stood up from his desk, grabbed a cigarette, and walked over to his
office window. He lit up and took a puff. As he blew the smoke out the
window, he spied one of his two Type 97 Pythons guarding the outside. They
were too old for serious police duty any more, and they couldn't afford to
keep them very well maintained, but they looked impressive enough to keep
the prisoners in line.
As the warden looked out the window, he noticed that some sort of
disturbance seemed to be forming, as the Python started running in one
direction. Just at that moment, his phone rang. He moved to get it, but
then there was a huge crash outside. The warden ran back to the window,
trying to see what was going on.
An empty labor transport had apparently crashed into the wall, and it
appeared to still be pushing. Much to his surprise, the prison's two
labors were engaged in combat- apparently with another police labor, an
Ingram. The Ingram dismantled the two Pythons, and then stormed over to
his window, drawing its gun and pointing it right at him.
"What cell is Asuma Shinohara in?" a female voice boomed out through the
labors speakers.
"Er... Cell 231 in cell block A," he said.
The labor put away its gun and bowed slightly. "Thank you," the woman said
politely before sending her labor into a run again, bursting through the
doors into the prison. If the building hadn't been recently modified to
allow labors to move through it, there might have been serious damage to
the prison. As it was, the shattering of the doors shook the building to
its foundation.
The phone continued ringing.
Moving as if in shock, the warden slowly walked over to it and picked up
the receiver. "Hello?"
"Ah, ah. This is Captain Gotoh of the Special Vehicles, Second Section.
Am I talking to the warden?"
"Um... yes, I'm the warden."
"Good. I'm afraid that I have the duty to inform you that one of our
officers stole an Ingram, and may be on the way to break her partner out of
your prison. We would be on our way to help you, but along the way she
sabotaged all of our other labors."
"Uh... thank you for the warning," the warden said. "We'll... keep an eye
out for her." Hanging up the phone, he looked outside at the wreckage of
the two Pythons and the labor carrier.
* * * * *
Asuma wasn't paying any attention to the commotion around him- he just had
too much on his mind to care. His father was dead- murdered- and he didn't
know exactly what he felt about all that. He never got along with his
father- in fact, he downright hated him, most of the time. However, there
were times when he actually was pleased to be able to see him. Like that
time he and Noa visited his brothers grave....
That was another point. With his father's death, there was no-one who he
could call 'family.' Come to think of it, now that he was in jail, it
wasn't likely he was going to see anyone who he might be able to call
'friend' for some time, either. Ex-cops weren't exactly popular in prison,
and it was unlikely anyone from the SV2 would be able to come visit him.
The biggest question for him, however, was just why did they think he was
the murderer? Sure, he and his father had gotten into a fight earlier that
day, but he and his father ALWAYS had fights and he hadn't done anything
before. Outside of that, he had no clue what, if any, evidence they might
have had.
"Hey, buddy," one of his cellmates said, approaching him. "What are you in
for? Impersonating a police officer?"
One weird thing about his arrest was that he wasn't allowed to change into
his street clothes. Usually policemen, when arrested, were allowed to
change out of uniform before being placed into a holding cell. Not so, in
his case.
Asuma wasn't really thinking clearly enough to realize the implications
behind his answer, so he just said, "Nah. I really am a police officer."
"Oh, you are?" the cellmate said, his voice becoming slightly more hostile
as he moved in closer to Asuma. "Then why are you in here?"
"I was accused of murdering my father." There seemed to be a loud crash
coming from outside, and the floor shook.
"Heh... guess that makes you a bit of a hypocrite, doesn't it."
"What?!" Asuma cried, his brain finally catching up with the conversation.
"No- I didn't do it."
The man snorted. "Please- that's what we all say. Do you cops ever give
us a break because of that? No... like I said, you're just a hypocrite.
And we don't like hypocrites here."
Asuma stood up, taking a defensive stance as the man and two of his
companions advanced on him. He knew he was in bad shape, as all three of
them were about twice his size. It wasn't very likely he'd survive the
fight.
Before that fight could begin, however, an Ingram burst into the cell
block, paused, then drew a gun. "Leave him alone!" a voice boomed over the
speakers.
The attackers dropped back, surprised. Asuma just stood there, blinked,
and turned to face the labor. "Noa?" he asked.
Using one of Alphonse's hands to bend open the bars, she said, "That's me.
Come on, let's go."
"Noa, do you know what you're doing? I can't let you do this to yourself-
erk!"
The hand which had bent the bars open reached in and grabbed him. "I don't
have time to argue," Noa said, putting away her gun. "We're getting out of
here."
Stopping only to bend the bars back to their original position with the
hand which had held the gun, she ran off, carrying Asuma along with her.
"Dammit," the prisoner who had confronted Asuma growled. "Someone broke
him out before we could get him! Now we'll never get that ten million
yen."
* * * * *
On board the Sangria, a ship owned by Shaft Enterprises Division 7, a major
construction project was underway. It was not the most ideal of conditions
for labor construction, but it was very secret and, when the ship was in
still waters, it was adequate for the builder's purposes.
Richard Wong, the vice president in charge of Division 7 (a division Shaft
Enterprises denies is still affiliated with it), smiled his usual smile as
he surveyed the progress of his latest work.
The chief mechanic strolled up to him. "Excuse me, sir. We're probably
going to have it ready in a couple of days. I've wondered for a while,
however... why are we rebuilding this thing? It succeeded in its mission,
didn't it? What do we need it for, now?"
"It only half succeeded. We managed to pull off the demonstration very
well, but the second half of our mission is still on-going. We have yet to
obtain the software of an Ingram. Until we obtain a copy of Ms. Izumi's
movement disk, Shinohara Heavy Industries will be able to keep Shaft from
dominating the field of advanced humaniform labors."
