SPOILER WARNINGS FOR READ OR DIE AND WITCH HUNTER ROBIN. Okay, not as serious as you think, but I'll end up giving away key parts ofboth series. So there.
Hmm...what to say about this fic...well, it's a bit of an AU/crossover, as it incorporates elements of Witch Hunter Robin in it (namely, the organization). However, I haven't actually seen the animé, so I'm stealing only the idea of STN-J, the organization. None of the characters, except for Michael, are referred to in this story.
The plot? How Yomiko became an agent of the British Library. It's certainly NOT the way she did get in, but I thought that it wouldbe fun to write this. Consider it another 'what if' scenario.
Oh, right, if you don't know what's Read or Die, you're going to be confused, duh. I also keep Yomiko's Japanese-isms because they're part of her character,to me. Normally, though, I wouldn't encourage random 'ano's thrown around if the character's written in English.
More author's notes are at the bottom of the second chapter.
Chapter 1: Learn to Swim by Jumping in the Deep End
"Target located."
The purple-haired librarian looked very unassuming, especially in the very quiet library. Her hair was done up in a loose bun and on her face were silver half-moon glasses. She wore a black vest under a dark wine-coloured blazer and a dull grey skirt, dark hose and matching shoes. For jewellery she wore elegant green earrings, which matched the green and gold clip holding up her hair.
Her target was an equally-unassuming man. A long black coat hid his clothes, save for grey slacks and black shoes. He had dull brown hair and eyes. Under his coat she could see the outline of a gun, its make she couldn't discern, and around his neck was a strange pendant. She had only caught a glimpse of it, but it appeared to be a thick vial in the shape of a rough cross, filled with an alien green liquid. The target turned in the woman's direction, but she quickly vanished before he could get a good look at her.
"Good work, Miss Deep. Try to keep track of him."
"I'm on it."
Heavy footsteps sounded at the end of the aisle, and the target appeared. He narrowed his eyes at Miss Deep, then continued down past the shelves of books, into the shadowed corners. The woman checked her own weapon, patting it reassuringly before trailing the man.
It was like he was leading some dance of the spies. Miss Deep made sure that she wasn't seen, but they both knew what was going on. They waltzed through dusty encyclopaedias, fox-trotted around reserves, stepped in circles around the reading area and skipped through the periodicals.
The mysterious dance ended when the man entered the storeroom, marked with a clear "EMPLOYEES ONLY" sign, and locked it with a click. A frustrated Miss Deep stood outside, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
"He's gone into a storeroom," she reported.
"Follow him, don't lose sight of him," a man in a British accent answered in her earpiece.
Miss Deep glanced around, then passed through the wall. She plunged from dim light to musty darkness, and way forced to muffle a sneeze from the dust brought up by her entry.
The spy checked her surroundings. No lights were on, but the storeroom looked like it hadn't been used for a long time. Boxes of old books lay around haphazardly, likely unsold stock the library had been unable to use or get rid of. The room could have been considered spacious, if it hadn't been cluttered up with all this junk.
A gunshot sounded, grazing Miss Deep's shoulder and smashing into the far wall. It exploded on impact, and a green fluid splattered around the hole.
The woman was unfazed. She looked at her shoulder, where a gold sparkle was just vanishing. She calmly removed her own gun and attached a scope and silencer to it as several more bullets passed through her.
"Michael, they're going right through her!" the man's panicked voice yelled. "The orbo isn't doing anything at all!"
Miss Deep's gun clicked as she loaded her clip. Swiftly she brought up her weapon to the voice's origin, revealing a terrified man. He bolted when she fired and missed. The woman frowned, then gave chase by passing through a bookshelf.
She met the wrong end of a gun at the other side.
"Die," grinned the man, and he fired.
Miss Deep frowned, then looked down at her chest. Right where her heart was, there were bright gold sparkles instead of blood and a hole.
She smirked. "You're going to have to do better than that," she said, then brought her elbow into his stomach. The man crumpled with a moan, and with a few more blows he was disarmed and in some serious pain.
Miss Deep calmly pointed her gun at the man's face. Her scope illuminated his face. He's a decent opponent, she decided, but that's as much credit as I'm willing to give him.
"Witch," the man gasped. He fumbled for the pendant, but Miss Deep slammed her heel into his shoulder. He yelled in pain; however, he was quickly silence by the scope light in his face and the foot on his chest.
"Start talking," Miss Deep hissed. Naturally he didn't, so she shot him in the foot. Before he could give a prolonged scream she added, "I am going to put you through a world of pain if you don't say anything."
"What do you want?" the man gasped.
"Who do you work for?" she demanded.
The man grimaced, but all his captor had to do was cock her gun and he was talking. "STN-J. We...catch witches."
"What's a witch?"
