AN: I'm back! Did you miss me? The drama from last chapter continues as Shino and Masato are attacked and the other Epitaphs have finally discovered the special area Innis created, but will they arrive in time to keep her from being possessed by AIDA?
Also I've put up a forum so you can discuss the chapters, the story, the characters and pretty much anything related to the story that you want! So please check it out and leave a few comments.
So without further ado I'll let you fine readers get on with the story!
Timeline Update: Monday Night, December 2nd.
Chapter 34: Dogs Unleashed
Shino could feel the doberman's jaws lock around her throat as it tried to suffocate her. The smoke filled air combined with the dogs heavy breathing and tight jaws was quickly smothering the young woman. She punched and pounded the doberman's head furiously to get it to back off, but the canine refused to budge. Shino gasped breathlessly as another doberman latched onto her leg, its fangs digging into her ankle. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two of the other dogs go running off around the right side of the house, probably to take out Masato.
People always said that your life flashed before a person's eyes when you thought you were going to die and right now Shino believed that wholeheartedly. Dozens of memories, images, and thoughts danced through her head in seconds.
How are my parents going to take the news? Will Ryou and his friends ever take down Aihane? Shino wondered as she tried once again to pry open the dogs jaws. One thought in particular, however, was foremost in her mind. Shino managed one final gasp of air before the doberman's muzzle tightened to the point where she couldn't inhale at all. The dog near her foot started to whip its head back and forth, tearing into skin, muscle, and bone. Pain flashed through her body and Shino reflectively tried to pull her leg away, which only served to increase the damage. The young woman kicked at the doberman but doggedly held on.
One thought in particular was foremost in Shino's mind though, I never told Masato how much I love him, she thought as spots started to cloud her vision. Her hazy reverie was suddenly broken by a series of loud, familiar barks. Shino's eyes widened and she looked around to see if she had heard right.
Raiden? Mera? Shino wondered as the two doberman's attacking her suddenly let go and lifted their heads. The one closest to her head snarled and lowered its own neck just before Raiden himself slammed into it. The other doberman backed off and Shino stared in disbelief as the rottweiler viciously tore the opposing dog apart with savage intent. She had seen animal shows and documentaries on TV about animals fighting or hunting, but it was completely different to see it happening firsthand and just a foot or two in front of her face.
Seconds dragged by like hours, but despite this it quickly became apparent that Raiden had the advantage. The rottweiler had been specifically trained to ward off intruders, thieves, gunmen, and any other possible assailant. He and his sister Mera had gone through countless hours and months of hands-on-training so they would be able to protect and watch over their human charges.
The opposing doberman was obviously being overwhelmed and tried to keep its head down to protect its throat, but Raiden used brute force and sharp cunning to both evade the opposing canine's snapping jaws and dart in with attacks of his own. Dust flew up everywhere as the dog suddenly slipped and brought its head up, exposing its long, slender neck.
Raiden's lips curled back and he launched himself forward and grabbed the doberman's neck in his powerful jaws, forcing the canine down to the ground. The dog scrabbled and jerked its body back and forth, trying to get free, but the rottweiler wasn't taking any chances. Shino stared in horrid fascination as Raiden pinned the doberman before snapping his head to the side, viciously twisting the dogs neck and killing it with a single blow.
Shino instantly felt sick and fought back waves of nausea as Raiden whirled and turned on the other doberman who had just been standing there unsure of whether to jump in or wait to attack. Now it looked down at its dead companion and decided to cut its losses and run. It moved to escape but Raiden moved with lightning speed and snapped his fangs down on the doberman's back leg, breaking it and disabling the canine's movement.
Sensing that it couldn't get away the dog turned to try and defend itself, but Raiden darted aside and used his powerful forelimbs to knock aside the doberman's charge. Raiden latched onto its neck and with a sharp resounding crack he snapped it just like he had with the other doberman. The dog sagged and crumpled to the ground lifelessly. The rottweiler stood there for a moment, sides heaving more from adrenaline than exhaustion. Another second later he dropped the canine and turned back to Shino who was now sitting up.
