Introducing a series of episodes, each narrated by a different, new character in one long-ass chapter! While many may think this is original fanfiction, it IS based on a crossover of D.Gray-man, Burst Angel, X-Files (gah) and Appleseed. So don't be hatin'.

Enjoy Episode I folks, Episode II to come shortly (writing it at the moment). For those hoping for updates to my other fics, Xenosaga: The Forgotten will have a new chapter at the end of the week, The Second Agent is on hiatus at the moment (cousin borrowing the game, can't do jack), Souls in Motion has 1/3 of a chapter written (ZOMGWTF!) and Part of Me is currently bumping around ideas, but nothing solid written yet.

International

Paranormal

Investigation

Episodes

The Introduction

International Paranormal Investigation.

IPI for short. If you're eccentric enough, you'll pronounce it as 'yippie'. It's a semi-secret organisation funded and operated by the great leading countries of the world; The United States of America, Canada, The United Kingdom, Russia and the Japan. Founded in 1903, it's been up and running since electricity was a revolution and shit expensive. This organisation has been behind the scenes of every odd occurance in the world, investigating things that vary from glowing white orbs at night to the Loch Ness Monster. Sometimes, with extreme prejudice.

Its operatives are known as 'Para-Agents'. They police the entire globe, weeding out wierd and fantastical phenomenons and handling them as they see fit. They operate in cells throughout the world, with at least 20 cells in a single country, more if its larger. Most operatives work in teams of at least 4-10 but a rare few work lone wolf.

Since its inception, IPI has prevented a total of 4 global takeovers, 2 mass genocides and 17 invasions. Of course, there are the tens of thousands of 'normal' cases where extermination or rescue are involved too.

Some time in the 21st century, IPI was made public knowledge, to help its operatives find paranormal activity. The sales pitch was that if the public already knew about strange occurances (which they most definitely did) they could then report it to their city's nearest IPI cell, and it would be taken care of. It was a massive success. Monsters, spirits, mutated beings and mad scientists' creations had been kept under tight control ever since, and violent activity had decreased by almost half.

Nobody knows why or how these things happen. Even the researchers and scientists at IPI can't explain half of the phenomenons that happen throughout the world, though they do try their hardest. Many of the monster outbreaks are because of secret government or anti-government factions that develop biological weapons that happen to go beserk, or natural mutations in the human or animal body, which began to pop up sometime in the early 2000s. However, many of the supernatural things such as spirits, hauntings and demons are easily explained through religion or just plain magic.

Now, the year is 2102, and the world has changed greatly. Due to global warming, the ice caps had slightly melted (though to us humans, 'slightly' meant 'OH SHIT!') and the sea level had risen several dozen feet. Thankfully, most cities had been pre-elevated prior to this thanks to scientific reasoning, and advanced machinery called 'Terra-Mechs' had been invented to circumvent land flooding or sinking. Terra-Mechs were special massive robotic machines, which (for this purpose) were used to elevated enormous masses of land higher from the seabed. These machines were up to 10 miles in height, and were connected to the bottom of an island, or even a continent and their legs were secured on the sea bed. If water levels rose, so did they, and vice-versa.

Japan, Austrailia and Iceland were supported by Terra-Mechs. Most of the larger continents were still fine for at least 4-5 centuries. Even still, man had progressed leaps and bounds with technology and had developed many incredible things. For instance, Cloud Cities. Just as the name implies, Cloud Cities are cities that are built in the sky, amongst the clouds. They are supported by bio-thermal powered electromagnets, which generate huge (but safe) magnetic pulses that 'push' against the ground and let them float in the sky. These cities are about a mile high into the sky, and are very beautiful with many being made purely out of ultra-hardened crystal. These especially gorgeous cities had their roads, buildings and land created out of this transparent blue crystal, and made it truly seem as if you were living in the sky. Transportation to these sky cities were provided with hovercars or airliners. These cities were built after the International Population Treaty, which was passed in 2067. Earth's population of humans had risen to the point where - to save landspace for agricultural needs and so on - that there had to be something done about its 10 billion inhabitants.

Japan itself had become a mega-country. Having developed more than 3/4 of the world's current super-technology, it had become extremely powerful and wealthy. It outstripped the US and UK alone. Japan's islands had been cleared up of its tightly packed inhabitants with the development of 10 Cloud Cities, each named from Gaia 1-10. These sky cities housed more than 2/3 of Japan's population now, leaving the terrestrial lands below to free up space for its industrial revolution. Anything that existed in video games or anime, Japan had replicated in real life. Giant fighting robots? Check. Transforming hovercrafts? Check. Holographic computers, PDAs and cellphones? Check. Androids? Well... still in development.

Despite all these advanced in technology, one thing stayed the same, but was also drastically different. Guns. Guns were still used, guns that used cartridges, shells, gunpowder and bullets. If it was one constant thing, it was guns. Railguns were too large and expensive. Laser guns were still in development since they were highly volatile. So, guns were pretty much the same, other than new models being released. Another thing about guns is that they are internationally legal for sale. What does that mean? Well it means Joe Blow can walk to the nearest K-Mart and pick up an AK-47 along with his Bugle Boy cargo pants. Yup, the governments of the world decided that since there were so many monsters popping up in the world, that people needed to defend themselves, despite IPI.

Now, you may be thinking that doing that would be a bad idea, since crime in the world would probably skyrocket. But you forgot a few things: all the police forces in the world have giant fighting robots, transforming hovercrafts and even bigger guns. So, it's all cool. Crime still exists, and there's even an entire city off in America run off of crime, but for the most part, every one gets along. Why fight amongst yourselves when there's huge freaky monsters that you could band up against together? Co-existance means profits all round.

Now, back to the International Paranormal Investigation. As was previously mentioned, they police the world very much like Interpol, except that each operating agent can open up a 20-liter can of whoop-ass whenever they feel it neccessary. Again, each cell has many numbers of agents, who work in small to large groups of 4-10, but some choose to work alone. Why work alone, when you might be facing certain death on a daily basis?