The mechanic nodded. "Um... have you been paying attention to the news,
lately?"
Wong shook his head. "I'm afraid not- I've been rather busy in India until
today."
"Well... I don't think we need to worry about Shinohara Heavy Industries
any more."
Wong's smile slipped a bit. "We don't? Why?"
"Um... well, see, Mr. Shinohara was murdered yesterday. They arrested his
son for the crime, and now suspect his partner to have been an accomplice.
With Shinohara dead and his son in jail, well... it's likely that their
company is going to have some difficulties for a while."
Richard Wong's smile fell completely. "His son is Asuma Shinohara,
correct?"
"Um, I think that's the name the papers are giving, yes."
Wong's face hardened. "Hmm... I've studied Asuma and his partner, Noa
Izumi, ever since I ran into them in a video game arcade almost a year ago.
I like to think that I know them fairly well. Asuma Shinohara certainly
does NOT strike me as the type of man to murder his father, even if they
don't get along very well." He paused. "You've been in touch with the
regional headquarters more recently than I have. You wouldn't happen to
know if WE'RE responsible for this, would you?"
"Um... there are rumors that we've had something big in the planning..."
"Indeed." Richard Wong removed his glasses to massage his temples. "I
have been called quite ruthless for my actions, and I've committed acts
which break the law if it aided me in achieving my goals. However, I've
never murdered a man in cold blood, nor have I ever framed one for one of
my crimes." He turned to the mechanic. "Asuma may be a rival, but I also
respect him, maybe even feel some sort of twisted friendship for him. It
appears, however, that Shaft Enterprises is willing to go even further than
I am."
"What are you saying, sir?" the mechanic said.
Wong's smile returned. "Well, if Shinohara Heavy Industries falls apart,
I'm out of the job. It seems to me that it's in my best interest to aide
Asuma in his legal defense. Where is he being held? I'd like to go see
him."
"Uh, well... see, his partner broke him out of prison."
Richard Wong raised an eyebrow. "Ms. Izumi did that? Oh, my... perhaps
she's more impulsive than I believed. Ah, well. I have some idea of where
she might be trying to get to."
* * * * *
Asuma sighed, standing at the foot of Alphonse as he waited for Noa to
disembark from the labor. She had refused to listen to any of his protests
while they were on the move, but since they seemed to have settled down for
the night, he suspected he'd have a chance to actually get in a few words.
"I'm afraid his batteries won't last much longer," Noa said, as she made
her way down from the cockpit. "That's okay, though. They should be
strong enough to get us the rest of the way to a nearby fishing village, if
I conserve power. From there, we can rent a boat and travel out to
Hokkaido. I know somewhere that we can stay which isn't on the maps nor in
any official records, so we shouldn't have much of a problem staying there
for a while. Then I'll finally be able to turn the thinking over to you,
again," she said, finally reaching the ground. Wiping some sweat off her
forehead, she walked on over to him. "I'll be quite happy when we get that
far... I'm not used to be the part of this team that has to think."
Asuma closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. "Noa, I really appreciate
all you're trying to do, but... please, just give it up. Surrender to the
police, and take Alphonse with you. I'm not worth ruining your life over.
I can handle things myself."
Noa shook her head, smiling slightly. She figured he'd say something like
that. "Nope. Won't do it. Besides, I've already done so much that they
won't be able to just sweep this under the rug if I went back. I'm in this
as much as you are." She paused. "And from the look of things when I
showed up at the prison, I'd say you wouldn't have been able to handle
things if I hadn't been there."
Asuma's eyes opened, focusing sharply on her. "Why? Why are you doing all
of this for me? I mean, you know you'll never be allowed to pilot Alphonse
again after all this, and you didn't even try to find out if I'd done it or
not before you broke me out. Why?"
Noa looked at him, her smile remaining. "Did you do it? Did you kill your
father?"
"I might have thought about it a few times," he said, looking rather
uncertain at his own statement. "But no, I didn't."
Noa nodded. "Well, I thought you wouldn't get much of a chance to explain
your side. They arrested you entirely on hearsay, didn't even look at
anyone else, and it looked to me like they stuck you in a cell with a group
of people they knew would kill me. I think someone in the force is after
you- maybe as part of a conspiracy. What evidence they've released seems
to indicate that there was more than one person at the scene when your
father was murdered, so there's obviously a number of people involved."
Asuma shrugged. "Yeah, I figured something weird was up when they made me
keep my police uniform on in the holding cell.... That still doesn't
explain why YOU decided to do something about it."
Noa sighed, her smile falling. "Perhaps... perhaps it was something my dad
said to me on that vacation. He asked me why I was insisting on being in
the SV2, when there were plenty of other jobs involving labors I could do
that were less dangerous." She paused. "I couldn't give him a real answer
then. I still couldn't, now. Part of it, however, was that... was that I
didn't want to give you up. I knew that if I left the SV2, I'd lose you.
I know I'm going to lose Alphonse one day, but you... I don't want to give
you up."
Asuma blinked, looking at her in surprise. "Is that it? You want to
remain my forward, huh, even though I've now been accused of murder?"
"Yes," Noa stated firmly. "I can give up Alphonse if I have to, but I
can't give you up."
Asuma blinked again. "Well... I suggest we NOT give up on Alphonse. One
of the few things I know about my father's murder is that there was
apparently a labor involved, as it was a labor gun that was the murder
weapon. My guess is if we find out who it is, there's going to be a
fight."
Noa's eyes widened. "But... the batteries almost gone! Alphonse wouldn't
be usable in a fight!"
Asuma nodded. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry- I'll figure out a way to
recharge him before we leave that fishing village you're talking about.
Now, I also suggest we keep moving. I know you want to bunk down for the
night, but chances are they'll be trying to track us down. The sooner we
can get shipboard, the better."