Shino inhaled sharply as Raiden strode her way. Nareo had told her from day one that the two rottweilers had been trained and raised exclusively as guard dogs, but seeing Raiden in action wasn't something she was entirely prepared for and seeing him act this way scared her to death.
Raiden stopped and lowered his head to sniff at her bloody, injured leg before taking a few steps closer and staring at her with unnerving intensity. The young woman swallowed hard and managed to find her words.
"Raiden?" Shino's voice came out in a rather shrill squeak and instantly the rottweiler bared his teeth, making her jump and scramble backwards as best she could with her torn up ankle.
Snarling deep in his throat, Raiden stepped closer to her and looked around the yard, scanning every visible inch before his eyes landed on the young man standing next to the van—the stranger who both owned and had let loose the four doberman's so they could attack her and Masato. By the time Shino realized what was going on in Raiden's head it was too late.
She thought that he had been responding to her fear, but she was only half right. Raiden had started snarling because he thought someone was threatening Shino and upon seeing the strange man standing mere yards away the canine had, rightly, concluded that he was the one his human charge was afraid of.
Lowering his head the rottweiler took off like a shot towards the man who started looking about frantically for cover before turning and trying to climb back in his van. He managed to grab the handle and open the passenger side door before Raiden got to him.
Sliding to a stop the canine opened his jaws and latched onto the man's foot. Shino could hear the guy screaming in pain and fear and saw his arms flapping wildly for purchase as Raiden physically dragged him back out of the van and to the dirt. She could see him pull something out of his belt and heard the sharp cracks of gunfire as the guy fired off several shots before hitting the ground. Right away he was seized upon by the guard dog. Raiden fell upon the guy and tore into anything and everything his nails and fangs could grab. His growls and barks rose up over the roar of the flames as he literally savaged the man.
Shino's brain finally started moving again and she climbed to her feet, barely managing a step before collapsing back to her knees. "Raiden!" she called out weakly as she pulled herself back up, her lungs were filled with smoke and her chest heaved and stung with every breath she tried to take.
"Raiden stop!" Shino managed to scream this time, but wasn't sure if the rottweiler heard her or not over the surrounding noise. The distinct sound of helicopter rotors and sirens was floating over the trees and coming closer every second.
Glancing up at the sky Shino realized for the first time just how big this fire was. The lack of strong winds had kept embers from flying off and igniting the surrounding trees, but even still the bright glow and smell of smoke would have been plainly evident from town.
What is that command again? Shino wracked her brain and the word finally came to her. "Raiden enough!" she ordered in a loud, firm town of voice and the canine froze, his paw firmly placed on the man's chest and his jaws locked around the guy's neck.
Limping closer, Shino called out again, "Raiden that's enough!" she ordered and the dog let go and reluctantly backed up, standing just close enough to attack again if he needed to. The man moved about weakly, but Raiden growled in warning and he froze.
Shino limped up to him and looked around the yard and driveway carefully before turning her attention back down to the man who had attacked her. Putting as much steel into her voice as she could, she said, "Just stay put until the police get here or I'll have my guard dog attack you again," she let her threat hang in the air and the man nodded quickly to show he would comply.
Satisfied Shino kicked the gun out of the way before hurrying over to Raiden who was panting heavily and bleeding from at least 5 gunshot wounds in his chest and neck. Leaning down she ran her hands over his body, "Oh, you poor guy. Just hold on, we'll get you some help okay?" she said in a gentle voice and for once the rottweiler didn't complain when she pet him.
A spotlight blazed down from the sky and Shino looked up to see a helicopter hovering about her, a camera pointing down at her out of the side. Lifting her arm she waved it to get their attention and pointed to the man on the ground next to her and then to the fire. There was no way of telling whether or not they understood, but it was worth a shot at least.
Lets just hope they realize I live here and don't shoot me or something, Shino considered with a mixture of relief and nerves. She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Too tired to be afraid and too weak to feel anything more than irritation towards the guy who had attacked her.
