You Called Down The Thunder . . ..
Set after the final season. Takano Akira is a woman of many skills and many mysteries. Her "work" takes her to various jobs, against dangerous adversaries. But this time, she is way out of her league.
WAREHOUSE 45 - Ikebukuro District. – Sunday - 2200 hours.
A motorcycle roars to a stop on the busy streets outside of a fenced warehouse. Takano Akira dismounts her bike and examines the warehouse with her peripheral vision. With her tinted motorcycle helmet she didn't have to worry about anyone being suspicious of her gaze. Takano's arm grazes an old bum as he walks past her.
"Oh excuse me young one." The old bum said hunched over and shaking a cup in front of her. "Could you spare a poor old man some yen?"
Takano Akira paused for a moment and reached into her red and black jumpsuit to withdraw 500 yen. The old man was ecstatic and was distracted long enough for Akira to slip into a nearby clothing store.
"Excuse me." She said to the half-asleep store clerk. "I need to use your restroom." The half-asleep clerk raised a shaky arm towards the back behind some costume racks.
Akira slipped inside and says on the toilet seat, withdrawing from her pocket a small device. She gracefully tapped a few buttons and the device turned on.
Akira frowned. The scanner was picking up large amounts of heat and energy signatures coming from the building. This was never a good sign.
Slipping the device back into her red and black jumpsuit, she stood on top of the toilet and removed the ceiling tiles. Making her way through the bowels of the buildings structure she found what she was looking for: A vent just above the barbed wire fence. If she could get over that fence, she would be inside the Warehouse grounds, and then the real mission begins. But she knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. Once again she reached into her jumpsuit and withdrew from it a capsule. Using her thumb and middle finger she crushes it and then tosses it over the fence. The capsule emits a faint fog revealing several red lines crisscrossing all over the ground.
She nodded to her self. "Thought so." With delicate hands, she unlatches the vent and vaults over the barbed wire fence and into the shadows between the criss-crossing red lines.
"So far so good" She surveys the area, tossing more fog capsules in front of her. She moved with the stealth and agility of a cat stalking her pray, until she reached the walls of the warehouse. The back door was locked, as she expected. She shined a small light into the keyhole and saw an electrical lock. Anything but the right key would set off an alarm, and that included disabling it.
She moved towards the next door, and then the next, and then towards a few windows. Every door and window had the same mechanism attached to it. Even the vents had the same locking mechanism inside them. Akira sighed. Her informants were right; these were no ordinary terrorists she was dealing with.
"If stealth wont work…perhaps deception will…" Akira said seeing several trashcans piled atop one another.
Several minutes later Akira was hanging from the metal drains on the side of the warehouse. Holding a long and nearly invisible piece of wire. She held her breath and gave it a yank. The garbage cans toppled over noisily and crossed the beams of light. Rapid beeping could be heard, indicating that the alarms have been tripped.
Quickly, Akira opened the window, climbed through and shut it.
She could hear several footsteps as men dressed in black clothing ran passed her towards the commotion. She turned and headed towards her objective. As she stealthily moved on the catwalks she spotted her objective. A silver case lying atop multiple crates, stacked upon one another. Two guards were right below it. She grinned, and lowered her invisible wire.
It touched the metal case, and the wire immediately stuck to it. Akira made a mental note to thank Itoko-sensei for loaning her this nifty gadget. She lifted the case up off the crates soundlessly unbeknownst to the two guards…or so she thought.
"OH NO YOU DON'T LASSIE!" One of the guards said turning around, grabbing the case and yanking it down, taking Akira with it.
Akira does a somersault in mid air and lands on her feet. "Not bad." She says to her opponents. But they didn't feel like talking, instead the one who yanked her down charged at her. Well this is a change of pace she thought to herself as she dodged a punch and rolled to the left. Usually my opponents love to brag about how they have the one up on me.
Her opponent was a well-built man, fast and powerful but what made it difficult was that he knew how to fight, and REALLY knew how to fight. He was not a clumsy thug. Or an enraged muscle head(despite his looks). So Akira decided it would be best to avoid fighting him directly. Thus she used the boxes to vault over the head of this well built fighter just before he could corner her.
She landed a little ways in front of the second guard who seemed to be radioing for help. She wasn't about to let that happen. She drew from her belt a long throwing knife and hurled it at the radio.
Her eyes widened as the man turned his body and caught the knife in mid air. He resumed his broadcast for help on the radio as he took an offensive stance against her.
"All units! Grey to all units! Converge on the objective! We have contact! Get Alpha and Bishop on the line!" He put the radio away and charged at the intruder. Akira shook off her bewilderment, as she was now pinned between the two attackers. The guard who caught her knife swung it at her with expertise and Akira could not find an opening to attack or move around.
