Chapter 1: Hounds and Shepherds
The inspector ran down the alleyway, Dominator on hand and ready to be put to use if needed. His breath came in short bursts and his shoes clicked on the pavement rhythmically. Ginoza clicked the broadcast communication on the mechanism wrapped around his wrist. "Hound 4, where the hell did you run off to?! Sasayama! Report!" He turned off the broadcast with a tap of his finger. "Damn it!" He jaunted down another alley, the other inspector close on his heels.
Kougami caught the other man's attention. "Don't you think it's weird that he just hauled ass?" He panted, glancing at Ginoza.
The raven-haired man hesitated before answering, "There are two possibilities…" He turned a corner and continued down the main alley. "One, he found the suspect. Two, he decided to run." The taller inspector stared straight ahead, eyes focused. "I would like to hope that it wasn't the second option...Let's go!"
He sped up considerably and tried to contact the enforcer again, shocked when it connected. He came to an abrupt halt, Kougami almost crashing into his back.
"Enforcer Sasayama. Where are you? Have you located the suspect?"
"Inspector, I've located him, but I-I can't shoot him. The trigger's locked!"
The comm. device flashed, and the map to the enforcer opened automatically.
"Stall him as long as you can! Don't let him get away!"
Ginoza closed the call and turned left down a street. Damn it all to hell for not knowing this sooner… He thought. The man turned to Kougami.
"Split up, If we surround him, there's no chance he can escape. Go." Kougami nodded and ran down the opposite alley. "Don't do anything stupid...Kou." He said quietly before making one last turn. He stopped in his tracks, aiming his gun towards the man that stood in front of him.
"Suspect's psycho pass: 47.6. Not a target for enforcement, the trigger is now locked." the Dominator chimed.
'What...What the hell?' He checked it again, this time pointing it at the hostage girl.
" Suspect's psycho pass 117.7. Is a target for enforcement. Take aim carefully and disable the target."
He stayed put, gun still raised, not following protocol and shooting the girl. The suspect didn't know that his Dominator wouldn't shoot him. "This is the MWPSB. You are under arrest. Put your weapon down and put your hands in the air. We are entitled to use force if necessary." He demanded, dark eyes darting to the side. Kougami stood on the opposite side of the man, and Sasayama on another, the three of them successfully boxing him in.
The man smirked, raising his hands. "You got me…" he slurred, obviously insane with bloody glee.
Ginoza cautiously stepped forward, reaching one hand to his belt and pulling off a pair of handcuffs. The culprit laughed maniacally, and opened his hand, an incendiary grenade falling from his palm. The next thing Ginoza knew he was tackled to the ground by Kougami, the fire rising up only a few feet away from them.
"SHIT." Kougami stood up, pulling the other up with him. Sasayama aimed his Dominator at the man.
"You can't stop him...No one can. It's, It's too late!" The man laughed again, pushing the girl away to the side. She fell, scrambling to the wall of the alley.
A few seconds later, the fire blazed next to him and he jumped onto it, still laughing, but the sound quickly turned to screams.
Ginoza fell to his knees, confused and frustrated, and dropped his Dominator. He stared at the flames, the light dancing over his face and casting dark shadows on it. The inspector flinched instinctively as Kougami squeezed his shoulder.
"I don't understand...Why didn't the Dominators work? It-It shouldn't be possible… The Sibyl System is never wrong…" The green-eyed man took a deep breath and stood, picking up the weapon and turning his back to the flames.
"Let's go...There's nothing left here." He glanced back for a moment before walking back the way he came, the inspector, enforcer and hostage following behind him, away from the remains of the culprit.
The alarm on the side table went off, waking the man in the room. He reached towards the screen hovering above the tabletop, and fumbled for the button. The infernal beeping continued, and he finally located the setting, forcing the sound to cease.
The senior inspector, Nobuchika Ginoza, turned onto his side, groggily staring at the window across the room. His eyes darted across the frame, the images playing through his head still vivid. The question of Why..? made itself clear, and he sighed.
All of those thoughts were quickly interrupted by the comm. unit on his wrist. The call forced his attention to answering the call, pushing all recollection of the dream from the forefront of his mind. He put his glasses on, and tapped the metal bracelet, answering the call.
"Ginoza...What is it?" He interrogated, slightly annoyed that he was being called in as soon as he woke up. A reply came a moment later.
"We've discovered a suspect who we believe to be involved with the series of kidnappings that have been taking place. We need you to come in right away."
"Alright...I'll be there as soon as I can." He tapped out of the connection and sat on the side of the mattress, running his hand through his hair. Ginoza stood, and donned his regular attire, quickly grabbing a coffee and stepping out of the door to his house.
Upon his arrival at HQ, the system alerted the employees that he had arrived, and he made his way to the main lab. As soon as he walked through the doors, he started demanding answers from his subordinates.
"What's going on? Who is this guy..? I need all the information you can pull on him. We're not letting him slip away from us." He leaned on the back of Karanomori's chair. "What do you have?"
