Demon City Tokyo

Eleven

Kiddy Phenil studied Asuka, wondering what drove a girl like this. The redhead had been with NERV several years now, and was arguably their best hunter. That meant she was watched and studied a lot, but she seemed oddly normal, if somewhat arrogant. But studying the files was nothing like meeting the person in the flesh.

Asuka lead the way into the suite with the older reporter, Mayumi. She was more a unknown quantity, but Kiddy had been following her articles with interest. She had shown at least some of the downsides of working with NERV in Tokyo, and appeared unwilling to be a company propagandist. Of course, Kiddy wondered if that loyalty would hold if she knew the other things Yui Ikari was up to?

The two women checked the place out like a cop would, interestingly, advancing room by room. Nami looked up at Kiddy and softly asked, "Police trained?"

"Not that I heard, but the way they act makes me wonder," Kiddy answered. Once the demon sweep was over they advanced with the forensics squad, letting them examine the head in the refrigerator. They also kept a eye on the two hunters and the Rei youkai.

Mayumi looked around, taking in the torn up corpse on the bed and the less damaged boy on the ground. The room reeked of demon even to her uneducated nose, but she looked at Rei curiously and asked, "What do you sense?"

"It fled," Rei confirmed, "not long ago. I can follow it for awhile, but it's scent is mixed with the decay of this place."

"Intentional, you think?" Asuka asked, but Rei just shrugged slightly.

They all watched Asuka stalk around the room, frowning. She examined the pile of bedding in the corner, the bare bed and even went into the bathroom to look around. Finally Mayumi had to ask, "What's wrong?"

"It's not acting like a typical demon," Asuka admitted, "that worries me."

"You have a typical demon?" Kiddy had to ask from where she stood in a doorway nearby. Not that she expected a answer, but it was worth a shot.

Asuka gave her a look, but decided to answer seriously, it seemed. "They appear to be almost unreasonably violent, and act on very primal instincts. Eat, fight or fuck, pretty much," Asuka said to her bluntly.

"While this thing...," Nami started.

"It's planning, nesting... well, maybe. The ones I've ran into haven't done that," Asuka said. She frowned, "I'm going to call in, wait for me."

Kiddy scowled as Asuka moved off, using her cellphone to call in. Damn, she wished she could hear that conversation!

Mayumi looked at the two police officers curiously then asked, "You don't seem happy following NERV hunters. Why is that?"

Kiddy kept her reaction off her face, reminding herself that this was a successful reporter who was VERY good at reading people. "I think the police should be the ones to handle police work," she said diplomatically, "including protecting the citizens. I think we weren't really given a fair chance, during the first attacks."

Mayumi looked at her skeptically, "Not to be rude, but several police stations were out and out slaughtered in the first weeks. You can see why people have doubts?"

Kiddy wanted to snap at the younger woman, but she WAS right, damn her. "I think we're better prepared now, thank you," she answered instead.

Mayumi looked curious, "Could I interview both of you once we're done, tonight? I would be interested in seeing your perspectives."

"I'm sorry," Nami said to her diplomatically, "you'd need to clear any interviews with the department, first."

'Which,' Kiddy thought, 'was a polite way of saying no way in hell.' There was no chance at alkl their boss would want them interviewed. Before she could add anything Asuka snapped her phone shut and walked back to them. "What did NERV say?" she demanded.

Asuka gave her a frowning look but answered, "We need to do a area search, but Misato isn't confident we'll find anything. If the creature is acting this odd, it may be sharper than normal too."

Kiddy grunted, then opened her mouth to add something.

Asuka cut her off, "Of course, we don't want to take you away from your pressing police investigation, so Mayumi and I will head out. Good luck."

Nami saw Kiddy's face go purple and hurried to head off a explosion. "Thank you," she said swiftly, "you too."

"That little...," Kiddy grated out once they were gone.

"She's right, though," Nami pointed out to her respectfully but firmly.

Kiddy looked annoyed, but nodded choppily. "You're right," she conceded as they left the bedroom and went into the kitchen. The forensics team was carefully removing everything in the fridge, bagging and tagging each item.