Noa nodded, and relaxed a little. "Okay. Oh, and Asuma?"
"Yeah?"
"I may be the only one who'll be able to tell you this," She took a couple
steps closer to him and wrapped him up in a hug. "I'm sorry about your
father."
* * * * *
Gotoh looked through the folder, shaking his head.
"Any word on where Alphonse has gotten to?" Shinobu, filling out a form,
asked.
Gotoh shook his head. "No. Lost track of them at a fishing port."
"We could ask for satellite tracking, you know. An active labor gives out
signals that can be located from space, which should stand out pretty
easily in the middle of the ocean."
Gotoh merely grunted noncommittally.
Shinobu looked at him from her desk, curious. "What's wrong?"
He held up the file, pointing out the cover. "I have the notes about
Asuma's case here, and things just don't add up. I mean, they say that the
murder weapon was a Patlabor revolver, and that Asuma was one of the few
who had access to such a weapon. That's only partly true- he wouldn't have
access to it unless he got the key to the weapons' locker from you or me.
He certainly hasn't checked out any guns like that as far as I'm aware of.
Did he get a key from you?"
Shinobu blinked. "No... but wasn't there a lot of other evidence?"
"Not as much as the news media's been lead to believe," he said. "There
was evidence that Asuma was there that night, but that's not in dispute.
He'd been spending the night eating dinner there, working on some sort of
family reconciliation. He and his father got into an argument, but they
had been having fights for years before, and it's never escalated to
violence. Beyond that, the servant gave some testimony about Asuma saying
he wasn't planning to come back, then Mr. Shinohara answering the door with
the words 'I thought you weren't coming back', but the servant never saw
the face of the person at the door. Still, the investigators ramroded the
case against Asuma through."
Shinobu chewed on the end of her pen in thought. "Perhaps they were just
lazy. Maybe you should take it up with their superiors- if you can clear
Asuma, then maybe this whole mess can be forgiven."
"IF I can clear him. Just exposing the lackadaisical efforts of the
investigators won't be enough, though. And I'm not sure that it was just a
case of laziness. Some of the details behind Noa's break-out make me
wonder."
That caught Shinobu's attention. Before, it had just felt like one of
their usual idle conversations, even if they were talking about a case that
had been on their minds a lot lately. "You think he might have been framed
by someone in the police?"
"Now that you mention it..." Gotoh smirked, showing that was what he
suspected all along.
Shinobu smiled and shook her head. "Okay, I get the hint. So, what do we
do about it?"
"Us? Nothing."
There was a knock on the door, and Takeo Kumagami came into the room. "You
sent for me, sir?" she said, saluting.
Gotoh nodded. "I have a job for you. I have a few questions about Asuma's
arrest, and was wondering if you could talk to the investigators for
me...."
* * * * *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/fanfics.htm
List owner of the Temporary FFML Refuge (FFML-R)
To subscribe, send a blank message to
FFMLRefuge-subscribe@listbot.com
And follow the instructions in the response...
A Oneshot Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Author's Notes:
I keep saying that there's plenty of room for fanfiction in Patlabor. I
really have no idea why it isn't a more popular series... well, in addition
to Patlabor: Personal Files (for which I've planned 66 episodes and (so
far) 9 OAVs), I've got MANY more ideas for Patlabor fanfiction. So,
because I was bored and wanted to try my hand at a shorter Patlabor fanfic
(one which I might be able to finish rather quickly), I came up with this
thing to work out some of the ideas I CAN'T fit into P:PF.
Enjoy!
-------------------------
Noa munched her assorted tempura happily. A good, home-cooked dinner from
her mother beat anything she'd ever had at SV2 headquarters. Sure, it
would be nice if she could work off the meal by waxing Alphonse, but she
wasn't on the reclaimed land at the moment. No, for the first time in
months, she was actually visiting her home. And this time, she wasn't
AWOL.
The reason was simple- with the first unit receiving their Peacemaker
labors, it wasn't necessary to have the Ingrams on call twenty-four hours a
day; because of that, more vacations were going to be scheduled for the
second unit. This was the first of many of those vacations, and so far Noa
was enjoying herself, despite the absence of Alphonse.
"Say, do you remember Akemi from down the street?" her father asked.
Noa thought about it for a second. "Oh, yeah! Did she get past those
college entrance exams she was studying for?"
"She decided not to take them. She got married to Mamoru- you should
remember him: the very well-to-do computer technician? At any rate, with
his job and the money she got as a dowry from his parents, she didn't need
to go to college."
Noa's face fell. She knew what was coming next. Why did her father ALWAYS
have to bring up marriage when she visited? Not only did he sound like a
broken record, but he ALSO was spoiling her vacation. "I'm NOT quitting my
job to look for the hypothetical perfectly handsome and wealthy husband,
dad," she stated firmly.
Her father sighed. "Why do you insist on such a dangerous career? You
KNOW that if you ever get hurt your chances of ever getting married are
pretty much gone. There've already been SEVERAL incidents where you might
have been killed already! WHY do you insist on risking your life time
after time for a job that BARELY pays you enough to live off of and which
no-one ever will respect you for?"
Noa glared at him. "Dad, how many times do I have to tell you I love
working with labors? I don't WANT a job which won't let me use them!"
Her dad was almost in tears by this point. "But even if you foolishly
insist on playing around with those stupid giant robots, there's any number
of safer careers involving labors out there, and many of them are much
closer to home! Construction work, maintenance services, all sorts of
things. Labors are even being used in airports to load baggage and on
fishing ships to help haul in the catch. I'd even say the MILITARY is a
safer career than the police, because the military gets called in a lot
less. But instead, you pick the most dangerous job out there for labor
use, and you insist on staying in it, despite almost being killed several
times. What's worse, you aren't even able to see us more than once or
twice a year with this job, when there are other careers- even in labors-
much closer to us! Why?"
