Episode Seven: The Boy Who Was Never There part two
"Well, we have a situation on our hands it seems"
Everyone fell silent after the professor spoke these words until Lilith spoke "you found something professor?"
"Indeed, all of you come in closer and look at this" everyone moved in on his words, Haru being the shortest stood at the front and Baron naturally would be next to her standing on the table. "What can you read when reading horizontal?"
"What I read earlier to the others at the Bureau..." asked a confused Haru
However it looked as though Baron knew what he was going to suggest next, although the professor spoke anyway "now read it vertically young lady, the second paragraph"
"I never got that far reading it, but okay" she read out an incredibly short sentence which she realized was made out of the first letters of words that wouldn't fit together grammatically. "Cat Office-Z" she paused for a minute, whilst silence filled the others around her, including the Baron who looked pale under his orange and beige fur. "Baron, what is this?"
"The Cat Bureau is also known as the Cat Office, and the initial Z is a bad sign" explained Baron with a tremor in his voice
"But what does it mean?" Asked Lilith
"... Haru I shouldn't have brought you here..." Baron continued after a short silence. "It's a trap"
Meanwhile at the crime scene...
Toto had flown as quickly as he could manage, getting there in no less than fifteen minutes. The crime scene was marked with police tape which said the usual 'do not enter' warning, though this didn't apply to non-humans like Toto, which is why he was the best for the role out of all the Bureau members. He perched in the tree shadowing the crime scene so he could hear clearly what two police officers were saying
"Isn't it strange how a body is unearthed after what may be fifteen years"
"You don't know it's our boy yet, though it will be equally as difficult to tell the parents of this body what became of their child"
"The one we're looking for has no family, there's no one really to tell the tragic news to"
"That's true..."
Toto knew the conversation weren't going to move onto information he would find relevant to the Bureau's self assigned mission, so he took flight to see if he missed anything, and began to hover over the crime scene to look for clues when he saw a distinctive mark which seemed awfully familiar. Bad news which you know Baron and Haru found out a short while ago.
"A logo imprinted in the earth like a crop circle, I should have noticed sooner!" Toto said, before hurriedly flying in the direction of the Barons assigned destination, straight into a trap.
In the lab...
"Baron what's going on, why are the professors evacuating the entire building?" Asked Haru impatiently
"You need to go too! It's not safe because you're not ready for this!" Replied Baron, sounding stressful although he meant to stay calm
"No, Baron, by your reaction, something is very wrong here and I want to help you! I don't know what you meant by 'not ready' exactly, but in response I say I'm not leaving you!" Haru's expression showed her stubbornness and Baron knew she would never listen, he also had no time to explain what was happening so he shortened it down as much as he could
"This person you know as Z is a trickster and an assassin from a Kingdom no one knows about, the reason this case has been going on for fifteen years is because there is no Kenji Rura. Z can also foresee future events, he knows we're here, because he trapped us"
"But Toto and Muta aren't here! The article said the Cat Office-" Haru was interrupted by something big and white running through the doors with a message
"Baron, Chicky, I saw the evacuation! It looks like you know who's behind this" said Muta
"Yes but how did you-" Haru started before being interrupted by Baron
"Foreseeing the future, he dropped a warning in the Bureau and Muta came to warn us, Z knew he would- Toto will also be directed here" Baron said quietly, deep in thought.
His train of thoughts was instantly disrupted by a powercut-or rather the light bulbs blew out and burned Harus arms which were bare from pulling up the sleeves of her dress- and a shadow-like figure stood in the doorway. Haru picked up a scalpel from behind her.
"My my Baron, you realized, too bad you were about an hour too late!"
"Z, you have trapped us after waiting fifteen years of making up a case that would never get solved- you could have finished things just by coming to the Bureau all those years ago, why now?" Asked Baron. Haru looked at her friend, not knowing what to do in this situation.
"I wanted to trap all of you, ALL of you" Z looked to Haru who realized what he meant from exaggerating the word 'all', looking to him in reaction to his harsh cold voice. Just looking at him sent shivers down Haru's spine, Baron looked at her with concern and confusion
"Haru has no involvement with our affairs concerning you, let her leave at once" demanded the figurine
"Such a request can not be accepted, nor can it now be forgotten" Z said with coolness in his voice, as he threw a knife between Haru and Baron, who were standing incredibly close to each other. The knife dug into the wall behind and the duo were split up, Z approached Haru, and once he got close enough Haru lashed out at him with every intention of stabbing him, only to be disarmed and to have her arm twisted behind her, their noses only an inch away from each others. Being this close to him and looking into his eyes lost Haru in darkness for a second before she came back to reality and flinched in fear, his eye colour was red, unnatural for any human being, which indicated he was far more dangerous than any killer she'd heard about in the context of news. He appeared to Haru only five inches taller, but it intimidated her.