Just ask Shin Igami. He's an IPI agent who refuses to take on a partner or join a team, and his superiors accept it. Why? Because my dear reader, though he may be at the fresh age of a young 18 years, he is one of their best. Don't ask why, because IPI is very stingy about the details of its operatives, just trust me on this. Okie dokie? Great!

Anyways, so this Shin Igami is quite obviously Japanese-born (as most of my original characters are, since any other race is boring JUST KIDDING!!) and he hails from Hokkaido. He's got the whole 'tall, dark and handsome' thing going on that many women love, and then there's that mysterious aura that he emits around himself, that makes men want to find out who he is and women tear their clothes off at. Okay, maybe not that far, but they do love him nonetheless.

He's got short black hair, which is nearly slicked back, but looks like it failed, and ended up in spiky sections not unlike many shark fins. He's got a heart-shaped face of course, ice-blue eyes and the typical Japanese-pretty boy features that have been hardened over the years of combat, making him look rugged and powerful. He's got a powerful body, with finely toned muscles that are very sleek from hours of workout definition, and stands around the average height of 5 foot 10 inches.

He's currently clothed in a black muscle shirt, with a matching black button-up shirt on top, both which fit snugly on his torso. Strapped to his chest is an intricate weaving of leather straps, which hold pistol clips in a form-fitting arrangement on his sides. Each pistol clip is held horizontally to his side by a long rail, which has each butt of the clip clipped into it. Each side had four clips, which reached down to his waist. You could say that this rail system was a clip for clips. Also on his back was another rail that held four clips in total - two on each side. However, these clips weren't seen to the casual observer since Mr. Igami wore a blood red suit jacket on top, which was made out of fine leather that had worn in nicely over the years.

Decking out his lower half was a pair of black jeans, slightly baggy but still form-fitting. On each hip was a curious device that looked like a sort of metal clamshell (ever seen Burst Angel? It's what Jo has on her legs). Each one was about 20 inches long, going from his hip to a little past his knee. They were strapped on by a thick leather belt that wrapped around his waist. On that belt were two other belts that were on each side, attached to the top of the clamshell-like device. There were also straps that were secured tightly on his thighs.

With a mental thought, the devices would open up, and an internal mechanical spring-launcher system would pop up a pistol several inches for him to pull out. When he was done with them, he would slide the pistols into their metal feeders and the motors inside the holsters would pull them down, cocking the spring system again.

The pistols that Mr. Igami used were 10" Infinity SV competition pistols, which were made for marksmen. They were custom-made, and were each custom-coated with pearl white paint and ivory grips with gold parts such as the trigger, mag-release, slide-release and hammer. They each had a compensator to reduce recoil and used 15 round clips with extended buttplates. The guns were chambered for their usual .45ACP bullets. They were also capable of rapid-fire, since the triggers were custom 'Zero-Pull' systems, which require a very light squeeze to discharge a round. Since the guns used handgrip safeties (located on the back of the handgrip itself) the shooter needn't fear accidental discharge if he grazed his finger on the trigger, or something knocked into it. Or, if he was twirling his pistols expertly in his fingers.

Since these guns could pretty much empty their 15 round clips in a short amount of time, that pretty much explained why Mr. Igami carried so many spare clips. He even had several pouches on his main belt that held another 8 clips. He was a walking bullet factory.

Now, let's get right into the story, and see what Shin is up to...

At IPI Okinawa headquarters...

Shin yawned. He was currently in briefing with his handler, a delightful old man named Wiess. He had been transferred from the German IPI database, from Cell #42 to become Shin's handler. A handler was basically a person who gave an IPI agent his orders and information while assigning them missions and overall, looking after their well-being. Wiess was over 50 years old, and had white hair, a moustache and a short beard, but always had a jolly sparkle in his faded brown eyes.

"Now, ve haff vurd zat zere is being strange occurances at a boarding skool in thees city," Wiess said in his heavy German accent. The holographic display showed several pictures of a huge building and data about it. "Eet is an all-girl's skool located out in ze country, away from ze city. Ze headmistress says zat several of her students haff dissapeared, and one has tried to kill herself too."

Shin raised an eyebrow. "Details about the attempted suicide?" he drawled.

Wiess brought up more images and information. It showed a young Japanese girl with short black hair to her chin, wearing a typical schoolgirl outfit that one would see in anime. It was mainly red, with a black skirt. Shin read the data in front of him. Apparently the 17-year old suffered from severe paranoia and hallucination out of the blue one day. She had to be restrained one day in class from nearly impaling her teacher with a pair of scissors during art class, and was screaming nonsensical things while doing it. The most that could be understood was the repeated, "Don't touch me! Stay away! Stay away you monster! Don't kill me!" She had been hospitalized, where the doctors had found some unknown chemical in her bloodstream. When they tried to examine it, all traces of it dissapeared, save for a mysterious compound, which was being analyzed at IPI Research. They ruled it out as drug-abuse. This girl had been the only one that exhibited strange behaviour, and might be the key to finding out about the missing girls, of which a total of 6 were gone. Pictures of each one came up. Apparently this high-class boarding school also had to be supermodel central, since there was nary an ugly girl attending it.

"Poor girl," Shin said. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yes," Wiess said with a nod. "Look at zis."

He pulled up a picture of the girl's left shoulder. On it, was what looked like two claw marks, each one about 2 inches long and wide and deep. Shin examined it deeply.

"Some sort of animal attack?" he wondered. Wiess nodded.

"Ve believe zat vatever attacked ze girl transmitted ze drug into her body via contact," his handler said. "It is a non-fatal wound that injects ze chemical straight into ze main arteries. So be careful ya?"

"Heh," Shin Igami said, getting up from his chair and giving his handler a confident smirk. "I'm not named Death God for no reason."

-----

Episode I: School of Suspicion

Inside the 10-story central building of the Lenaleen Academy for Gifted Young Women all the students and faculty were assembled in the main hall, where the headmistress had called assembly. The school's 400 gorgeous young female students (ranging from ages 13-19) were sitting primly in their seats, quietly awaiting for the headmistress' announcement.