"YOU! Freaks of nature, people with paranormal activities - " He abruptly cut himself off, listening hard.
The woman's eyes narrowed, then she shot at his head. Instantly the earpiece he wore was destroyed, and in one smooth motion she flicked it out of his ear.
"Keep talking. What's this green stuff?" When he didn't answer she calmly shot him in the other foot. "Well?"
"Orbo," the man gasped, now lamed. "We don't...it stops the Witches' powers...don't know why it doesn't work..."
Miss Deep swept down and relieved him of his pendant. She examined the object before depositing it into her pocket. "Where do you get it from?"
"Don't know, the Factory makes it, sends it to us."
"What's the Factory?"
"Place where we...send the Witches..."
Miss Deep pursed her lips. She had enough information to work with, and the man was going to be useless if she didn't do anything.
"I'll leave you here for your friends to find," she finally said, lifting her gun. She stepped off of his chest and went to retrieve his gun, but the man lunged at her leg, hoping to stop her.
The woman watched impassively as his hand passed through her leg in a flare of white and gold, then raised her gun at the man.
"Don't you know it's not proper to touch a lady like that?" she asked before firing.
"Remus is dead, sir."
"Damnit. We need another replacement. Send it out to STN headquarters."
""Of course sir. But about our target...this 'Miss Deep', we believe that she's employed by another organization."
"We can't do anything about her. Orbo doesn't affect her, and her ability...if only we could neutralize it...No matter. We'll leave her for now - she isn't causing any damage or disturbances, and no one seems really aware of her.
"However, this woman...recently revealed an unusual trait. Someone tried to rob her, but she attacked him with a few postcards and fled."
"She looks pretty stupid, harmless...should we bother?"
"She could kill the next time. We don't know the extent of her powers, so we take her down. Now."
"Yes sir. We'll get this Yomiko Readman."
"Another Paper Master? Are you sure?"
"She's their next target. She showed a display of her abilities when a man attempted to rob her."
"How many men are we taking?"
"We're not going to capture her! We are going to persuade her - out of her own free will - to join the British Library and become a Paper Master."
"But we already have - "
There was a brief silence, then a sigh.
"There is a reason why we must find her. I believe that because of her display of power, her life may now be in danger. Besides, this girl will be quite powerful, I can see it. Untrained and she can manipulate paper so easily! Even our resident one didn't show that potential."
""Of course, Mr. Gentleman." We'll send The Paper to speak to her."
Re-uploaded for continuity errors and spelling.
Original start date: Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Hmm...what to say about this fic...well, it's a bit of an AU/crossover, as it incorporates elements of Witch Hunter Robin in it (namely, the organization). However, I haven't actually seen the animé, so I'm stealing only the idea of STN-J, the organization. None of the characters, except for Michael, are referred to in this story.
The plot? How Yomiko became an agent of the British Library. It's certainly NOT the way she did get in, but I thought that it wouldbe fun to write this. Consider it another 'what if' scenario.
Oh, right, if you don't know what's Read or Die, you're going to be confused, duh. I also keep Yomiko's Japanese-isms because they're part of her character,to me. Normally, though, I wouldn't encourage random 'ano's thrown around if the character's written in English.
More author's notes are at the bottom of the second chapter.
Chapter 1: Learn to Swim by Jumping in the Deep End
"Target located."
The purple-haired librarian looked very unassuming, especially in the very quiet library. Her hair was done up in a loose bun and on her face were silver half-moon glasses. She wore a black vest under a dark wine-coloured blazer and a dull grey skirt, dark hose and matching shoes. For jewellery she wore elegant green earrings, which matched the green and gold clip holding up her hair.
Her target was an equally-unassuming man. A long black coat hid his clothes, save for grey slacks and black shoes. He had dull brown hair and eyes. Under his coat she could see the outline of a gun, its make she couldn't discern, and around his neck was a strange pendant. She had only caught a glimpse of it, but it appeared to be a thick vial in the shape of a rough cross, filled with an alien green liquid. The target turned in the woman's direction, but she quickly vanished before he could get a good look at her.
"Good work, Miss Deep. Try to keep track of him."
"I'm on it."
Heavy footsteps sounded at the end of the aisle, and the target appeared. He narrowed his eyes at Miss Deep, then continued down past the shelves of books, into the shadowed corners. The woman checked her own weapon, patting it reassuringly before trailing the man.
It was like he was leading some dance of the spies. Miss Deep made sure that she wasn't seen, but they both knew what was going on. They waltzed through dusty encyclopaedias, fox-trotted around reserves, stepped in circles around the reading area and skipped through the periodicals.
The mysterious dance ended when the man entered the storeroom, marked with a clear "EMPLOYEES ONLY" sign, and locked it with a click. A frustrated Miss Deep stood outside, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
"He's gone into a storeroom," she reported.