"You wouldn't understand," Noa growled, sulking. "Excuse me, I'm full. I
think I'll take a bath and go to bed." With that, she stood up and stalked
out of the room.
She scrubbed herself off furiously in the shower, trying to calm herself
down. It wasn't until after she'd made it to the furo that she succeeded,
however.
When she finally quelled her anger, she actually wondered about what her
father had said. 'I like Alphonse,' she thought to herself. 'That's what
I always say whenever he asks me. But he's right- I already know I'm not
going to be able to keep Alphonse forever, and I've accepted that I'll lose
him one day. So why do I stay in the SV2? Dad is right- I could hurt
myself seriously one day. Some days, even Alphonse isn't enough to make
the job worth it... so why do I do it? Why do I put up with the long
hours, the risks to my life, being so far away from my family, and the
constant fear that I'm just not good enough? Why?'
* * * * *
"Dammit, son!" the father of Asuma Shinohara shouted. "I am NOT doing
anything wrong- those instances were occasions where I was using acceptable
business practices to acquire those smaller companies. I am NOT being a
corporate bully! What I'm doing is something any other business in Japan
would do!"
Asuma himself snorted. "You shouldn't believe yourself to be perfectly
virtuous just because everyone else is corrupt, too." He grabbed his
jacket and cap. "That does it, pop, I'm out of here. I'm tired of
fighting with you all the time, and I need to get back to base, anyway."
"Fine! Leave! But you'll never see one dime from the company from my
inheritance!"
Asuma didn't even look back. "You've made that threat so many times, I
don't think I'd be in your will right now if you were serious." He opened
the door heading out of the house. "I'm so tired of all the fighting, I
hope to never have to deal with you again. I won't be back." The door
slammed behind him.
Mr. Shinohara sighed. "Stupid boy- don't you know why I built this
company?" He shook his head. "You'll just never be good enough to run it,
will you?" The phone rang. "Get that for me, will you, Tsukai?"
Tsukai, the servant, nodded. "Certainly, sir," he said, leaving the room.
Shinohara continued to grumble about the abstinence of his son while Tsukai
was out of the room until the doorbell rang. Rolling his eyes in
frustration, he stood up and made he way over to open the door himself.
One servant was USUALLY enough to do all the chores, but from time to time-
like this occasion- more than one thing had to be done at one time. He
opened the door.
Tsukai returned from the phone, planning to tell his master that the phone
was a wrong number, to see him waiting on the open door.
"I thought you said you weren't coming back again!" Shinohara growled.
"What are you- ohmyg-"
The concussion from the explosion that followed threw Tsukai through the
wall and rocked the foundations of the house. Shinohara, however, wasn't
so lucky.
* * * * *
Noa sighed, seeing how upset Asuma was. He was always this way whenever
his father came up- surly, upset, and difficult to deal with. He'd just
gotten back from the Shinohara mansion, apparently, and this was when he
was at his worst. She walked up to him as they made their way to the
officers lounge (where they were all hoping to spend the last few minutes
of their vacation time), hoping to take his mind off things and maybe to
comfort him a little. She knew better than to try suggesting a
reconciliation again.
"Hi, Asuma," she said.
"Hi, Noa. How was your vacation?" he asked, desperate for any kind of
distraction.
Noa shrugged. "Fine for a while, but then my father started bugging me-
eep!" she cut herself off mid-thought, not wanting to bring up parents at
all. "Had all kinds of fun skiing and eating our famous Hokkaido crabs. I
thought you were coming down to join me?" she teased. She hadn't really
been expecting him- while they'd mentioned it once or twice, they hadn't
worked out any details.
Asuma shrugged. "Next vacation for sure. Pop monopolized me this one, but
he certainly won't next time around."
They were still a short ways away from the lounge when Ohta heard Asuma say
those words. "Asuma! There you are- come quick! There's a story on the
TV you need to see!"
"Huh?" he said.
Without waiting for Asuma to comply, Ohta grabbed him and dragged him at a
run back to the lounge, Noa following along as fast as she could. When
they got there, the TV was broadcasting a very important story.
"We finally have a camera at the scene. If you follow our reporter, you
can see the path the shell took as it killed Mr. Okami Shinohara, the
Founder and President of Shinohara Heavy Industries. The nation mourns the
loss of this great man...."
Asuma continued trying to listen to the rest of the report, but for some
reason the words just didn't make any sense. His knees started to buckle,
but an arm- Noa's arm- went around him to support him and keep him from
falling. He nearly dragged her down with him, but somehow she was able to
support him.
"Excuse me, Mr. Shinohara," a voice said from behind him. "Can we talk to
you for a moment? We have a few questions...."
Asuma turned to see a pair of police investigators waiting for him outside
of the room, accompanied by Captain Gotoh. "Um, sure."
"We'd like you to come down to the station with us," they said as he was
leaving. "As you probably already know, your father has been murdered.
There are a few questions we have regarding your possible involvement...."
* * * * *
"Asuma's being arrested!?" Noa screeched. She'd been there when he'd been
taken away, of course, but she'd just thought they were going to ask him a
few questions and that would be it. She'd had no clue that he was a
suspect.
"There was apparently some evidence against him," Gotoh explained. "The
servant witnessed Asuma's father open the door and make comments indicating
that he saw Asuma there, seconds before the blast occurred. Furthermore,
he testified that they had had a serious fight during that day, where Asuma
claimed he didn't want to deal with his father anymore. Finally, the
murder weapon was a firearm from a police labor- an Ingrams revolver, as a
matter of fact. Asuma is one of the few people who would have access to
such a weapon. It's believed he had an accomplice, however, as it is
assumed he was not the one operating the labor."