The school's campus was made up of three main buildings: the central building (which housed the majority of classrooms, the main hall, cafeteria and teacher's offices), the left wing building (which housed the special classrooms for art, science, etc, the olympic swimming pool, library and gymnasium) and the dormitory building (where the 500 spacious rooms were located, as well as the senior clubhouse and most of the lavish bathroom facilities). Outside on the grounds were beautiful gardens, rivers, forests, a waterfall, a main fountain in front of the central building and tennis/sports arenas.

"May I have your attention please!" the headmistress called into the microphone, making every girl snap into attention. "Due to the mysterious dissapearances of 6 junior students, and the hospitalization of 1 senior student, the school board and government have decided to send us aid via the help of the International Paranormal Investigation."

Though there were no murmurs, many of the people in the hall were definitely curious about this announcement.

"Their agent is currently being escorted inside the central building, and will arrive shortly," the headmistress continued. "The agent will discover whether this is a paranormal event or not. If it is not something that IPI is interested in, then this school will treat it as a malicious prank by some guilty party, and will have the local police force bring an end to it. Now, top honor student Miss Relena Kensington from the Ichitar House would like to say a few words."

With that, the headmistress stepped aside to let a beautiful young woman with long blond hair and blue eyes step up to the stage. Since Lenaleen was a school for any gifted woman, many girls from all over the world attended it. Relena Kensington was the head of the Ichitar House, an exclusive sorority club for senior students. They had their own section in the dormatories, and even their own special charter which had been approved by the school. They were the top of the top, and everyone in the lower classes respected them mightily, in hopes to get into the fabled club house. The stunning blond beauty spoke into the microphone.

"What happened to my fellow students is abhorring," she said in a confident voice. "We of the Ichitar House have lost 6 of our younger sisters, and 1 of our own sisters to this cowardly attack in the night. Whatever denzien of the dark that is perpretrating this viscious attack and abduction will surely meet justice at the hands of either the IPI or the police!"

All the girls in the hall stood up and gave her a standing ovation, while she politely bowed in thanks, her cheeks slightly red from her passionate speech. Once the applause died down, they were aware of someone still clapping their hands. Relena turned around to see someone come out from behind the stage curtains.

"Well said, well said," the person said, coming into the light.

-----

"My name is Shin Igama," Shin said, placing his badge on the podium in front of Relena for her to see. "IPI agent, here as requested."

The headmistress came up and shook his hand, while the blond girl stared at him. "What, is there something on my face?" he asked.

"You're an IPI agent?" she asked somewhat incredulously. "Forgive my skepticism, but you hardly look out of high school..."

Shin waved her off. "Don't worry about it, I get that all the time," he said. "Besides, how would you know what makes an IPI agent?"

She flushed and didn't answer. Shin laughed.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "We're so secretive I don't even know myself sometimes!"

The girl gave him a half-smile half-frown.

He turned to the headmistress. "Headmistress, I'd like to speak to the students who saw the missing girls last," he said, getting down to business. "I know I already have the initial police reports, but I'd like a first-hand account of what they have to say."

"Of course," the headmistress agreed immediately. "I'll send the girls up whenever you're ready."

Shin nodded in thanks. "Right," he said. "My mobile HQ truck is parked outside in the parking lot, you can send them there, but make sure they have escorts. It's dark, afterall."

"We have two on-site police officers who would be more than happy to escort them," the headmistress said. "I'll convene the assembly and gather them up now."

"I'll be outside then," Shin said, walking to the edge of the stage. He looked around the sea of hopeful young faces.

"I promise you all, that I will get to the bottom of this and find the culprit, and save those six girls," he announced with conviction.

"Can you?" someone cried out in response.

"I never make a promise I can't keep," he replied, jumping off the stage. He landed, making his special holsters rotate so that the bottoms wouldn't hit the floor and walked briskly out the main doors, with many female eyes on him.

He walked the evening skies to his truck, which was located in the mostly empty parking lot. The students stayed here all year round, so there was no need for transportation. His truck itself was parked in the middle, and it took up nearly the entire length of the parking lot. It was a modified tractor trailer, with the cab unit heavily upgraded with armor plating and it featured six double-wheels to handle the load. The trailer itself was huge, being 70 feet long, 20 feet wide and 25 feet high. The cab and trailer were connected via a flexible tube in the middle, which allowed you to go back and forth. Inside the trailer were several computer systems, radar controls, sensors and other techo-jargon. There was also a small bedroom area, with 2 cots for when he needed to sleep on the road. Near the back was his weapons storage, which housed ammunition and bigger weapons if his pistols couldn't do the job.

Shin entered through the side door of the trailer and settled into the loveseat in the living room area. Oh yeah, it had a living room and kitchen as well. It had lots of room. He took out a PDA and set it on video/audio record before putting it down on the table. Some time later, a knock came at his door. Looking at the camera-computer, he saw a group of about 10 girls flanked by two police officers. He went to the door and let them in.

"Come in, come in - eh?" he said in surprise, seeing Relena Kensington. "I didn't see your name on the witness reports?"

She gave him a steely look. "I'm just here to make sure my fellow students are properly taken care of," she said snootily. She wiped the seat of the couch near her before sitting down on it. She looked around with a look of distaste. "Do you live here?"

"Only on Thursdays," Shin answered vaguely, gesturing the other girls to take seats. He waved at the officers. "Thanks, you can head back now."

After closing the door, and locking it, he turned around to face a sea of pretty faces. They ranged from quite young to near his age. He went to the wall on the opposite side and unlocked a folding chair from it's clamp. Unfolding it, he sat down and picked up his papers.

"Let's see... Seino Utsawa?" he asked, looking for a young Japanese girl with dyed purple hair. He spotted the 15 year old on the loveseat.

"Yes sir?" she asked timidly.

He shuddered. "Please, just Shin," he said. "Sir makes me feel old."

Sei giggled nervously, then clamped her mouth before looking fearfully at Relena. Shin gave the older girl a questioning look.