The wailing of fire truck and police sirens caught Shino's attention and she turned around to see two firetrucks, an ambulance, and two police cars pull up and spread out across the large swath of asphalt in front of the now flaming mansion. Firefighters poured out of the trucks and began hooking up water hoses and turning knobs on the side of the trucks as they hurried to pour water on the fire.
Several police climbed out of the car and hurried over to Shino, hands resting on their pistols just in case. They stopped short when Raiden lowered his head and rumbled in warning. Shino quickly put her hand on the back of his neck.
"Raiden stand down," she ordered and the dog sniffed in disdain, but sat down obediently.
Satisfied the police came closer to her, "Hello, there ma'am... is that the man who set this fire?" one of them questioned as he glanced down at her mauled foot. "Did he attack you?" he added and two of the police moved to secure the stranger who immediately started screaming out objections.
Raiden growled angrily and Shino put an arm around his neck to hold him back as she addressed the policeman. Nodding in confirmation she replied, "Yes, I was trying to get away from the fire for my own safety when I saw him standing there. He started yelling at me and then let loose his four doberman's to attack me," her voice wavered slightly as she shifted weight off her injured foot.
Taking a deep breath Shino continued, "That's when...when my dog here came and protected me. He helps guard the house and surrounding yard," she explained as the police man wrote down everything she was saying on a notepad. A couple others had handcuffed the man, who was still yelling, and were dragging him off to the ambulance.
"Its their fault! Aihane said so! Once their dead it'll be all over! Once I kill them they'll finally go away and leave me alone!" he shouted as his voice rose to a frantic pitch. The police hauling him off exchanged a look and one of them raised an eyebrow. "They who is they?" she asked carefully and the young man turned on her with wild eyes. "The voices! The voices in my head! There are eye in the walls, in the trees, they're everywhere watching me! Aihane told me that if I killed them then everything would get better!" he was nearly in tears and Shino felt a stab of pity for him, it was starting to become clear that he had... problems... problems that hacker Aihane had evidently exploited.
Humming at that the police rolled their eyes and started dragging him off once again, "Uh, huh, yeah, well, we'll just get you down to the police station in a nice secure cell where you can't get out and no one else can get in to hurt you. Then we'll search for Aihane and see what he has to say about all this," she said calmly as they moved toward one of the police cars.
In the distance Shino could hear more radio chatter as someone requested another ambulance to come to the scene.
Another woman pulled on some gloves and picked up the gun the young man had dropped. She took out a small device and a black light flashed over the gun, illuminating several fingerprints. The machine gave a small beep and the light shut off. The woman stood back up and nodded to the other police.
Nodding in acknowledgment the man looked up, "We got a call from a woman in town, said she was the housekeeper here and saw a strange orange glow coming from this building..." he began and paused to motion behind him.
For the first time Shino noticed Nareo's personal vehicle parked at the far end of the house almost to the garage—the doors on the left side were wide open. A short scan of the area revealed the woman's diminutive form. Nareo was talking to one of the police man and waving her hand around towards the raging fire.
Of course. Nareo must have come home early and when she opened the car doors Raiden and Mera jumped out automatically, Shino considered, gently stroking Raiden's fur as a paramedic checked the dog's bullet wounds and glanced up at her with a reassuring smile, "It looks like he'll be okay, but we need to get him to a professional veterinarian as soon as possible. We'll call them so they can pick him up and can extract the bullets as soon as possible," the paramedic explained.
Shino relaxed a little at that and then turned back to the policeman, "What about Masato? I don't know whether or not he made it out okay," she said plaintively and the policeman frowned at the name and she clarified herself, "He's 26 years old and 6' 2" with glasses and black hair," the young woman told him and the policeman nodded and grabbed his chattering walkie-talkie and spoke into it.
"We have a male on the grounds somewhere. Age 26, height 6'2", please confirm whether anyone has seen this male or not? Over." he stated and then waited for a response.
"Confirmed. We have him over here on the side of the house. He was attacked by two doberman's and is pretty torn up, but he's conscious, lucid, and responding to our questions. There are two dogs here and it looks like they protected him from further harm and killed one of the two doberman's that attacked him. The other is loosing blood fast and probably won't survive the next few minutes," a voice clearly responded as a paramedic moved to help Shino down to the ground so she could sit comfortably as her ankle and foot was examined.