Noa frowned. "So the whole case is based on the testimony of one man and a
gun that any number of people who may be associated with the police could
get?"
Gotoh sighed. "I admit that seems to be a rather circumstantial case, but
Asuma did not offer an alibi nor could he offer any suggestions for anyone
else who might have a motive. Since Asuma was the only one they could find
who had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Mr. Shinohara, they
arrested him."
Noa's eyes widened. "But that can't be right! I mean, Asuma's not like
that at all... besides, he was shocked when his father's death was
broadcast on the news. He didn't know about it! You saw him, Ohta- you
remember how surprised he was, don't you?"
Ohta, however, was remembering something else. He remembered that, when
trying to find Asuma, he overheard him say that his 'Pop' wouldn't be
monopolizing him on future vacations. How could he claim that unless he
knew that his father was dead? The more Ohta thought about it, the more he
was convinced that his reaction in the lounge was staged.
"Noa," he said hesitantly. "I... think he did it."
Noa flashed him a look of betrayal. "You, too? But you know Asuma would
never do something like that!"
Now that Ohta had firmly convinced himself that the police were right,
however, he was a lot less hesitant in his reply. "No, I don't! In fact,
Asuma's such a punk kid, I wouldn't put it past him! Besides, who else
would it be?"
For some reason, Noa was seized with rage at that comment. Tears of anger
in her eyes, she reared back and slapped Ohta, nearly knocking him to the
ground. "How DARE you!" she shouted.
Gotoh's eyes widened. The situation was escalating much too quickly. "Now
hold it, hold it! Calm down!" he cried in a panicked voice, stepping in
between the two of them. In a much more subdued tone, he continued,
"Asuma's guilt or innocence is not for us to decide. At the moment, he's
only ACCUSED of murder, not tried and convicted. In the meantime, we'll
have to reorganize to fill the hole that his absence leaves us with."
Noa clenched her fists, trying to calm herself down. "If you'll excuse me,
sir, I'm not in the right state of mind to hear about this. Good bye," she
growled out through clenched teeth.
Angrily she made her way towards the hangar bay, planning to console
herself with Alphonse. As she walked, the thought about some of the things
Asuma had told her when they were visiting his brothers grave.
"He killed himself," he had said. "I think it was his last act of
resistance against our father. It was a stupid thing to do- dying never
solves anything."
Dying never solves anything. That was what Asuma believed. He thought
suicide was a stupid thing to do BECAUSE dying never solved anything. If
he believed that, then he certainly wouldn't kill anyone, would he?
"Of course not," she said to herself. "It just doesn't make sense. Asuma
knows better than to do something stupid like that." She paused. "But
no-one will believe him but me, will they? I mean, I'm the only one who
knows him that well, and all the evidence is pointing to him... I've got to
do something."
So resolved, Noa made her way to the hanger with newfound determination.
She had to come up with a plan, and Asuma wasn't there to think for her.
* * * * *
Hiromi couldn't believe all that was going on. No-one was acting like
themselves- Asuma was a cold-blooded murderer (supposedly), Noa had gotten
physically violent in a confrontation with Ohta, and, most recently, Sakaki
had shocked them all by suggesting that the mechanics load the labors on
their trucks (just in case there was a call) and then go on home for some
r&r... though he certainly seemed angry when he gave those orders. Perhaps
he was just as mad as Noa about Asuma's arrest, and wanted some time alone
to calm himself.
Hiromi himself was rather angry at that, as well. How could Ohta believe
Asuma was a murderer? And being arrested for such a flimsy set of
evidence, as well. It just didn't seem to make any sense.
He walked by the door into the hanger bay, and heard a noise coming from
the direction of the parked labor transports. 'That's funny,' he thought.
'No-one's supposed to be in there right now.'
Deciding to investigate, he quietly made his way towards the disturbance.
Finally, he caught sight of the intruder- Noa was underneath the console of
the transport carrier, fiddling with something under the wheel. It didn't
take long for Hiromi to figure out what she was doing.
"It isn't possible to hot-wire one of those things," Hiromi said quietly.
Noa tried to sit up, and bumped her head into the wheel. "Ow!" she cried,
wincing. "Hiromi, what are you doing here?" she said nervously. "And I
wasn't trying to hot-wire it- I was just, uh, practicing some of the skills
the maintenance squad was teaching me!" she continued, not very
convincingly.
"I heard a noise, and thought I'd take a look." He paused. "So why are
you trying to steal Alphonse?"
"Hiromi..." Noa began, realizing how pointless further protests of her
innocence would be. She wasn't sure what to say, though- she had prepared
what she was going to say to anyone else, but she'd just overlooked him.
She decided to try and explain. "I can't let them do this to Asuma. I've
got to get him out of jail- there's something really wrong about the way he
was arrested. I mean, they basically imprisoned him on hearsay... there's
something suspicious about that. Either the investigators don't care to
look any further than Asuma, or... or there's something really wrong going
on. If it's the later, I don't think Asuma's going to stand a chance of
getting a fair trial...."
"You know we'll have to stop you," Hiromi said simply.
Noa looked down. "Yeah... but once I get Asuma free, it won't matter. I
won't need Alphonse any more..."
"You won't?"
Noa's eyes widened when she realized what she'd said. "I don't mean never-
I mean, I won't need him to finish my plans. I can just leave him behind
somewhere safe, and wait for you guys to pick him up and take care of him
for me. Asuma and I can then hide out until we figure out who it is who's
doing these things to him."
Hiromi nodded, sighing. "Well, you can't do it without this, I don't
think," he said, producing a key and tossing it over to her. "Good luck.
Take care of him."
"Don't I always protect Alphonse?" Noa asked.