"At Lenaleen, we are taught to behave properly in company," Relena explained. "It's one of the mandatory classes, to make us more lady-like."

"Riiiight," Shin said, ruffling his papers. "Don't worry about it here, technically we're off school grounds. Now, Miss Utsawa, when did you last see Miss Rechelle Bose?"

Sieno took a moment to answer. "Last week, on Tuesday," she said. "I saw her right after swimming lessons, after my class was over. She was an avid swim buff, and would often stay behind to practice."

"And your class is the last in the evening, right?" Shin asked.

She nodded. "Yes," she confirmed. "Rechelle said she was going to do a few more laps before turning in. I told her not to stay out past 9PM curfew, and then left. That was the last I ever saw of her." She began to tear up.

"Mmm," Shin hummed. "And did she seem troubled, or act odd to you?"

Relena Kensignton rose out of her seat. "You could try to act less cold-hearted about it!" she said furiously, making the other girls edge away from her. "One of her friends is missing and all you have to say is 'hmm'?!"

"Precisely," Shin said, not bothering to look up from his papers to see her shocked face. "If I act all sentimental and foolish about every victim in my missions, then I can't perform them as well as if I stayed indifferent. I really am sorry about your losses, but in a position like mine, you're forced to set aside emotions for tact. I can't help to feel remorse for every victim in the world, can I? Now, please exercise said tact and sit down quietly Miss Kensington, or I'll remove you from my trailer."

Relena sat back down slowly, her face pale as she stared angrily at him.

"Miss Utsawa?" Shin prodded.

"Umm, she wasn't acting wierd at all," Seino said nervously, her eyes passing from Shin to Relena. "She was perfectly normal to me. However..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she recalled her memories. "I remember... seeing a cut on her shoulder," she finally said, piquing Shin's interest.

"On her left shoulder?" he asked carefully.

"I'm pretty sure, yes."

"Two cuts, about nay long and pretty deep and visible?" Shin pressed, holding his fingers out about two inches.

"Yes, that's exactly what it looked like!" Seino said excitedly.

"How do you know all of this?" Relena asked.

"I'd tell you if you were IPI," Shin answered, turning to Seino. "Thank you Miss Utsawa, you've been especially helpful. If you want, you may help yourself to some drink or snack over in the kitchen."

With a nod from Relena, Seino headed over to the kitchen, where she found some boiling tea in a large tea pot and some scones being warmed on an open-top oven. She carefully brought them over to the group.

"Ah, an even better idea," Shin said happily, smothering his scone with strawberry jam and biting into it.

He opened the next file. "Miss Victoria Claus?" he asked. A well-endowed 17 year old with brown curls raised her hand. "Now I'm not going to make you repeat yourself, however I'd like to know if your fellow student Kristina Wellington had the same wound on her left shoulder?"

Victoria hung her head. "I don't know," she said sadly. "She was still wearing her uniform the last time I saw her."

"I see, it's alright," Shin said reassuringly. He turned to the other girls. "Can any of you tell me if you saw those wounds on your friends?"

Three girls said they did, since they were all juniors who lived in the same dorm room with the missing students, and had pretty much seen them unclothed. The others either didn't know because of the school uniform, or couldn't remember.

Shin packed up his files and tossed them over to the computer station. Standing up, he rolled his neck, loosening the muscles and helped the closest girls up.

"Thank you for your assistance, you've been of great help tonight," he told them. Some of the younger ones grew red as he shook their hands. "With this one bit of information, I am now positive that this is not the work of a human. I'll escort you all back to your dormitories now, since it's nearly your curfew."

He led the group of 11 girls down the marble pathways of the main grounds to the dorm building. As they were walking quietly through the thick trees, Relena quickened her pace to walk beside Shin.

"I apologize for my actions earlier," she said softly. "It was uncalled for, and rude of me."

Shin glanced at her sideways. "Don't worry about it," he said casually. "You're worried about your fellow students, I understand. I'd be worried too if - get down!"

All the girls dropped to their knees as Shin's holsters opened up, sliding his pistols to his hands as he drew them. Relena looked to where he pointed them and thought she saw something moving in the darkness behind the trees. There was a faint rustling of brush, and then it was silent. Shin stood there menacingly, his long guns trained on the trees, sweeping left and right slowly as he scanned them for movement. Finally, he holstered his guns and Relena watched in fascination as they slid into their sheath-like devices and were swallowed up.

"Damn," Shin swore, helping her up as he kept an eye on the trees. "Thought I saw something. Must be getting paranoid."

Relena didn't know if she should tell him that she saw something too, but she kept her mouth shut as he quickly ushered them back to the dorm building. One by one, the girls were returned to their dorm with a strict warning to lock their windows and doors, before Shin was finally standing with Relena in front of her dorm door in the Ichitar House.

"Well..." Shin said as she unlocked her door. "Be careful."

"I will," she said, looking back at him. "Um. I think I saw something too. K-Keep an eye out? When you go back, okay?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, of course. Good night."

He walked away as Relena closed her door behind her with a sigh.

-----

"Two girls dissapeared from their dormitory sometime at night, discovered missing in the morning," Shin read as he sprawled out on his cot, reading files. "One girl missing after swimming in the pool after class, discovering following evening when she didn't return to her dormitory. One girl missing after a bathroom break during class, mid-morning. One girl missing after taking a walk in garden in the early morning, discovered missing when classes began. Last girl missing after going to gather materials for school project in art classroom. One girl discovered in the Ichitar House, badly wounded and delirious after a week of hallucinations and extreme paranoia."

He tossed the file away and groaned loudly. "I'm a freaking monster-hitman, not Sherlock Holmes!" he muttered to the ceiling. "After two stupid weeks I still can't find anything."

It had been two weeks indeed, and even after extensive patrolling of the areas where the girls had supposedly dissapeared, he had found nothing. Not even any clues or fingerprints or even freaking hair. Whatever was stealing the girls away, it was damn sneaky. It appeared that it didn't have a time preferance either, since the kidnappings occured between the hours of 5AM to 9PM. Perhaps it was just randomly taking any girl at the best opportunity?