"Atta boy Grey! Kill her!" Yelled the bigger guard from behind her.
"Damnit Cell! I KNOW!" Grey grumbled.
Akira's only method of protecting herself was the silver case she carried. The knife grazed the case as Akira's attacker looked for an opening. Eventually he threw his entire body against her. Akira swept the silver case across his arms, knocking the knife out of his hands. But she felt sharp pain in her knees as Grey swept her legs. Akira fell hard on her back and the second guard leapt up to smash her face in, but Akira rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a fist that shattered the concrete underneath her.
She rolled to a standing position but this time, she barely had enough time to look up before the big guard named Cell connected his fist with her head. Her helmet flew off, now crumpled and broken. She was dazed, but countered with a swing of the case and hit Cell across the temple. Still slightly dazed she turned to run, but wasn't able to as Grey had reached over and wrapped metal wire around her neck.
Akira dropped the case as her hands scratched towards the metal wire cutting into her neck. "DIE ALREADY!" Grey yelled, pulling on the wire so hard it almost lifted her up off the ground.
Akira's head was spinning. She could hear more footsteps closing in. She saw Cell pick up her Knife.
"I'll finish the Chaos bi**h off…" he said, as he approached her with her throwing knife ready in his hands.
Akira was on the verge of panic, but she knew that if she did panic…it was over. She paused for a moment and took away her hands from the wire around her neck. And reached for a small tazer on her belt.
Grey yelled as he felt the tazer pressed against his hands and a powerful electrical surge ran through his body. His grip on the wire lessened and Akira was able to struggle free. Cell slashed at her throat but she moved quick enough to escape with only a scratch on her cheek.
She ducked underneath his swinging arm and tazed him as well. Cell dropped to the ground. But by this time Grey was already halfway standing. "You wont get away with that!" He said using a crate to haul himself up. But Akira had enough fighting for the night. She picked up the crate and began to run towards the closest exit she could find: A closed window at the opposite end of the hallway.
She barely reached the window when she heard the horrifying words: "OPEN FIRE!"
Her peripheral vision caught site of several men, dressed in full black and grey urban fatigues complete with Kevlar vests, gasmasks and fully automatic weapons. One of them was even carrying a riot shield.
The bullets flew as soon as her shoulder shattered the window. She didn't even have time to acknowledge that their weapons were silent. She threw another capsule towards the wired fence and it melted as she began to run through the shadows of the alleyway. Leaving only small drips of blood and a single tear for a trace to follow.
Above a building overlooking the alleyway, a man lay prone with a scoped rifle aimed directly at the running Akira. "Your mine…" said the man as he flicked the safety off on his rifle. He took a deep breath and placed his finger on the trigger.
Static blared on his headset and he swore. "Alpha! Hold your fire! I repeat hold your fire!" came a voice over the radio. Alpha held the 'talk button' on his headset and almost yelled his response.
"DAMNIT BISHOP! THERE HAD BETTER BE A DAMN GOOD REASON WHY THAT GIRLS HEAD ISNT OFF HER SHOULDERS RIGHT NOW!"
"Yes there is…That girl is Takano Akira of Yagami High School…You know the one."
Alpha's head dropped and he relaxed his grip on the rifle, letting it rest on the side of the building. "Yes… I do. That would count as a damn good reason why her head isn't off her shoulders right now."
"Quite…" replied a bum on the streets of Ikebukuro as he watched Takano Akira hop on her motorcycle and ride away. He looked at his cup that was empty all except the 500 Yen she gave him an hour ago.
Alpha's voice came over the wireless headset. "Well I'm displacing for now…tell everyone to fall back to the secondary ex-file point. This position has been compromised."
The bum nodded as he took off the hat and the fake beard, revealing a handsome young man. "Roger that. Ill radio Knight of the Situation."
"Roger that. Alpha out." The faint clicking noise was heard indicating Alpha had signed off on his headset. Bishop walked inside the warehouse and a soldier carrying a riot shield approached him.
"So…" He began.
"The chaos pulled a fast one on us eh?"
Bishop nodded and flipped the coin he had on his hand.
"It looks that way Rook." Said bishop as they entered the Warehouse.
Rook responded as he shut the door.
"This is going to be a huge pain in the ass…"
(PREVIEW) NEXT CHAPTER: Akira returns to school scarred, in more ways than one from the previous night. She has to lie to her concerned friends, concerned teachers and concerned Tea Club members. Who are these people? And what is the meaning of the message they sent her.