Hiromi just smiled, walking away. "Alphonse wasn't who I was talking
about," he said to himself, making certain that Noa wouldn't hear.
* * * * *
"You have to realize, Ohta, that women don't really like it when you
contradict them so fiercely," Takeo was saying.
"I was just telling her the truth- that Asuma's a punk and that the
evidence convinced me that Asuma's guilty," Ohta, holding an icepack to his
cheek, grumbled.
Takeo raised an eyebrow. She found that assertion of Ohta's hard to
swallow, as well. She didn't know Asuma as well as most of the others, but
what she'd seen of him showed him to be a very honest, forthright, and
decent man. A bit rough around the edges, perhaps, but certainly no
murderer. "That may be, but the way you put it was-"
She was cut off when the siren came on warning of a possible call to
action. "We have a 999. Repeat, a 999. All personnel on station please
report to your duty station. This is NOT a drill."
A 999. The one call everyone felt was impossible- a call no-one would ever
want to answer. It meant that a member of the SV2 had stolen a labor with
criminal intent. It meant they would have to fight one of their own.
"Shit!" Ohta exclaimed, running out of the room.
Takeo thought about that. "A 999? Hmm..." Whistling, she strolled her
way out of the room, a slight smile on her face.
* * * * *
Shinobu stared over where the second unit was getting ready, a scowl on her
face. Gotoh wasn't driving his men at all, and only Ohta was moving like
he wanted to go out. Sure, she knew that Noa was his top pilot, but still-
that was no excuse for not stopping her when she committed such a serious
crime.
She was about to walk on over to him to reprimand him when Gomioka ran up
to her and saluted, drawing her attention.
She saluted back. "Yes, Mr. Gomioka?" she inquired.
"Captain Nagumo, ma'am," he said. "I regret to report that it is
impossible for us to answer this call."
Shinobu was surprised. "Oh? Why?"
"None of the labor transports are working, ma'am. They appear to have been
sabotaged."
"Sabotaged?"
"The starters aren't working at all."
Shinobu's eyes widened. "But Ms. Izumi wouldn't have had time to sabotage
all the carriers for both units AND steal her labor after the mechanics
left... the mechanics!" She cursed.
It seemed as though Noa had more help then perhaps even she realized. The
mechanics were on her side, and so, it seemed, was most of Unit 2. They
probably all knew what Noa was going to do before even she did.
She almost laughed. Of course they would- and she couldn't blame them,
really, either. After all, she didn't believe Gotoh's protege was guilty
any more than they did.
* * * * *
The warden of the prison which contained Asuma's holding cell smirked to
himself. It wasn't often he got cops handed over to him. It was even less
often that he was specifically instructed to place those cops in with the
hardest criminals in his pen. Apparently, some of the higher-ups were
hoping that they wouldn't have to bring the cop to trial, since that would
be a very embarrassing thing for the force, and thought that he wouldn't be
able to survive some of the... attentions... of those rougher criminals who
might hold a grudge against a former cop. For some reason, the politics
involved amused him.
He stood up from his desk, grabbed a cigarette, and walked over to his
office window. He lit up and took a puff. As he blew the smoke out the
window, he spied one of his two Type 97 Pythons guarding the outside. They
were too old for serious police duty any more, and they couldn't afford to
keep them very well maintained, but they looked impressive enough to keep
the prisoners in line.
As the warden looked out the window, he noticed that some sort of
disturbance seemed to be forming, as the Python started running in one
direction. Just at that moment, his phone rang. He moved to get it, but
then there was a huge crash outside. The warden ran back to the window,
trying to see what was going on.
An empty labor transport had apparently crashed into the wall, and it
appeared to still be pushing. Much to his surprise, the prison's two
labors were engaged in combat- apparently with another police labor, an
Ingram. The Ingram dismantled the two Pythons, and then stormed over to
his window, drawing its gun and pointing it right at him.
"What cell is Asuma Shinohara in?" a female voice boomed out through the
labors speakers.
"Er... Cell 231 in cell block A," he said.
The labor put away its gun and bowed slightly. "Thank you," the woman said
politely before sending her labor into a run again, bursting through the
doors into the prison. If the building hadn't been recently modified to
allow labors to move through it, there might have been serious damage to
the prison. As it was, the shattering of the doors shook the building to
its foundation.
The phone continued ringing.
Moving as if in shock, the warden slowly walked over to it and picked up
the receiver. "Hello?"
"Ah, ah. This is Captain Gotoh of the Special Vehicles, Second Section.
Am I talking to the warden?"
"Um... yes, I'm the warden."
"Good. I'm afraid that I have the duty to inform you that one of our
officers stole an Ingram, and may be on the way to break her partner out of
your prison. We would be on our way to help you, but along the way she
sabotaged all of our other labors."
"Uh... thank you for the warning," the warden said. "We'll... keep an eye
out for her." Hanging up the phone, he looked outside at the wreckage of
the two Pythons and the labor carrier.
* * * * *
Asuma wasn't paying any attention to the commotion around him- he just had
too much on his mind to care. His father was dead- murdered- and he didn't
know exactly what he felt about all that. He never got along with his
father- in fact, he downright hated him, most of the time. However, there
were times when he actually was pleased to be able to see him. Like that
time he and Noa visited his brothers grave....
That was another point. With his father's death, there was no-one who he
could call 'family.' Come to think of it, now that he was in jail, it
wasn't likely he was going to see anyone who he might be able to call
'friend' for some time, either. Ex-cops weren't exactly popular in prison,
and it was unlikely anyone from the SV2 would be able to come visit him.
The biggest question for him, however, was just why did they think he was
the murderer? Sure, he and his father had gotten into a fight earlier that
day, but he and his father ALWAYS had fights and he hadn't done anything
before. Outside of that, he had no clue what, if any, evidence they might
have had.
