On Friday morning, Oliver sat in his office staring at the clock. It was 10:30 and he was wondering if he was right to be worried that Mai and Madoka had not appeared yet. A knock on his office door broke through his thoughts.
"Come in." He said and Lin entered. He looked concerned.
"Madoka is not answering her phone." He said. "Neither is Mai."
"Have you tried her home phone?" Oliver asked, keeping his face blank.
"I have tried all possible phones several times." Lin said hurriedly.
"They are probably just asleep. Or their mobiles are on silent, or out of battery." Oliver reasoned.
"And the home phone?" Lin asked, raising an eyebrow. "I can't send my shiki to check on them, Mai's apartment is too far away."
"If they haven't contacted us by noon, we can go and investigate." Oliver said finally.
"You want to wait another hour and a half?"
"They are probably asleep Lin." Oliver rolled his eyes. "No doubt they did not get back until late."
"Monk texted just before 3am after putting them in a cab." Lin said. "But Madoka never texted saying she got back to Mai's and she promised she would."
"Why did you not tell me this before?" Oliver asked impatiently. That small piece of information changed everything. He stood up, grabbed his jacket and keys and led Lin out of the office.
They took Oliver's car and drove in silence to Mai's flat. Parking haphazardly outside the apartment block, Oliver and Lin rushed out of the car and started hitting the little button next to Mai's name on the panel by the front door.
There was no answer.
"Do you think we can get the building manager to let us in?" Lin asked.
Oliver ignored him, but placed his hand by the lock and used a small amount of PK to pick the lock. He pushed the door open and disregarded Lin's curses.
"If they are in trouble, I do not need you feinting." Lin muttered as they ran up the stairs. Oliver hammered on Mai's front door, but it fell open.
"It wasn't locked?" Lin followed Oliver inside. Nothing looked out of place. But an uneasy feeling was rising in Oliver's chest. "The bedroom?"
The two men barged into the small bedroom to find it empty.
"Where are they?" Lin asked the room at large. But two piles on the bed had caught Oliver's eye.
"What were they wearing last night?" He asked, looking at the neatly folded clothes. Lin followed his line of sight and recognised Madoka's outfit from the night before.
"That's her costume." He said pointing to the pile on the right. "What's that?" He pointed to a small piece of paper between the two piles of clothes.
Touch these.
It was written in English in a neat script.
"Someone wants me to perform psychometry on them." Oliver said unfeelingly. "And that someone has the girls."
He moved around and sat on the bed, then touched a hand to an item in Mai's pile. Oliver felt his real body fall back and then a new sensation overcame him.
Water was being sprayed in his face, though he had no control of this new body, it shook its head and whined. His eyes opened and took in the dank surroundings. Everything was an off-white colour and cold. His body shivered.
"Hello Oliver." Yoneda-san's voice said from somewhere behind him. He realised he was strung up by his wrists and that he couldn't twist to see her. "I wonder whose pile you touched. Are you in Mai's body?" He felt a jab to his back. "Or Madoka's?" A squeal to his left brought his attention to a scantily clad Madoka, who was also hung up by her wrists.
"Why are you doing this?" Mai's voice escaped his lips. His head looked down at his trembling body, which was wearing nothing but underwear. He could feel her confusion.
"I bet it was Mai's pile. Your feelings for her were written all over your face and yet the dumb idiot never realised." Yoneda-san walked around to face to the two women.
"Why are you doing this?" Madoka asked in English. His head turned to look at her and he felt his face screw up into a questioning look.
"The people who hired me want you to know why I am doing this. Several years ago, you refused to help several families find their lost ones. They banded together and hired me to destroy you slowly. I'll admit it's been a slightly different experience from the usual sniper shot assassinations, but the pay is good." She smiled cruelly. "In case you hadn't guessed. I am not your mother." She pulled off the wig and picked off the latex that had moulded it to her forehead so convincingly. Her real hair was a dull brown and shoulder length. "Just over four years ago, I ran over a young man in a red car, took his body to a local mechanics, wrapped it up in yellow polystyrene and then dumped it in a lake. And now I am going to leave these two women to freeze to death. I know how frustrated you were at the decomposition of your dear brother. I thought I'd leave these two perfectly preserved for you. I wonder, will you cut Mai's head open to inspect her brain?" The assassin laughed again. "Yes, I know about her abilities. And I have these wonderful charms that supress them. No astral projecting for poor little Mai." She waved some small wooden plaques in front of the women's eyes. "Now for the fun to begin Oliver, these two won't be the end. I will come after Lin next and then you. Or maybe I'll visit England first…" She trailed off, the glee evident in her voice.
"Madoka? What's she saying?" Mai's voice said from his mouth. Madoka obviously ignored her though.
"Don't you dare touch the Professor! Or Luella!" Madoka screamed, wriggling and causing the chains holding her to tinkle.
"As if you could stop me! You'll be dead soon." The assassin said in a bored voice. "Listen carefully. These two are located half an hour south of the city, in an old meat factory by the railway. Bottom floor, east wing refrigerator. Any last words you two want him to hear?" She finished in Japanese for Mai's benefit.
"I'm sorry Oliver!" Madoka said to the room at large. Yoneda-san put a charm over Madoka's head and she disappeared from Oliver's sight.
"And you Mai? What do you want to tell him?"
"I will fucking haunt you until the day you die!" Mai yelled and squirmed in her chains.