"Gonna be awhile," the head of the team noted. "We need to take everything, in case of fluid transfer from the heads. We're also hoping to dust the interior, though the odd surfaces may create some problems."

"Any chance of a visual identification?" Nami had to ask.

Another forensics worker gave her a look. "It's a half rotted head, among several fully rotted ones," she said patiently, "the odds are pretty low."

"It's mostly intact though," Kiddy defended her collegue, "take a photo and run it through the station computers. We might get lucky."

"Thanks," Nami murmured to Kiddy as the grumbling tech shifted the head into the light and took a photo with her tablet and sent it to headquarters.

"It's nor likely," Kiddy shrugged, "but not impossible."

There was a chime from the tablet, the tech looked at it then blinked. "What?" Nami had to ask.

"Got a match," the tech sounded very very odd, "Lorenz Keel. The German magnate, bank executive and..."

"Assumed demon summoner, if the stories are right," Kiddy muttered, awed. "How the hell did he end up in a fridge in Tokyo?" she asked, exasperated.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Yui Ikari had a similar reaction as she looked at Misato. "Lorenz Keel?" she blinked, her glasses slipping down her nose.

Misato nodded, her own expression similarly bemused. "Yeah. Somehow he survived the demons, escaped Germany and disappeared. Then, as far as the forensics teams can tell, he reappeared in Tokyo a year ago, got offed and stuffed in a fridge."

Ritsuko drank some of her coffee. "Is that a exact date?" she wondered.

"A estimate. The fridge was running well, but they think there were power interruptions at times, which may have effected the rate of decay," Misato relayed.

"Which means?" Yui had to ask.

"There could be a few months margin for error there," Ritsuko said thoughtfully. She looked at Misato, "Can we stay involved with the case?"

"I have contacts on the force, but I can't promise they'll be able to keep us completely informed," Misato admitted. She looked at Yui, "Anyway you could get us put in charge? It does sort of apply to our jobs."

Yui made a face, "I tried, but there are politics involved. The city doesn't want to look like my lap dog, pretty much."

Neither Misato or Ritsuko pointed out the city pretty much was their lap dog, simply because it might irritate Yui. "Did you want the other bad news?" Ritsuko asked diplomatically.

"Oh what now?" Yui sighed.

"Mayumi has already filed a story on it. Just the publicly released information, with her own experience of being on the scene," Ritsuko explained.

"I knew I was going to regret having a reporter on staff," Yui sighed, though she didn't sound TOO bothered by it.

Misato shrugged, "I don't think she'd intentionally publish anything damaging, not without running it by us first at least."

That was pretty much Yui's feeling too. And if things went bad, she could always take steps. "Keep an eye on the situation, and let me know if anything changes," she told Misato. She looked at Ritsuko, "Hunter status?"

Ritsuko looked bored as she said, "Both Asuka and Mayumi check out normal, counting in residual excitement from the case etc etc." She looked amused, "Mari is also fine, other than the effects of her hitting that illegal bar we pretend not to know about."

"Why don't we shut these guys down again?" Misato wondered with a sigh.

"The city won't license bars, and people need to drink occassionally," Yui shrugged. "Besides, if we shut them down another will just spring up, this time with us NOT knowing where they are," she added dryly.

"Point," Misato sighed. "I'll talk to Mari, remind her to take it easier on the booze."

"Other than that, the pilots are fine," Ritsuko said, putting emphasis on the word pilots.

"All right, Rits, what else?" Misato sighed.

"You and Yui have been dodging your physicals," Ritsuko said seriously. "You're both past due, and it's important you stay healthy."

Yui sighed, "Ritsuko..."

"I'm serious, Yui," she cut her off as Ritsuko continued, "we deal with things we still don't fully understand daily. You at LEAST need to take your health seriously."

Yui studied Ritsuko a moment, wondering if the doctor would push. Deciding she would, Yui conceded, "Certainly, I'll be in in the next two days." She looked at Misato, "You too."

"Yes, mommy," Misato sighed.

"Oooh, kinky," Ritsuko smirked.

"Don't even go there," Yui ordered.

To be continued...

Notes: Next chapter might end up being lighter. Hopefully anyway.