Shino frowned upon hearing that. Two dogs? But there should only be Mera there unless... she stopped and shook her head. There would be enough time to wonder about that particular detail later.
"So he's okay? He's safe now?" she urged and the policeman nodded curtly. "Seems like it We have a couple paramedics here who will be able to look at him and there's another ambulance on the way to take you both to the hospital," he responded affirmatively and Shino decided that she would just have to be content with that.
Looking around the yard, Shino saw that the firefighters seemed to be getting the fire under control.
On the other hand there apparently were four paramedics here at the moment. One was back at the ambulance taking care of that weirdo who had attacked her, while another was right here taking care of her and Raiden. The others must be taking care of Masato.
Shino finally relaxed and tried not to flinch as the paramedic finished his examination. "It looks pretty deep. You're going to need stitches, tight wrappings, and good irrigation to keep this from getting infected. We'll check the tags on those dogs to see if they've had rabies shot lately," he stated and Shino winced at the images those words brought up, but ultimately nodded as he helped her to her feet.
Raiden stood back up and narrowed his eyes suspiciously, not entirely sure whether these people were okay or not. Shino sighed at his reaction but was too exhausted to do anything about it. All she wanted was to see Masato and assure herself that he was really okay.
Another ambulance had pulled up and the paramedic assisting Shino helped her over to the vehicle as a couple more people jumped out of it. They quickly took over and helped her into the back and onto the gurney before they started the process of carefully and gently cleaning Shino's injury. A quick examination of her neck revealed that she wasn't bleeding and there weren't any puncture marks.
The sound of happy barking distracted Shino and she looked up to see Mera wheel around the corner, her short, stumpy tail wagging happily. She couldn't tell if the rottweiler was bleeding, but from the way Mera was wiggling back and forth she seemed to be doing well enough. The canine spotted Raiden standing off to the side, held back by one of the policemen, and she rushed over to her brother and began sniffing him all over. Raiden for his part just stood there stoically as his sister circled him.
"I leave for a couple days and you two manage to tear the place apart AND set it on fire."
Startled, Shino turned to her left and saw Nareo standing there at the corner of the ambulance with a large german shepherd sitting next to her.
That must be the other dog the police mentioned, Shino realized as the housekeeper eyed the young woman critically. Nareo stared at her for a couple more seconds before motioning to the strange dog next to her. "My son is a policeman and he bought this puppy and has been training it for me as a guard dog. Thought these grounds were too big for just Raiden and Mera. His name is Nezumiiro," she explained as the german shepherd wagged his tail in response. His fur was wet and sticking up in several places—clear evidence that he hadn't made it out unscathed.
Nareo's voice brought her attention back to the situation at hand, "When we pulled up I opened the doors and Raiden tore around one side while Mera and Nezumiiro here dashed off to the other side to help Masato...good thing I came when I did or you both might be dead," Nareo sniffed at that and Shino was about to respond when a blue and orange truck from a nearby veterinarian's office pulled up.
The paramedics attending to Shino reluctantly let her go so she could calm down Raiden and Mera. The animal control officer muzzled them and Nezumiiro as well just to be safe and then put the three dogs into special cages in the back of the van. Shino refused to let them go, however, until they and the policeman swore to her that "no, they won't be punished. Yes, we'll take good care of them. They'll be quarantined for a couple days is all. They were just protecting you so there's no reason to take them away or euthanize them if that's what your worried about," and so on.
Shino and Nareo both watched as the van pulled off and the policeman questioned her once again about the fire and how it might have been started. Shino explained her theory that the man who had attacked her had filled the house with gas and then ignited it somehow. The policeman seemed mildly surprised and smiled with clear satisfaction as he wrote that down as well, "That's what the firefighters think as well and they've managed to get the gas lines shut off as well. Its going to take a while longer, but they should have this fire knocked out soon," he offered and Shino thanked him for his help as the paramedics continued to work on her foot.