Lately, the students of Lenaleen had been spooked. Apparently one of the junior students had seen a large, dark figure hovering outside her dorm window, and had freaked out accordingly. Shin had gotten to the scene quickly, but the spectre had since been long gone. The students were now travelling in packs, large groups that they hoped would deter the monstor from stealing away another one of their own. Shin had taken to patrolling the hallways of the dorm building after curfew, making sure that no student was out of their room and that the entire building was clear. It would take him all night to make sure the building was safe. The supposed-monster-kidnapper hadn't shown up during those times.

"Ahhh, I better find this bastard soon," Shin sighed as he walked the empty hallway of the 7th floor central building. All classes were in session and the students were safe for now. He cruised the hallway to the end, and then doubled back. "I'm gonna put ten hollowpoints into its head for causing me so much grief."

Suddenly, a scream came from a nearby classroom, and he bolted towards it, drawing his guns. He made to slam the door open, but it smashed into him, sending him flying back. He skidded across the floor before hitting the wall behind him 10 feet away.

"HEEEEEELP!"

Shin looked up to see a first year junior behind held in the clutches of a large cloaked being. It was completely covered in tattered rags that resembled a full-length cloak, and all Shin could see was a long, sinewey arm with a four-clawed hand gripping the girl tightly around the waist. Her uniform was torn to shreds from the claws, and her torso was all but bare, save for her bra, which was being held together by the girls' hands as she screamed in terror.

The monster started to run away from the scene, making girls who poked their heads out of their classrooms scream as it ran by. Shin got to his feet and raised his guns in a horizontal X, aiming for what he hoped to be the creature's legs. He fired.

The creature stumbled in mid-run, losing its grip on the grip, who sobbed and cried as she crawled away to the comforting arms of several seniors, who pulled her to safety. Shin broke into a run as the creature got back up, firing at it with precision, hitting it a few times in the back. It spun around and leapt at Shin, making him dodge to the left as he fired in mid-air. The creature managed to avoid being shot, and lashed out with its claws, slicing into Shin's forearm painfully.

"Argh, you asshole!" Shin yelled, firing into its chest area, making it fly back from the impact of the powerful rounds. His pistols clicked empty and Shin quickly thumbed the mag releases, ejected the spent clips. Bringing his pistol butts to his side, he slid them onto the clips that were on his side and pushed them back, feeding a new clip into each gun. Pushing down, he ejected the clips from the rail holder and pressed the slide release, reloading his gun in a span of 2 seconds.

The creature had gotten back up, using the wall to balance itself as its claws dug deeply into it. It spotted a nearby student and made to lunge at it, but Shin rapid fired around 10 shots, making it recoil back in pain. It made a deep snarling sound and lunged at Shin, slamming into the young man and driving both of them to the windowed wall, which overlooked the main garden. Shin slammed into the wall section beneath the window and kicked at the monster, forcing it to his side along the wall. He raised his guns to fire, but it moved too quickly and grabbed hold of a senior. It gripped her by her blond hair and her blue eyes widened in fear. It was Relena!

"Let her go you freak," Shin said dangerously, training his pistols on the creature's face. It gripped Relena by the hair tightly, making her cry out in pain.

"Mr. Igami, help!" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm not going to tell you again you monster-fuck," Shin snarled, twirling his guns and re-training them on the creature. "Let her go. NOW!"

The monster complied, and threw Relena by the hair towards Shin powerfully, before throwing itself out the window. Shin caught Relena in his arms, using her momentum to spin around and slow down her movement, setting her on the ground gently before smashing out the nearest window as well.

"That's a seven story fall!" Relena shouted in horror.

----

Twisting in his descent, Shin fired at the creature which as falling about 15 feet away from him on his right. He kept firing until his guns clicked empty around the 3rd floor, before spinning vertically and using his feet to push off the wall of the building, sending him soaring over the garden to the pond that was in the center some distance away. He landed painfully into the water, slamming beneath the surface as the creature hit the stone ground below it with a sickening splat. Forcing his way up the water, Shin pulled himself above water level and floated for a moment, before powerfully swimming to the shore, where he hoisted himself up.

Climbing out of the pond, he shook his head hard to rid it of water and quickly reloaded his guns with another sweep of hands to his sides. With a snap back of the slide, he headed towards the prone body of the creature. Keeping his guns trained on it, Shin reached the monster and nudged it with his foot. It rolled over in a flash and lashed out at him, but Shin was quicker and he leapt into the air, spiralling away as he rapid-fired, emptying his dual 15 round clips into the creature's head, killing it instantly. Shin landed some feet away softly and reloaded his guns again, dropping the spent clips to the ground.

Once again, he crept up to the monster's body carefully, before noticing that the main doors to the central building were opened, and many curious faces were watching him.

"Stay inside!" he yelled to the students and faculty. "I don't know if it's dead yet!"

The doors closed instantly, but he could see pretty faces pressed up against the glass windows. He rolled the body over with his foot and confirmed that the creature was indeed, dead. He holstered his guns and knelt down to the body, gripping the cloak. He threw it off.

The creature was indeed monstrous. It had a skeletal appearance, as if all the fat had been lost on the body, and only sinewey muscle and tightly drawn skin remained. It had a humanoid-appearance, but an elongated domed head, which reached back over its spine, giving it a hunchbacked appearance. The brain was clearly visible, having appeared to have burst out from the confines of its skull, and was covered in thick grey veins. Its mouth was long, shaped like a meat-eating dinosaur's maw and featured long, almost barbaric sharp teeth. The top half of the dome had been blown away by Shin's bullets, and most of it was a pulp of blood, gore, bone and brain matter. It was disgusting. A glint caught his eye.

Looking down at its neck, Shin saw a sort of collar that was bolted on. Grabbing it, Shin quickly removed the bolt and unhinged it, looking closely at it. Seeing something engraved at it, Shin read it before sighing loudly.