"Hey, buddy," one of his cellmates said, approaching him. "What are you in
for? Impersonating a police officer?"
One weird thing about his arrest was that he wasn't allowed to change into
his street clothes. Usually policemen, when arrested, were allowed to
change out of uniform before being placed into a holding cell. Not so, in
his case.
Asuma wasn't really thinking clearly enough to realize the implications
behind his answer, so he just said, "Nah. I really am a police officer."
"Oh, you are?" the cellmate said, his voice becoming slightly more hostile
as he moved in closer to Asuma. "Then why are you in here?"
"I was accused of murdering my father." There seemed to be a loud crash
coming from outside, and the floor shook.
"Heh... guess that makes you a bit of a hypocrite, doesn't it."
"What?!" Asuma cried, his brain finally catching up with the conversation.
"No- I didn't do it."
The man snorted. "Please- that's what we all say. Do you cops ever give
us a break because of that? No... like I said, you're just a hypocrite.
And we don't like hypocrites here."
Asuma stood up, taking a defensive stance as the man and two of his
companions advanced on him. He knew he was in bad shape, as all three of
them were about twice his size. It wasn't very likely he'd survive the
fight.
Before that fight could begin, however, an Ingram burst into the cell
block, paused, then drew a gun. "Leave him alone!" a voice boomed over the
speakers.
The attackers dropped back, surprised. Asuma just stood there, blinked,
and turned to face the labor. "Noa?" he asked.
Using one of Alphonse's hands to bend open the bars, she said, "That's me.
Come on, let's go."
"Noa, do you know what you're doing? I can't let you do this to yourself-
erk!"
The hand which had bent the bars open reached in and grabbed him. "I don't
have time to argue," Noa said, putting away her gun. "We're getting out of
here."
Stopping only to bend the bars back to their original position with the
hand which had held the gun, she ran off, carrying Asuma along with her.
"Dammit," the prisoner who had confronted Asuma growled. "Someone broke
him out before we could get him! Now we'll never get that ten million
yen."
* * * * *
On board the Sangria, a ship owned by Shaft Enterprises Division 7, a major
construction project was underway. It was not the most ideal of conditions
for labor construction, but it was very secret and, when the ship was in
still waters, it was adequate for the builder's purposes.
Richard Wong, the vice president in charge of Division 7 (a division Shaft
Enterprises denies is still affiliated with it), smiled his usual smile as
he surveyed the progress of his latest work.
The chief mechanic strolled up to him. "Excuse me, sir. We're probably
going to have it ready in a couple of days. I've wondered for a while,
however... why are we rebuilding this thing? It succeeded in its mission,
didn't it? What do we need it for, now?"
"It only half succeeded. We managed to pull off the demonstration very
well, but the second half of our mission is still on-going. We have yet to
obtain the software of an Ingram. Until we obtain a copy of Ms. Izumi's
movement disk, Shinohara Heavy Industries will be able to keep Shaft from
dominating the field of advanced humaniform labors."
The mechanic nodded. "Um... have you been paying attention to the news,
lately?"
Wong shook his head. "I'm afraid not- I've been rather busy in India until
today."
"Well... I don't think we need to worry about Shinohara Heavy Industries
any more."
Wong's smile slipped a bit. "We don't? Why?"
"Um... well, see, Mr. Shinohara was murdered yesterday. They arrested his
son for the crime, and now suspect his partner to have been an accomplice.
With Shinohara dead and his son in jail, well... it's likely that their
company is going to have some difficulties for a while."
Richard Wong's smile fell completely. "His son is Asuma Shinohara,
correct?"
"Um, I think that's the name the papers are giving, yes."
Wong's face hardened. "Hmm... I've studied Asuma and his partner, Noa
Izumi, ever since I ran into them in a video game arcade almost a year ago.
I like to think that I know them fairly well. Asuma Shinohara certainly
does NOT strike me as the type of man to murder his father, even if they
don't get along very well." He paused. "You've been in touch with the
regional headquarters more recently than I have. You wouldn't happen to
know if WE'RE responsible for this, would you?"
"Um... there are rumors that we've had something big in the planning..."
"Indeed." Richard Wong removed his glasses to massage his temples. "I
have been called quite ruthless for my actions, and I've committed acts
which break the law if it aided me in achieving my goals. However, I've
never murdered a man in cold blood, nor have I ever framed one for one of
my crimes." He turned to the mechanic. "Asuma may be a rival, but I also
respect him, maybe even feel some sort of twisted friendship for him. It
appears, however, that Shaft Enterprises is willing to go even further than
I am."
"What are you saying, sir?" the mechanic said.
Wong's smile returned. "Well, if Shinohara Heavy Industries falls apart,
I'm out of the job. It seems to me that it's in my best interest to aide
Asuma in his legal defense. Where is he being held? I'd like to go see
him."
"Uh, well... see, his partner broke him out of prison."
Richard Wong raised an eyebrow. "Ms. Izumi did that? Oh, my... perhaps
she's more impulsive than I believed. Ah, well. I have some idea of where
she might be trying to get to."
* * * * *
Asuma sighed, standing at the foot of Alphonse as he waited for Noa to
disembark from the labor. She had refused to listen to any of his protests
while they were on the move, but since they seemed to have settled down for
the night, he suspected he'd have a chance to actually get in a few words.
"I'm afraid his batteries won't last much longer," Noa said, as she made
her way down from the cockpit. "That's okay, though. They should be
strong enough to get us the rest of the way to a nearby fishing village, if
I conserve power. From there, we can rent a boat and travel out to
Hokkaido. I know somewhere that we can stay which isn't on the maps nor in
any official records, so we shouldn't have much of a problem staying there
for a while. Then I'll finally be able to turn the thinking over to you,
again," she said, finally reaching the ground. Wiping some sweat off her
forehead, she walked on over to him. "I'll be quite happy when we get that
far... I'm not used to be the part of this team that has to think."