"Feisty little beast. I bet you would have been fun to torture." She turned the temperature dial down and then moved closer to Mai. "See you soon Oliver!" He saw her place the charm over Mai's head and then everything went black.
He opened his eyes and found himself back in Mai's apartment. His breathing heavy, he tried to stand.
"Oliver, slow down! You will only feint if you push yourself." Lin said, pushing him back onto the bed.
"Get me to the car now, we have to go now!" Oliver shouted. Lin took one look at the fear across Oliver's face and then turned picked him up in an awkward fireman's lift. "You will have to drive, I will explain on the way."
"Where are we going?" Lin said, hurrying down the stairs.
"She has Mai and Madoka, they are in an industrial refrigerator and if we don't get there…" He couldn't finish the sentence.
Lin set him down by the car and he climbed clumsily in, still feeling weak. He forced himself to pull out his smart phone and started searching for the location described by that woman.
"Head south." He ordered as Lin started up the car. "I will find the precise location."
It took him 15 minutes to find the factory, he set his phone to give direction to Lin and then used Lin's phone to call an ambulance to the location.
"We have to get there faster." Oliver said impatiently as he hung up on the emergency services. "They've been there so long!"
Lin responded by pressing his foot down on the accelerator. He ran two red lights and ignored the angry horns of the other road users. Oliver had recovered from using his power long before they arrived and was having a hard time controlling his emotions. Mai couldn't die.
He remembered how cold she had felt, how numb her feet had been and how sore her wrists had felt.
And Madoka, Madoka couldn't die either. He couldn't lose his mentor and his… assistant in one go. Pain was wracking through his chest at the thought. This one woman had been the cause of so much pain.
Oliver gave a more detailed account of what he had seen to Lin.
"That's why she wore gloves." He said once finished. "To prevent leaving fingerprints."
They arrived five minutes later. Oliver tore out of the car, Lin hot on his heels, and he stormed into the building. He followed the instructions that Yoneda-san had given him and found a row of refrigerators.
"Open them." He shouted at Lin, as he started to pull open the first door.
"They're here!" Lin shouted after opening the second to last door. He had rushed inside and lowered the chains holding the two women. Oliver could hear sirens in the distance. "We have to get them out to the ambulance!"
Oliver nodded and went to pick up Mai; she was freezing cold and unresponsive. He threw his coat around her and carefully picked her up.
"Mai?" He said forcefully. "Can you hear me?"
Lin was shouting similar things at Madoka as they carried the women out.
"Mai! Please, just react if you can hear me!" He begged desperately.
"Oliver, they are suffering from severe hypothermia, assuming they are still alive." Lin said in a calm, authoritative voice. "Once we are out of this building, we need to wrap them in as much clothing as possible and then share body warmth with them until the ambulance crew takes over."
"Alright." Oliver said, glad that Lin had obviously had some first aid training.
The sirens were louder once the two men were in the open air again. Oliver followed Lin's instructions and retrieved a blanket from the boot of his car. He felt a weak pulse at Mai's throat and a small bubble of hope rose inside him.
"Mai, I know you are alive." He said, talking to her helped. He wrapped her in the blanket, his coat and then he took off his socks and put those over her feet, which were purple with cold. "Mai, wake up and shout at me. Shout at me for taking so long. Call me a jerk for being an idiot and not telling you how I felt." He squeezed her closer to him; he could see the ambulances now. "Help is here, Mai. You're going to be fine, okay?" He kissed the top of her blanket-covered head. "I love you Mai." He whispered, a tear running down his face.
A paramedic ran over and assessed the situation. Another appeared and they prized Mai out of Oliver's arms. Others were taking Madoka and placing her in the ambulance, covered in space blankets.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to let go." One of the paramedics was talking to Oliver, who had not let Mai go. He stared up at the man and let go. They whisked Mai away and the ambulance took off in a whirl of sirens and noise.
"Oliver, we should follow them to the hospital." Lin said, he was looking morose. "Their situation isn't good."
"She had a pulse!" Oliver shouted. "She was alive! She will make it!" He stormed to his car and climbed into the driver's seat. Lin took the passenger seat and Oliver drove off.
The hospital was painfully far away and they lost the ambulance at a set of lights.
"I'm sorry for snapping." Oliver said, while they waited for the lights to change.
"I understand, I am worried too." Lin replied calmly.
When they arrived at the hospital, no one would tell them anything. A nurse had led them to a waiting room and told them that once the doctor's knew something definite that they would be informed.
They sat in the waiting room for an hour, neither saying anything, before Oliver's stomach rumbled noisily.
"Go and get us some food." Lin said. "I don't think we will hear anything anytime soon. Hypothermia takes time to fix." He added reassuringly.
Oliver nodded and left the waiting room in search of food. A small convenience store was hidden within the depths of the hospital. He bought sandwiches and some fruit from the store, and two teas out of a vending machine. When he returned to the waiting room, he saw a man in a white coat talking to Lin.
"Are you a relative of Mori-san or Taniyama-san?" The doctor was asking as Oliver caught up with them.
"No, they have no relatives." Lin said with a lump in his throat.
"I am their boss." Oliver said forcefully. "How are they?"
"Perhaps you should sit down." The doctor said, but neither Oliver nor Lin responded. "They did not make it. Mori-san and Taniyama-san are dead."
Author's note: Please review!