-----

"The IPI agent has destroyed the monster!" the headmistress cried joyously as Shin made his way back to the main doors. "Oh, this is wonderful!"

"Don't get your hopes up too high," Shin muttered, tossing the collar to the woman, who caught it in confusion. "Look what it says on the front."

"VII / XIII," the headmistress read. "What does that mean?"

Shin groaned, squeegeeing his wet clothes irritably. "That means that monster is seventh out of thirteen," he said to everyone's horror. "There are twelve more of those things out there."

-----

Relena let out a soft moan before opening her eyes. She saw white walls all around her. Sitting up, she saw that she was in the hospital wing, in bed. Her forehead had been bandaged, and it dully ached.

"Awake I see," a voice said, startling her. She looked to her right and saw Shin sitting there on a chair. "How you feeling?"

"Better," she said shyly, touching her forehead. It twinged painfully. "Ow."

"That thing nearly scalped you," Shin said with a worried look. "It's gonna hurt for a while."

"Great," Relena muttered, falling back onto the bed. "What are you doing here? Not that I mind or anything," she added quickly.

Shin laughed. He pointed to the bed on her left, where the small junior was resting. "You two are the only ones not in class, and therefore all alone in this hospital wing," he explained. "I'm making sure you're both safe."

Relena nodded. "Thank you," she said warmly. "Is she okay?" She gestured to the young girl.

Shin nodded and she let out a breath of relief. "She's got some minor injuries, like bruising around her waist and some lacerations from the creature's claws, but she'll be fine in a week or two," he said. "Both of you had to recieve some special antibiotics to kill the virus that you got however."

"Virus?!" Relena gasped.

"The creatures transmit some sort of hallucinogetic chemical virus through their claws, which enter the bloodstream through the wounds that they inflict," Shin said. "You would have gone mad like that other girl in the hospital."

"What about you?" Relena asked worriedly. "Didn't you get slashed as well?"

Shin grinned and held up his forearm, which was bandaged. "I was treated as well," he said sheepishly. "Damn thing stung for a while too."

Relena propped herself up on the bed. "So is it over now?" she asked excitedly. "You killed it, right?"

Shin shook his head sadly. "I killed one of them."

"One of them?" Relena asked in horror. "You mean... there's more!?"

"I think there's a total of 13, so 12 left," he answered. "And we still haven't found the missing girls yet."

Relena hugged a pillow to herself. "What if... what if they're dead?" she asked sorrowfully. "They were only kids, really! Most of them no older than 15!"

"Relena..."

"I'm an orphan you know," she said quietly, staring out the window. "My mother and father died when I was six. I didn't have any relatives, and they didn't have much left to me in their will. While I lived at the orphanage, I was picked on a lot because I was a gaijin."

"I'm sorry," Shin said. "I don't exactly have any family either. I don't even have a partner at work."

"Why not?" she asked curiously.

Shin laughed. "No one's compatible with me," he answered. "Anyways, I'm interrupting, please continue."

"It's okay," she shrugged. "In school I did my best, and always recieved top marks. I had always dreamed of becoming a police officer."

Shin raised an eyebrow. She laughed.

"I always had this huge sense of justice, well, you know all about that, don't you?" she asked with a smile.

Shin chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I do Miss Big Speeches and all."

Relena let out a beautiful laugh. "After I graduated top of my class, I recieved a scholarship to Lenaleen, which would allow me to skip middle and high school and instead take six years here, all paid. I was crazy not to take it."

"Same," Shin said with a smile. "This place is great, minus the girl-crazy monster kidnappers."

Relena let out a small laugh. "I agree with you about that aspect," she said. "I quickly became very popular with the seniors here, and was accepted into Ichitar House quickly because of my exceptional grades and abilities. I used to think being at the top was everything, and that I was better than the lowerclassmen. But now... it all seems wasted when those same lowerclassmen are being kidnapped and, oh Shin, what if they're dead?"

Shin placed his hand on her arm. "They're alive, I'll find them," he said with conviction. "And after I do... well, I'll send those monsters back to Hell, where they belong."

"Promise?"

"I swear it."

-----

"Hmm, this is really helpful," Shin murmured, holding the bio-sensor in his hands. The long device was shaped sort of like a metal detector, but instead of making beeps whenever it found something, this sensor projected a holographic image of whatever biological matter it was set to detect was found. Shin had scanned the dead creature's body and found a unique composition in its skin, which was also found in its footprints. He set about to backtrack the footprints at night, when everyone was sleeping and wouldn't be in the way.

"Let's see where the bread crumbs lead me," Shin continued, moving down the 7th floor hallway. His journey led him all the way downstairs, outside the building and then to the dormitory building. Once inside, he followed the footprints (which sometimes transferred onto the wall and ceiling, now that wasn't fun to follow) all the way to the Ichitar House entrance. "Well well well, isn't this interesting."

He went to open the massive oak doors, but they were locked. Not disturbed in the slightest, Shin took out his lockpick kit and placed the handle-shaped object into the keyhole. The lockpick scanned the inside of the lock with microlasers before using its intelligent computer AI to determine the best possible pin positions. Once completed, it formed the tip into that shape and Shin twisted it. The door unlocked. He opened it and went inside.

The Ichitar House was very impressive indeed, and looked very expensive too. As he silently made his way around, Shin made sure that all dorm room doors were locked before heading into what looked like a lounge. Expensive paintings and sculptings lined the walls and soft leather chairs decorated the floor, with coffee tables lying about. A bookshelf was placed near the fireplace. It looked like a very normal, cozy lounge. Shin activated the bio-sensor. It quickly found the trail of footprints and Shin started to follow it.

"What are you doing here?!"

He spun around, a pistol in his hand. He almost blew Relena's teeth out if she hadn't turned the lights on at the last moment, revealing her face.

"Relena, what the Hell?" Shin asked in annoyance, holstering his gun. "Why aren't you in bed?!"

"Why are you creeping around our lounge?" she shot back. Shin blinked she was acting increasingly hostile.