She turned to another screen, pulling the stats of the criminal up for the other to see. "Sousuke Mikoshiba. He's a retired professor from the university in Shinjuku. From the records on the database, this isn't the first time he's been flagged for this. The first time, he went to the rehabilitation facility, returning from it within a year due to his so-called 'recovery'." She paused, flipping to a different document.
"Personally, I think it's bullshit." She took a drag on her cigarette. "He's managed to kidnap a woman in her 20's, and is now hiding out in a shopping district. The entire vicinity has been evacuated, and he's caged in. All we have to do is save the hostage girl, and subdue him." She turned in her chair and put out her cigarette.
"Better get going, Inspector. We don't want this one getting away. Good luck" She grinned, then turned her chair back around as Ginoza walked out the door.
When the inspector arrived at the scene, another stopped him, telling him that there would be a few new enforcers with them from then on. He paced impatiently, checking with the other inspectors and getting as much information as he could on the suspect.
"Well? When are they getting here? I want to wrap this up as quickly as possible." Ginoza slipped on his jacket, and crossed his arms, awaiting the paddy-wagon.
Just when he was about to take a group in with him to capture the man, the vehicle pulled into the district, stopping a few feet away from the MWPSB members. As each enforcer filed out of the van, they armed themselves with a Dominator and stood in a line in front of Ginoza. Another inspector started introducing the new enforcers. He went down the line, and quickly reached the last man standing there.
"And this one here, is-" He was cut off by the senior inspector.
"Shinya Kougami…" The dark-haired man stared at the enforcer, eyes cold and face expressionless. He directed his next statement to Kougami.
"It's been a while…Don't fall behind...If you do, there will be no one there to help you…" He turned his back to the enforcers. "...Masuoka, Yayoi, you're with Shepard 4, the rest of you, come with me. We'll surround him, or drive him out. Capture him at any cost and do not allow the hostage to be killed." He started toward the buildings, avoiding any further contact with the latest 'addition' to his hounds.
'Of all places and times to come back...It had to be here. You had to follow me...Just like a dog. Your loyalty is your greatest flaw Kougami, as well as your strength...even when you've betrayed the one who holds the leash.'
Ginoza wasted no time, immediately formulating a plan and splitting up with the other squad. He rushed through the buildings, quickly locating the correct one and stopping in front of the door with the two enforcers. He pressed his shoulder on the wall next to it and sent the other group a message alerting them that they were at the main door. He turned to the two men with him.
"The plan is to run him out, bringing him out in the open. There's another squad waiting to ambush him on each side of the building. Our job is to-."
"We're supposed to capture or kill latent criminals and put them up to justice…what good will it do if we just make him run? It'll make the situation worse." Kougami hissed, leaving Kagari in shock from his outburst.
The head inspector's face hardened and he took a step towards the Hound. "Whether you like it or not, the chief gave us that order. We're going to follow it, or you'll be put up to justice yourself for insubordination. Understood?" He waited for the other to answer.
A reluctant reply of "Yes sir" came from the enforcer, and Ginoza turned, facing the door once again and cursing under his breath. He took a breath, and silently opened the door. He checked both sides of the entry-way, and stepped aside, ushering the other two inside. They started up the stairs, climbing up to the third floor where the suspect was. The inspector stopped outside the door to the first room, and signaled Kagari to go to the other side of it.
Once the three of them were in position, he whirled around the doorframe, and aimed his gun at the criminal. Sibyl droned in his ear, flashing the scan in front of him. "This is the MWPSB. Let the girl go, and surrender." Kagari snapped, his gun also pointed at the man across from them.
He laughed, shaking the girl in front of him. "I've always wanted to do this…" He stared at them, eyes wild, and held on tighter to the hostage, her voice shaking as she cried and struggled to move. Before any of the Public Safety Bureau could take another step, the culprit jumped through a hidden hole in the floor and crashed to the second floor.
"You two, split up! Kagari take the shortcut, Kougami with me. Make sure that he gets out of the building and into the streets. If he gets away it will put a red mark on Division 1's reputation. Don't let that happen!" Ginoza ordered. He jumped out of the door, and ran down the stairs two at a time.
On the first floor, he caught a glimpse of the suspect, about 40 feet in front of him. 'There you are.' He sped up a little, and shot the Dominator at the wall next to the man, ensuring he got out the door where the others were waiting. It didn't work the way he thought, as the kidnapper was about to run out, he turned, raising an old revolver and fired it.
Blood rushed down Ginoza's side, soaking his suit and he twisted awkwardly, resulting in a strangled groan. He shot once more, missing by a hair's breadth, and fell to his knee. Kougami ran past him and out the door and he stared dazedly towards it, watching as the suspect was brought to the ground by Division 2. Ginoza was aware of the two inspectors talking to him and dragging him off the ground, but the last thing in his mind before he let the blanket of unconsciousness cover him was the look in Kougami's eyes when he challenged the inspector.