"Follow him, don't lose sight of him," a man in a British accent answered in her earpiece.
Miss Deep glanced around, then passed through the wall. She plunged from dim light to musty darkness, and way forced to muffle a sneeze from the dust brought up by her entry.
The spy checked her surroundings. No lights were on, but the storeroom looked like it hadn't been used for a long time. Boxes of old books lay around haphazardly, likely unsold stock the library had been unable to use or get rid of. The room could have been considered spacious, if it hadn't been cluttered up with all this junk.
A gunshot sounded, grazing Miss Deep's shoulder and smashing into the far wall. It exploded on impact, and a green fluid splattered around the hole.
The woman was unfazed. She looked at her shoulder, where a gold sparkle was just vanishing. She calmly removed her own gun and attached a scope and silencer to it as several more bullets passed through her.
"Michael, they're going right through her!" the man's panicked voice yelled. "The orbo isn't doing anything at all!"
Miss Deep's gun clicked as she loaded her clip. Swiftly she brought up her weapon to the voice's origin, revealing a terrified man. He bolted when she fired and missed. The woman frowned, then gave chase by passing through a bookshelf.
She met the wrong end of a gun at the other side.
"Die," grinned the man, and he fired.
Miss Deep frowned, then looked down at her chest. Right where her heart was, there were bright gold sparkles instead of blood and a hole.
She smirked. "You're going to have to do better than that," she said, then brought her elbow into his stomach. The man crumpled with a moan, and with a few more blows he was disarmed and in some serious pain.
Miss Deep calmly pointed her gun at the man's face. Her scope illuminated his face. He's a decent opponent, she decided, but that's as much credit as I'm willing to give him.
"Witch," the man gasped. He fumbled for the pendant, but Miss Deep slammed her heel into his shoulder. He yelled in pain; however, he was quickly silence by the scope light in his face and the foot on his chest.
"Start talking," Miss Deep hissed. Naturally he didn't, so she shot him in the foot. Before he could give a prolonged scream she added, "I am going to put you through a world of pain if you don't say anything."
"What do you want?" the man gasped.
"Who do you work for?" she demanded.
The man grimaced, but all his captor had to do was cock her gun and he was talking. "STN-J. We...catch witches."
"What's a witch?"
"YOU! Freaks of nature, people with paranormal activities - " He abruptly cut himself off, listening hard.
The woman's eyes narrowed, then she shot at his head. Instantly the earpiece he wore was destroyed, and in one smooth motion she flicked it out of his ear.
"Keep talking. What's this green stuff?" When he didn't answer she calmly shot him in the other foot. "Well?"
"Orbo," the man gasped, now lamed. "We don't...it stops the Witches' powers...don't know why it doesn't work..."
Miss Deep swept down and relieved him of his pendant. She examined the object before depositing it into her pocket. "Where do you get it from?"
"Don't know, the Factory makes it, sends it to us."
"What's the Factory?"
"Place where we...send the Witches..."
Miss Deep pursed her lips. She had enough information to work with, and the man was going to be useless if she didn't do anything.
"I'll leave you here for your friends to find," she finally said, lifting her gun. She stepped off of his chest and went to retrieve his gun, but the man lunged at her leg, hoping to stop her.
The woman watched impassively as his hand passed through her leg in a flare of white and gold, then raised her gun at the man.
"Don't you know it's not proper to touch a lady like that?" she asked before firing.
"Remus is dead, sir."
"Damnit. We need another replacement. Send it out to STN headquarters."
""Of course sir. But about our target...this 'Miss Deep', we believe that she's employed by another organization."
"We can't do anything about her. Orbo doesn't affect her, and her ability...if only we could neutralize it...No matter. We'll leave her for now - she isn't causing any damage or disturbances, and no one seems really aware of her.
"However, this woman...recently revealed an unusual trait. Someone tried to rob her, but she attacked him with a few postcards and fled."
"She looks pretty stupid, harmless...should we bother?"
"She could kill the next time. We don't know the extent of her powers, so we take her down. Now."
"Yes sir. We'll get this Yomiko Readman."
"Another Paper Master? Are you sure?"
"She's their next target. She showed a display of her abilities when a man attempted to rob her."
"How many men are we taking?"
"We're not going to capture her! We are going to persuade her - out of her own free will - to join the British Library and become a Paper Master."
"But we already have - "
There was a brief silence, then a sigh.
"There is a reason why we must find her. I believe that because of her display of power, her life may now be in danger. Besides, this girl will be quite powerful, I can see it. Untrained and she can manipulate paper so easily! Even our resident one didn't show that potential."
""Of course, Mr. Gentleman." We'll send The Paper to speak to her."
Re-uploaded for continuity errors and spelling.
Original start date: Tuesday, January 20, 2004