"I'm following a set of footprints the monster left behind," he explained. "They led into here."

"Nonsense!" Relena sputtered, marching up to him. "That's blasphemous. The Ichitar House would have nothing to do with these attacks! How dare you accuse us of this crime!"

"I'm not accusing you!" Shin defended himself. "I'm just - hey what's wrong with your eyes?"

Relena's eyes looked terribly bloodshot, and almost milky. "Relena? Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. He stepped up to her and placed a hand on her slender shoulder.

"I'm fine!" she said hotly, pushing him back. "Leave me alone you pervert!"

"Hey, since when am I a pervert?" Shin asked, affronted. She was looking more haggard now, and was swaying on her feet. "Relena? Relena!"

She passed out on her feet and Shin ran forward to catch her before she fell. She began to murmur anguishedly, in her delirium. Shin laid her out on the couch and used nearby napkins to wipe her heavily perspiring face. "Relena, what's happened to you?!"

"Stay away!" she begged in her delirium, pushing at Shin's chest. "Don't hurt me!"

"No," Shin gasped, his eyes wide. "We cured you! We cured you, I watched! Wait a minute..."

He pulled at her nightgown, fighting against her struggling and revealed her milky white left shoulder. As he expected, there were two claw marks there. "Shit! One of them is here!"

He jumped to his feet, drawing his guns in a flash and aiming them in all directions around him, protecting Relena as he did so. "Where are you, you girl-stealing bastard!" he shouted, looking around wildly. He then caught sight of the bio-sensor.

It was lying sideways on the ground, but it was right in front of the bookcase. The projected holographic screen showed a huge amount of footsteps coming out and going into the bookcase. In fact, there were so many it was nearly solid!

Shin gritted his teeth. "So that's where you monsters are coming from!" he said. He quickly fired two shots into the bookshelf. Instead of making a loud ringing noise as a bullet would when hitting stone wall behind it, it passed through the bookshelf and kept going. "Bingo!"

The gunshots had awakened the Ichitar House members, and shouts of panic could be heard through the oak doors. "In here!" Shin shouted loudly, keeping an eye out for monsters. "Miss Kensington is in here, someone come get her!"

The doors burst open and at least a dozen seniors ran in, a bunch more behind, watching fearfully. Shin nodded towards Relena's shaking form, his guns still sweeping the area.

"Be careful, she's just been attacked," he warned. "She might try to hit you. Hold onto her arms and get her out of here! If there's a fire alarm or something, activate it and get everyone out of here! The shit's gonna hit the fan!"

The girls nodded as they gently lifted their crazed head of house into their arms, and then ran out of the lounge. Shin closed the heavy oak doors behind them and had barred it shut just as a piercing alarm went off. "Good job girls," he said, before turning around. Raising each pistol to the bookcase, he squared his jaw.

"Time to end this kidnapping spree."

-----

As the seniors who carried Relena ran down outside the dorm building to the fire alarm's siren, Shin's voice suddenly blared on the loudspeakers.

"To the girls who have Relena, take her to my trailer!" he shouted. "Inside the steel refrigerator are several vials of blue liquid. They should be named 'Antibiotic Toxin'. Make her drink two of these immediately, it should stop her from going mad! Make sure everyone steers clear of the dormitory building and call the police and have them barricade it! I should be out - shit!"

Gunshots were heard and they all saw muzzle flashes through the lounge windows as the loudspeaker went dead. More gunshots were heard, but they were fainter as the muzzle flashes dimmed as well. It went quiet again, and then the fire alarm stopped.

"Come on, we have to get to the trailer!" one of the girls said desperatedly, fighting against Relena's squirming body.

-----

"Two down, eleven more to go," Shin said, wiping the blood from his forehead as he stepped over the smoking body of a monster. He was using less ammo now that he knew head shots would kill them a lot quicker, which was a good thing. He still had at least ten full reloads, but it was better to be safe. He entered the hole where the bookcase used to be, where the second monster had burst out of. It appeared to be a long, dark passageway, and he tread cautiously down it. It led to a spiral set of stairs at the end, which were thankfully lit up with torches. Making he way down slowly, Shin came into what looked like a generator room, where the building created its energy. The loud hum of diesel-powered engines filled his ears as he continued down the pathway.

After nearly half an hour of walking, he came into a sudden cavern, which was enormous. It was mostly empty space, with several wrecked generators lying about, but he saw something in the middle. Running up, he saw six large green balls of slime, which were pulsating. They looked like cocoons, and he could vaguely see something inside. Looking around himself, Shin saw seven more cocoons, but they were dry and opened, and they were empty.

"Could it be?" he wondered. Thirteen monsters, thirteen cocoons? Maybe some sort of sacrifice, or worse? What if they wanted to breed with the girls? Disgusting! Holstering his left gun, Shin slid his tanto combat knife out from his boot and stabbed its razor sharp tip into the cocoon he was in front of. It made a loud squelching noise as vile liquid poured out, and he moved out of its way. Cuting it down its length, Shin opened it up to reveal the naked body of a young girl, who looked to be in a panic fit. She coughed up green slime and began to cry.

"Hey! Hey!" Shin said, grabbing the girl by the waist and lifting her out of the cocoon's mess. "You okay? I'm an IPI agent, here to rescue you!"

"Oh God, keep it away," the girl sobbed, grabbing him tightly despite her nudity. "I don't want to be raped! I don't want to die!"

Shin wiped some gunk off her pale, cute face and smoothed her short hair. This was Irene Summers, a third year middleclassman. "Easy, easy," he said soothingly. "No one's getting messed with today!"

He set her down on the ground beside him and went to work on opening up the other cocoons. Once all six girls were safely out, he stood up, trying to ignore their wonderful bodies. He looked around. "Now, where are those things?" he muttered. Loud snarling caught his attention. "Shit, shouldn't have asked."

He looked to the girls, who all became paper-white. "Listen, stay by the cocoons and don't move!" he warned, drawing his guns. Dark figures streaked into the room and he raised his guns. "Shinigami... Let's send some creatures to Hell..."

