Chapter 51: Pieceing the puzzle
I needed a stiff drink after what had happened, and why is EPSILON tracking us? We took refuge in one of my several safe houses, it was big enough to house a small army. Anyway, I pulled out a bottle of Jameson whiskey, pulled up a map of the United Kingdom, placed it on a cork board with some thumb tacks, and placed some pins marking the bombing sites where EPSILON used some of his henchmen to do his dirty work.
"Now to work out some idea of who's pulling the strings here." I said to myself.
I poured myself a shot of Jameson, and shot it down my throat. The roughness of the alcohol made me focus a little bit. Still, there was no pattern. Only a series of random attacks, unless...he's planning on starting World War III early. I needed to calculate where he's going to attack next, and who's working for this psycho? I mean, he has to have connections to some groups to pull off this little stunt of his, just then I recieved an e-mail.
"What's going on here?" Jase asked as he came into my personal den wondering what I was doing.
"I'm trying to piece together who's working for EPSILON, and what his next target is. Right now, I'm just hitting a blank" I said as I poured myself another shot.
I checked the e-mail it was from an anonymous account sent to me, and it contained some information on the bombings connected to EPSILON, now get this, EPSILON was a former CIA agent who decided to sell American secrets to North Korea. He was discharged from the agency and Uncle Sam decided to exile the man from the country he called home. He can easily manipulate people by just persuading them to do his bidding. And he also has a experimental synthetic drug which makes you into a homicidal maniac for his whim. He called it, "Zombie Powder."
(Zombie Powder huh? I wonder if it has any connections to the Oyashiro serum.) I thought to myself, I then scrolled down through the e-mail and there was a newspaper clipping which contained the incedent of Hinamizawa in 1983. There were five victims from that incedent, four girls and one boy.
"Hitting the sauce early, are we?" Balalaika said as she walked in and held up the bottle of Jameson. She then uncovered the bottle of whiskey and took a healthy swig of the alcohol.
"I'm trying to find out where EPSILON is going to stirke next." I said as the booze was starting to kick my ass.
"You gotta be careful with the Jameson, it's very strong." Jase said trying to make me cautious of the drinking.
"I'll take that under advisement." I replied, I then studied the map...trying to calculate where the next strike might be. I could feel it in the back of my neck, it was coming. But the answer hit me like a bolt of lightning!
"What's wrong?" Balalaika asked, I then studied the map a little closer.
"I got it! The bombs were set to explode in open public places. Where people can go in and out without detecting anything. My guess is, that they're going to do it again. If different locations, but the question is where?" The bombings had to be some kind of focal point of some sort.
The enemy wanted the bombings to be like an act of terrorism or the IRA has lost control at some point, but that's total bullshit! They want the three countires to turn against each other and spark World War III, and EPSILON wants Hotel Moscow out of the picture.
"What's the focal point for these bombings and shit?" Jase asked, and I just came up with a logical answer.
"Basically, we're looking at the spark of World War III. He wants to turn countries against one another, and with that...he could build his so called, 'Empire' when every enemy he wants to see dead." I answered.
Balalaika took a drag from her cigar, "Of course, we need to find out who's helping him with all of these heinous acts." She said. I had to agree with Kapitan, and I know the woman, when she's right, she's right. (Not trying to sound like a kiss-ass.)
This whole thing was starting to become a pain in the fucking ass, I mean the pieces are all there, we just need to put it together, the right way. He has connections, but with who? That was the question that was racking my brain. I then sat behind my desk and tried to quander the clues of how, who, why, and what is behind EPSILON? Plus we got that annoying RICO case against us, more trouble than we need. I feel like it's us against the world right now, and the world is winning!
"You guys can stay if you want, I just need a few moments to gather my thoughts." I said, I then took a dart and tossed it at the dart board across the room landed on a 20 point circle. Usually throwing darts helps me destress or helps me to think, right now it's doing both. Balalaika then took a dart and it hit a double bullseye.
I checked the rest of the e-mail and the last message read, "Find the Woodpecker!" Of course, The Woodpecker is Ganta Igarashi! He could be able to help us out! But the only question is, where is he?
*Satan's Pillbox, or an Irish Prison*
The notorious Woodpecker sits idly on his bed, waiting to be released from his own hell.
"Now to establish a fool proof escape plan." Ganta said to himself, he might look like someone who's a complete wuss, but after "killing" his classmates and doing some real killing, he's made a reputaition for himself. A guard then showed up, but unbeknownst to the guard, the Woodpecker had a ball point pen hidden on him. The guard then slides his tray to the prisoner but Ganta walks up to the guard and just smiles at him.
"What the fuck do you want, Igarashi?" The guard asked with an Irish accent.
"Simple, I want you to die." Ganta said mimicking the guard's accent and he pulls out the pen, stabs the guard in the ear, blood flowing out everywhere.
Ganta then grabbed the cell keys, and unlocked the cell door. He dragged the guard's body inside the cell, where he stabbed the guard eight times, before the guard's life expired. Ganta then took his prison clothes off and swapped them with the guard's uniform.
As soon as he walked out, the other prisoners knew that Ganta was going to be the first man to escape Satan's Pillbox. The other prisoners cheered him on, he then sneaks into the locker room and stole the personal effects of the guard he killed. He also found a nifty cellphone, but who did he want to call?
"Attention! Attention! We have a jailbreak, I repeat, we have a jailbreak! All personell, be on alert for the escaping prisoner!" The voice on the PA system said with the sound of a prison alarm.
"Catch me if you fucking can." Ganta said smug, he then blended in with the guards and made his way to the armory, where he grabbed himself some guns and body armor. Then he jacked a vehicle, and got the hell out of dodge. He then dialed a number, it was mine...I answered, "Who is this?" I asked on the other end.
"Do you reckognize my voice?" Ganta asked, "You're favorite anime when you were 9 was Outlaw Star." He knew more about me then I knew myself.
"Ganta? Is that you?" I asked on the other end, he then chuckled.
"Yeah, you're taking your time. Where are you?" He asked.
"At my safehouse, why?" I replied.
"I need a place to lay low for a while, and I hear you're making "friends" with EPSILON." Ganta said.
He knew about EPSILON somehow, I needed answers that we could both benefit from it.
"Ganta, listen. There's been nine bombings in the UK, five in London, three in Glasgow, and one here in Dublin. This might be the doing of EPSILON." I said filling in the blanks for my friend.
"Okay, I'll be over at your place in fifteen minutes. Right now, I need some new threads to shake the fuzz off my trail." Ganta said as the police were getting ready for the pursuit of a lifetime.
[15 minutes later...]
Gant lost the cops and made it to my safe house, he then knocked on the door and I answered.
"Ganta! It's been a while, where were you?" I asked as he and I knuckle bumped one another.
"Satan's Pillbox, that was becoming more and more of a hell on earth." He replied.
So we went into my den and showed him where the bombings were taking place.
(A/N: I'm gonna call it good here! For anyone who doesn't know, I'm also a die hard fan of "DeadMan WonderLand" I saw it on Toonami, and I own the complete series! But not as much as I love anime in general. Anyway, this Ganta is about 21 years old, he has lots of tattoos, and he was supposed to serve a life sentence for a series of murders he commited. Anyway Ganta is one of the few cameos I'm adding. If you haven't seen "DeadMan WonderLand," I'm not going to twist your arm into seeing it...but I would recommend it. It's really graphic, and it's really good too. Until the next chapter, keep it real!)