The other police members were milling around collecting evidence and searching the white van that crazy guy and his doberman's had driven up in. They were carefully examining the dead dogs as well.
Shino turned back to Nareo worriedly, "Where's Masato? Shouldn't he have been brought around here already?" she wondered trying to lean forward to see if she could spot anything, but the paramedic pushed her back. "You need to hold still ma'am. We want to get your injury cleaned up and wrapped before heading down to the hospital," she ordered and the young woman bit back a reply and obediently settled back on the gurney.
Nareo's eyes glimmered with amusement, "Oh, don't worry about him. Your boyfriend is doing just fine. I spoke to him just now and he said that he'd gone outside to clear his head when the fire ignited. He saw the flames and hurried back to see what was going on when those dogs attacked him," she patiently explained before adding, "He grabbed a large branch that was lying nearby and used it as a club to beat them off," her lips pulled up into a smile at that and she patted the german shepherd next to her on the head.
Not satisfied with that answer the young woman set her jaw, "Can I see him? I need to know that he's okay," she insisted and Nareo frowned seriously, "Just worry about yourself girl. You've got that leg and a possible infection to worry about... and don't think you won't have some nasty bruises on those pretty arms and legs of yours either," she shot back and Shino wanted to scream in frustration. Instead she stared at the woman, silently seething. Seeing the stubborn look set on her face Nareo sighed and shook her head.
The paramedics smiled at each other and one spoke up, "It's really no problem, but just a minute or two and then we have to get you to the hospital," the man offered and Shino's face split with a relieved smile as the woman jumped out of the ambulance and shouted something.
Nareo coughed and brushed off her blouse, "Think I'll go talk to those policemen some more," she gave the young woman a sly look and Shino flushed with embarrassment. She opened her mouth to object, but the housekeeper waved her hand dismissively and walked off.
Moments later Shino could hear footsteps approaching and Masato's familiar voice, "In here?" he questioned and a second later leaned around the corner and looked in the vehicle. The paramedics cleared out to allow them a few moments alone and Masato stepped up into the ambulance and sat down on the bench next to the gurney. Shino's throat tightened with emotion and tears sprang to her eyes as she saw him standing there, whole and intact. Gently she reached out and rested her hand on his smooth face.
When she finally managed to find her voice, she wasn't quite as eloquent as she would have liked.
"What in the world happened to your left eye?" Shino questioned as she stared at the prominent black and blue bruise spreading across his face. Masato smiled reassuringly, "Mera was more concerned with the other dog and not so much with where her head was swinging. Hitting the ground didn't help either," he stated with a slight wince and Shino tried to say something, but couldn't quite find the words.
Masato smiled and with a soft pull on her arm, invited her closer. Shino was all to willing to comply. She shifted to the end of the gurney and slid her arms around him. Masato pulled her closer and rested his chin on top of her head as she leaned against him comfortably.
"It's okay Shino. We'll make it out of this in one way or another," Masato whispered and she nodded and closed her eyes. She wanted so badly to believe that he was telling the truth, but her gut instinct warned that she had better watch her back.
Reiko's face twisted with displeasure as an annoying beeping sound plagued her senses. Instead of answering it, though, she determinedly kept her eyes shut and tried to ignore it. She had been worked to the bone lately and she was not going to relinquish these precious few moments of...
Reiko we've picked up a very strong AIDA signal on a nearby server, Tarvos voice interrupted in her mind.
Sighing in frustration at this announcement the woman opened her eyes and straightened her clothes. Going back to her room would have taken too long so Reiko had just leaned back and fallen asleep right in her chair since she would have had to come back in less than 4 hours anyway.
Fumbling around the table, Reiko found her glasses and rubbed at her eyes before pulling them back on. Rolling her shoulders the CC Corp employee examined the large bank of computer screens in front of her, "Alright, fine...what do you have?" she questioned as Tarvos face appeared on display..
"We've picked up a massive AIDA signal coming from a business server not to far away. Macha spied out the server and found an unattached area, much like Net Slum," Tarvos stated. She was of course speaking in network distances. The Epitaphs viewed the Internet and all of its servers, connections, and websites the way a person would look at cities on a map. Some places were closer, others were farther, some websites could only be opened using certain pathway connections, and so forth.