-----

"Ugh, what happened?" Relena moaned, sitting up. "Where am I?"

"Relena, you're okay!" one of the seniors exclaimed in relief. She looked around and saw that she was inside Shin's trailer. "That medicine worked!"

"Where's Shin?" she demanded. The girls all looked at eachother nervously.

"He told everyone to get out, and that's the last time we saw him," another senior said shakily. "We saw lots of gunfire from the House, and I think he was fighting the monsters."

"Oh no, what if he's hurt?" Relena gasped, jumping out of the cot despite their protests.

"Relena, don't!" another girl said. "The police are here, and they've barricaded the area! We all have to stay out here! That's what Mr. Igami told us to do!"

Relena collapsed back onto the cot, and rolled onto her side. She gripped the pillow to her chest and bit her lip. Shin...

It was nearly half an hour later when they finally went outside to join everyone else. Relena was welcomed back wholeheartedly by the other students, and she smiled graciously and politely at them before bolting as close as she could to the perimeter line. There were scores of police patrolling the line, and even armed battle mechs standing there. These large robots looked like T-Rexes with lots of guns. They were probably just as big as well.

"Excuse me!" Relena called to an officer that came by. "Is the IPI agent okay?"

"We don't know miss," the officer said apologetically. "We haven't had word from him since the place was barricaded. You'd best try to stay calm."

He walked away and Relena slumped back dejectedly.

-----

"Damn, they keep coming!" Shin growled as he killed another monster, only to have another three converge where it fell, taking its place. He stood protectively in front of the cowering girls, firing shot after shot, and reloading as quickly as he could when he ran out. The monsters were working together as a team, moving quickly to avoid most of his bullets and vying to recapture the young girls. "Shit, I wish I brought some grenades with me."

He managed to blow another one's head off with two shots at once, and spotted one of the broken generators on the ground by a group of four monsters. It generator's fuel tank looked full. "Well, if he exists, God must be smiling down on me right now," Shin commented, taking aim at the tank. He fired and it exploded, ripping the creatures to shreds with shrapnel. Quickly shooting, Shin blew up all the other surrounding generators, blowing up the remaining monsters, but causing the cavern to rumble dangerously. The repeated explosions caused too much pressure underground, and was causing the cavern to cave in.

"Come on, it's time to leave this shithole!" Shin shouted, pulling all six girls to their feet. "Last one behind is crushed under a thousand tons of rock!"

He quickly pushed the girls ahead of him, forcing them to run quickly through the generator room as the ceiling began to collapse behind them. They reached the stairs just as a falling slab of rock crushed a generator, causing it to explode, and make the ceiling fall even faster. "Quick quick, up up!" he yelled.

They burst out into the lounge room, one pistol-wielding man with six naked teenagers and stopped to catch their breath. The floor trembled ominously.

"Oh no!" the girl named Rechelle cried. "Not again!"

"Here!" Shin shouted, tossing them a bunch of bathrobes that hung off the wall of the lounge entrance to the sauna. "We need to haul nice ass out of here!"

-----

Relena watched in horror as the entire dormitory building started to sink into the ground, bringing their possessions, their futures and the Ichitar House down with it. "Did he make it?" she whispered to herself. "Did he make it?"

"I don't see any survivors," a battle mech pilot announced on the speaker. "Shit, what a mess. This is gonna - wait!"

Relena's heart flared with hope. She pressed herself up against the barrier anxiously.

"Yes, I see it!" the pilot cried in victory. "One, two, three... Seven figures coming out of the rubble!"

Seven? Relena thought. Her face lit up. The kidnapped girls! He really saved them!

She could hardly restrain herself as the picture of Shin Igami and six bathrobed girls walked away from the collapsed building, covered in dust and soot. Shin looked extremely tired, as his pistols hung loosely in his fingers, but he had a satisfied smile on his face as he trailed behind the juniors. The girls themselves looked extremely overjoyed to see the sky and their peers again, and broke out into a run to meet them. The police let down the barricade, and everyone surged forward to envelop the kidnappees.

Shin hung back as the young girls were smothered by their peers and teachers, and let a smile come onto his face. Mission complete, zero fatalities, just how he liked it. He felt a warm body slide next to him and he was gripped in an embrace around his waist. He turned to see a mass of blond hair which tickled his nose.

"You kept your promise," she said quietly.

"I never make a promise I can't keep," he answered softly. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Are you going to leave?" she whispered.

"I suppose so."

"Stay until my graduation day?" she begged. "Please?"

He sighed and looked at her. "Relena..."

-----

The valedictorian smiled widely as she held up her diploma, tossing her grad hat into the air as dozens of others followed. Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for a single person, and it landed on a figure standing in the shadows at the back, unique holsters clearly giving him away. Her smile lit up her entire face as she bolted from the stage, and all the way to his arms.

"You came!" Relena shrieked happily, squeezing the life out of Shin.

"I promised I would, didn't I?" he moaned, unwrapping her arms. "You know, I never -"

"Make a promise you can't keep," she said with a smile. "I did it!" She waved her diploma happily.

"Yes you did," Shin said warmly, looking around her. "Every one of you did it."

He saw the six girls, who had recieved their acceptance to Lenaleen for next year, waving happily at him as he waved back. He saw another graduate, who had come back from the hospital after two weeks of medication hug her parents as she clutched her diploma in her hand. He saw many happy families with their daughters, and he looked down at Relena, who watched everything with a wistful smile.

"They're all so happy with their families," she said, her eyes slightly wet. "I don't really have anyone."

"Hey," Shin said, bumping her chin so she looked up at him. "You got me. Here."

He gave Relena a white envelope, which she looked at curiously. "Shin?"

"Open it."

She tore open the envelope and pulled the letter out, and began to read it. Her eyes began to get wider and wider as she finished it.

She looked up at him in shock. "Are you serious?" she asked hopefully. "Are you really serious? But I thought you said...?"

Shin smiled and pulled her closer to him, making her turn red in the cheeks. "I think we're compatible," he said.