"Let her go Z, I told you she has nothing to do with you!" Baron felt the fur on his neck rising with his temper.
"She does now..." he looked up and down at the girl he was restraining. Just a second later a black shadow flew through the window, shattering it, the shadow launched itself at Z but missed, however his restrain of Haru was broken, and she fell against the table from the force. Baron jumped onto her shoulder, gripping on her turtleneck
"Run!" He whispered in her ear. She still felt shaky but knew Toto was distracting Z for a reason, so she and Muta ran out of a different set of double doors, only to run in different directions. Baron told her to just keep running, "Muta will be fine"
The building was huge, and stood at twenty three floors, Haru found a map, running through a room, and picked it up with the same arm Baron sat on, causing him to almost fall off.
"Haru, go right!" Ordered Baron. Haru obeyed, but in a split second a knife struck Haru's arm as it tore past her, digging into the wall, Z was behind her. The jolt of surprise caused Baron to fall off, and without thinking, the duo split up in different directions.
"You can't run faster than me Haru" Z called after her. Without thinking once more, Haru ran up the stairs rather than down, which she would have kicked herself for if she had a second to spare. She was running out of breath as she almost reached the top floor, entering a lab with chemicals and gas taps, which gave her an idea. A crazy idea...
Once Baron found himself split up from Haru, he found himself running back to Toto, hoping no harm had come to his friend. He saw Toto, attempting to get up as he saw Baron approach, but failed as his wing appeared to be broken from contact with the wall.
"I should have realized he would do this, now Haru is in danger, I'm sorry I allowed you to get hurt too Toto" apologized Baron sympathetically
"Don't worry about me, go after Haru before Z catches her, who knows what he will do" warned Toto. This fact was true, Z was unpredictable at times, so with a nod, Baron ran off in the direction in which he came, and in the direction Haru ran in.
Searching quickly for one thing unique to a lab, Haru found the matches in a cupboard, and just in time because she heard Z's footsteps walking towards the lab she was in. Haru quickly turned on a couple of gas taps near the door she entered in, turning on eventually all of them apart from the ones at the other end of the room, and ducked under the table before he could notice her, though with his next words, she regretted not hiding quicker
"Come out, why must you hide, I wont kill you... yet" said the sinister Z, stepping into the room
"Come any closer, you may blow up" warned Haru. Knowing her warning weren't acknowledged, she took the chance to run out the second doors, light a match and throw it back in, causing an explosion which blasted half of the top floor out of the sky.
Upon hearing the explosion, Baron picked up the pace, almost colliding with Muta if his sense of hearing weren't so sharp, they both nodded to each other, because they both knew who must have caused it, and ran on up the stairs
"Birdbrain?"
"He's fine on his own"
"Got it"
Silence filled the air as they entered the exploded lab, no sign of life anywhere, it was a good sign though, it provided hope that Haru was still alive and had escaped before the explosion occured. Z was no where to be seen either.
"Do you hear something Muta? It sounds like it was coming from the room up ahead" Baron walked over the where there was the sound of movement. Metal. He and Muta looked around the doorframe to see Haru pushing debris metal off her. She was alive. Weak, but alive. Seeing Baron, she smiled
"I'm sure you're about to lecture me about causing explosions aren't you?" Asked Haru, leaning against the wall
"...no" answered Baron as he placed a gloved hand on Haru's cheek.
Outside in an ambulance...
"I'm fine, really!" Insisted Haru to the paramedic as they examined her burnt and slightly cut open arm
"Haru, you're not going anywhere until they fix you with stitches and bandages" said Yana sternly, then he smiled when she let them help "your visit didn't turn out the way we quite hoped did it?"
"Haha... how's To- I mean the crow?" She asked, cautious of her words around the paramedics
"The crows wing is being fixed right now, the cat is just fine and it doesn't look like your statue is broken" by statue, Yana meant Baron in his original form, standing next to Haru obviously listening to the conversation without attracting awkward attention
"I think we'll all be fine, including me" she said looking at the dapper cat as her mind echoed the last words said between them
"I'm sure you're going to lecture me about causing explosions aren't you?"
"...no"