Right now, though, Reiko's sleep-muddle brain was a bit slow on the uptake. Rubbing her eyes once again she blinked and tried to figure out what that meant, "Okay...?" she waited for a moment as Tarvos clarified herself. The Epitaph brought up a link to where Macha was. It was the first time Reiko had seen the network the way all of the other A.I.'s did.
Fascinated she peered closely at images she was seeing, "Where exactly are you? And what is all that?" Reiko questioned and Macha moved aside and pointed out what was going on. The Temptress adjusted the video feed much like a person moving around a web cam.
"If you look around you'll see that we're actually in a large round area. This is a website node. Each individual server can have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of individual website nodes and when you enter an individual node like I have, then you see these..." Macha paused and the view lowered and adjusted to show glowing blue lines connected to squares of various colors. "Those blue lines represent any and all links within this website. You see that dark blue square with the sky blue connection that turns bright green in the middle and leads out of the area completely?" Macha motioned to the connection as Reiko confirmed that she saw it.
"Well, that means the page has a link leading off to a different website. What we really want you to see, though, is that," Macha swung the view around and Reiko could see a large irregular orb with a gaping hole in the side. It was on the server, but not connected to any of the web pages or web page links. At the edges of the gaping hole she could see black dots bubbling around.
"AIDA," Macha stated before Reiko could say it herself. "We think this is where Innis and Skeith took Haseo's consciousness. Its certainly within Innis capabilities and no one using this website would notice the anomaly unless they saw it like we're seeing it now when it becomes obvious. The signal normally doesn't penetrate beyond the web node so your not going to notice it unless you actually enter the area," Macha explained and the computer screen split as Tarvos appeared again on the left.
"When the AIDA penetrated the area its data began to interfere with and distort the area and the signal quickly leaked out to the rest of the server where the CC Corp computers picked up the increasing static," Tarvos explained and Reiko looked around and realized that there was only one person in the room with her and that was Kaoru who was calmly tapping away at the keyboard.
The hikikomori sensed her gaze and lifted his M2D and gave her a small, almost insolent smile. "Finally awake are we? Then you'd better saddle up because it looks like this AIDA is on par with Abtrunniger, Dendeira, and Scorpius," Kaoru questioned and Reiko flushed with embarrassment, but ignored him and reached for her own M2D.
Reiko was about to pull the headset over her eyes and then realized something. Turning back to her fellow G.U. Member she voiced her thoughts, "Where are Abtrunniger and Dendeira anyway?" she questioned. Reiko had been too busy to greet the newest member of their team, but Tarvos had informed her that Dendeira was actually very nice and Reiko trusted her Epitaph's opinion.
Kaoru nodded towards the computer screen in front of him, "Macha detected the anomalous signal and told Tarvos who sent her to investigate further. When Macha saw the black AIDA dots she sent a message back to Tarvos who decided to send in Abtrunniger and Dendeira," he explained and Reiko frowned slightly, but could understand the reasoning behind that decision.
It takes a thief to capture a thief they say, Reiko thought as she donned her M2D and connected with her Avatar.
Are you ready? Tarvos asked as she opened a connection to the web node Macha was on. Reiko took a deep breath and nodded in confirmation, Yeah, let's go and get this over with and when we're done I'll have a few words for Innis and Skeith, she replied acidly and the Epitaph chuckled to herself before dashing through the data tear.
AN: And that concludes chapter 35! Like I said I have put up a forum for you fine people and you can get to it from my profile. So please go check it out, comment, reply, start a new topic, throw out ideas or theories, anything having to do with this story. One of my reviewers suggested/requested a forum so there you go!
Translation: If someone doesn't post on this forum than I am going to feel really stupid for putting it up.
So there you go. Next chapter you'll get to see Xen who is another one of the Eight AIDA, but his situation is a bit...unique. You'll see what I mean.
Now hit that pretty little button down there and please write a review! Until next time everyone!