Asuma closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. "Noa, I really appreciate
all you're trying to do, but... please, just give it up. Surrender to the
police, and take Alphonse with you. I'm not worth ruining your life over.
I can handle things myself."
Noa shook her head, smiling slightly. She figured he'd say something like
that. "Nope. Won't do it. Besides, I've already done so much that they
won't be able to just sweep this under the rug if I went back. I'm in this
as much as you are." She paused. "And from the look of things when I
showed up at the prison, I'd say you wouldn't have been able to handle
things if I hadn't been there."
Asuma's eyes opened, focusing sharply on her. "Why? Why are you doing all
of this for me? I mean, you know you'll never be allowed to pilot Alphonse
again after all this, and you didn't even try to find out if I'd done it or
not before you broke me out. Why?"
Noa looked at him, her smile remaining. "Did you do it? Did you kill your
father?"
"I might have thought about it a few times," he said, looking rather
uncertain at his own statement. "But no, I didn't."
Noa nodded. "Well, I thought you wouldn't get much of a chance to explain
your side. They arrested you entirely on hearsay, didn't even look at
anyone else, and it looked to me like they stuck you in a cell with a group
of people they knew would kill me. I think someone in the force is after
you- maybe as part of a conspiracy. What evidence they've released seems
to indicate that there was more than one person at the scene when your
father was murdered, so there's obviously a number of people involved."
Asuma shrugged. "Yeah, I figured something weird was up when they made me
keep my police uniform on in the holding cell.... That still doesn't
explain why YOU decided to do something about it."
Noa sighed, her smile falling. "Perhaps... perhaps it was something my dad
said to me on that vacation. He asked me why I was insisting on being in
the SV2, when there were plenty of other jobs involving labors I could do
that were less dangerous." She paused. "I couldn't give him a real answer
then. I still couldn't, now. Part of it, however, was that... was that I
didn't want to give you up. I knew that if I left the SV2, I'd lose you.
I know I'm going to lose Alphonse one day, but you... I don't want to give
you up."
Asuma blinked, looking at her in surprise. "Is that it? You want to
remain my forward, huh, even though I've now been accused of murder?"
"Yes," Noa stated firmly. "I can give up Alphonse if I have to, but I
can't give you up."
Asuma blinked again. "Well... I suggest we NOT give up on Alphonse. One
of the few things I know about my father's murder is that there was
apparently a labor involved, as it was a labor gun that was the murder
weapon. My guess is if we find out who it is, there's going to be a
fight."
Noa's eyes widened. "But... the batteries almost gone! Alphonse wouldn't
be usable in a fight!"
Asuma nodded. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry- I'll figure out a way to
recharge him before we leave that fishing village you're talking about.
Now, I also suggest we keep moving. I know you want to bunk down for the
night, but chances are they'll be trying to track us down. The sooner we
can get shipboard, the better."
Noa nodded, and relaxed a little. "Okay. Oh, and Asuma?"
"Yeah?"
"I may be the only one who'll be able to tell you this," She took a couple
steps closer to him and wrapped him up in a hug. "I'm sorry about your
father."
* * * * *
Gotoh looked through the folder, shaking his head.
"Any word on where Alphonse has gotten to?" Shinobu, filling out a form,
asked.
Gotoh shook his head. "No. Lost track of them at a fishing port."
"We could ask for satellite tracking, you know. An active labor gives out
signals that can be located from space, which should stand out pretty
easily in the middle of the ocean."
Gotoh merely grunted noncommittally.
Shinobu looked at him from her desk, curious. "What's wrong?"
He held up the file, pointing out the cover. "I have the notes about
Asuma's case here, and things just don't add up. I mean, they say that the
murder weapon was a Patlabor revolver, and that Asuma was one of the few
who had access to such a weapon. That's only partly true- he wouldn't have
access to it unless he got the key to the weapons' locker from you or me.
He certainly hasn't checked out any guns like that as far as I'm aware of.
Did he get a key from you?"
Shinobu blinked. "No... but wasn't there a lot of other evidence?"
"Not as much as the news media's been lead to believe," he said. "There
was evidence that Asuma was there that night, but that's not in dispute.
He'd been spending the night eating dinner there, working on some sort of
family reconciliation. He and his father got into an argument, but they
had been having fights for years before, and it's never escalated to
violence. Beyond that, the servant gave some testimony about Asuma saying
he wasn't planning to come back, then Mr. Shinohara answering the door with
the words 'I thought you weren't coming back', but the servant never saw
the face of the person at the door. Still, the investigators ramroded the
case against Asuma through."
Shinobu chewed on the end of her pen in thought. "Perhaps they were just
lazy. Maybe you should take it up with their superiors- if you can clear
Asuma, then maybe this whole mess can be forgiven."
"IF I can clear him. Just exposing the lackadaisical efforts of the
investigators won't be enough, though. And I'm not sure that it was just a
case of laziness. Some of the details behind Noa's break-out make me
wonder."
That caught Shinobu's attention. Before, it had just felt like one of
their usual idle conversations, even if they were talking about a case that
had been on their minds a lot lately. "You think he might have been framed
by someone in the police?"
"Now that you mention it..." Gotoh smirked, showing that was what he
suspected all along.
Shinobu smiled and shook her head. "Okay, I get the hint. So, what do we
do about it?"
"Us? Nothing."
There was a knock on the door, and Takeo Kumagami came into the room. "You
sent for me, sir?" she said, saluting.
Gotoh nodded. "I have a job for you. I have a few questions about Asuma's
arrest, and was wondering if you could talk to the investigators for
me...."
* * * * *
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