Witch Hunter Robin
Fire and Rain
Chapter III - Screaming in the Silence
Disclaimer: I do not own
Witch Hunter Robin® or any characters. They are registered Trade Mark™ of
Sunrise® and now apparently Sci-Fi™. If I owned WHR it wouldn't have just been
26 episodes.
Nor do I own the song Fire and Rain; I just borrowed its title.
Storyline, Plot, Joe Saunders©, and David Rica© are all my property.
----------------
It was odd being part of the STN-J in the days of David Rica. You may find
Kosaka and Doujima standing around the kitchen together, exchanging rather rude
words about the new boss behind his back, instead of working. Or perhaps you'd
find Michael could no longer hear Rica over his music, and it wasn't until Rica
ripped the headpiece from the boy's ear that he'd even acknowledge him.
Yes, by now, their fifth day with the smug American, the entire of the STN-J
hated him. They did it in their own ways, of course. Amon's eyes told how much
he hated him. No one could really explain why Amon hated the American, maybe
for the reasons everyone else did, maybe for his own, darker reasons. All that
was known was Amon looked at Rica with the same look in his eyes he had when he
fought with Nobunaga.
Robin was by far the most passionate about her dislike. She had a child's
stubborn nature, and she truly didn't like Rica. She would treat him with the
same respect and authority she gave to everyone she knew, but at the same time
when she voiced her different opinions, the look of burning passion in her eyes
told how much she really hated him.
Robin may be the most passionate, but Doujima was the loudest. She had always
had a rivalry with Kosaka, but it was nothing compared with the fights she had
with Rica. Since the slapping incident, she hadn't been that bold. But it she
was obviously a volcano on the verge of exploding. And a volcano that wanted to
explode. Already she'd "accidentally" spilled scolding hot coffee on Rica,
"misplaced" the files he had been looking for, and somehow his car keys ended
up in the garbage disposal.
Karasuma was the quietest about her dislike, but anytime she'd pass Rica her
nose would life into the air as if she smelled something foul, and her eyes
would narrow in distaste for him.
Today Robin and Doujima, the most advent STN-J members in their hatred of Rica,
were sitting at the bar at Harry's. True, they should be at work right now, but
that was only a minor detail.
"And then the bastard shot him, even after Robin had convinced him not to
jump."
Doujima, who was in a fury, was finishing telling the tale to the Master of
Harry's Place. Master Yuji shook his head and turned away to refill Robin's
espresso cup.
"He doesn't sound like a good person." Master Yuji said quietly, almost as if
he was speaking to himself rather than the girls.
"He isn't." Robin nodded in agreement. She was tired: she had waited at Raven's
Flat for a long time, she had hoped to speak to
Michael, but Rica had waited there for so long that she had become too tired to
wait for a private moment.
There was the jingling of a bell as the door opened and when Doujima looked
over to see who it was her stomach turned over and she gave a low groan. It was
Kosaka, the Chief.
Kosaka's eyes were dark and he looked to be in a bad mood, normally if he came
in here to find Doujima and Robin doing no more than sitting at the bar
drinking espressos, he'd freak out. But if he did that it would mean taking
them back to the office, back to the new boss.
"Well? Make room Doujima!"
And so they sat there, the three of them, young Robin to the farthest left
still tired and groggy, Doujima, sipping her espresso without words, but
obviously thinking of new ways to make David Rica's life miserable, and Kosaka,
who was just plain sick of that smug bastard, as he believed Rica to be.
Master Yuji just smiled and filled a third cup. Robin gave another sleepy yawn.
"Well naw." Came a cold draw
as the door opened and the bell jingled. All three of them groaned and sighed.
"My lil' puppies all called in sick, but you don't look too sick ta me."
David smiled as he walked up behind Kosaka and Doujima. His dark
sunglass-coated eyes were on Robin, however.
"I think Sakaki's laziness is rubbing off on the rest of you."
Doujima was obviously infuriated by another reference to Sakaki, who was at
that moment still at the hospital, still re-learning how to walk properly.
David Rica smiled broadly, but it was his mistake. He shouldn't have left
Michael alone back at Raven's Flat.
----
Michael sat, typing silently at his computer. He wasn't doing the work Rica had
assigned him; instead he was in a private chat room with a screen name called
"PrettyPony134". It didn't take Michael long to learn
who the man at the other end was, and he made no attempt to cover up his
laughter at the screen name.
Michael laughed to himself as he typed up a reply to Zaizen, who obviously
wasn't amused wherever he was. The tiny IM Messenger came up with a few four
letter words and the simple explanation that if Saunder's
was monitoring their computer logs, he would never in a million years guess who
it was.
Until Michael so kindly pointed out that now, if Saunder's
was reading the records, he would know. After a few more four letter words the
boss or "PrettyPony134" as he tried to disguise himself as, gave Michael
strict orders. Check out Rica.
It wouldn't be too hard since Rica was on his way to Harry's to bust Robin and
Doujima.
Fifteen minutes later Michael had brought up Rica's records and had read,
re-read, and read them a third time. Everything checked out. Jackson David
Rica, Age 27, born on January 15th, 1976 in Louisiana, America. He had become a STN-J operative after
discovering his powers on April 6th, 1993. After an accident on a case, he had a
kidney transplant on September 21, 1997.
None of this was odd, it was all perfectly checked out and it fit all records
Michael could find, hospital, police, STN-J, they were all perfectly balanced
and it would have taken someone a lifetime to have forged records this well.
Still, something didn't sit well with the young hacker. Maybe it was just his
hopes. He hoped for a reason to get rid of Rica, he wanted so badly to find out
Rica wasn't who he said he was.
And yet, he was.
Michael sighed, ready to email his bosses "secret" screen name with the bad
news when something caught his eye. Something in Rica's Witch Hunting Records.
All Witch Hunter's Records contain a detailed list of any and all witches
captured or killed by the hunter. Usually a long list of names. And on Rica it
was no exception. Names were spanned out on a long list.
Julian Monroe, Oscar Flemings, John Copra, Sori Yujifuka, Kenshin Hakunobi, Roger
Smith, Drake Wilds, Miroku Houshi, the list went on and on, with three small
names at the end. Adolf Norris, Sarah Rhodes and Yukobi Goyle.
Sarah Rhodes had been killed by Rica when he and Saunders had first arrived,
and Goyle was the suicidal witch whom Rica had shot in front of Robin. They
checked out. But the name Adolf Norris didn't.
Something about that name stuck out in Michael's mind. Something about Norris.
Where had he heard that name before? He knew it was somewhere in his mind.
And then he remembered where he'd heard Norris' name before. He couldn't be
sure, but it wouldn't be hard to find out. His nimble fingers and swift eyes
flew once more trying to type away as fast as he possibly could. He had to find
out. He had to be sure.
He grabbed open his communicator and quickly called Robin. He knew there was a
chance Rica was there, but this was more important.
"Robin!"
"Michael? What's wrong?"
"Robin, listen, I don't have time to explain, just call Amon, and tell him to
get back to the Flat as fast as he possibly can!"
Michael vaguely heard Robin speaking again, but he never heard her words,
because at that moment he saw the reflection of a man in the computer screen.
The last thing Robin heard from the end of Michael's communicator was a scream
and a gunshot.
Then it all went silent.
----
Rica was sitting smugly behind Doujima and Kosaka, both of whom looked angry when
Michael's call came in. He, like everyone else, turned to Robin as the hacker's
excited voice spoke over the communication device in Robin's petite hand.
While the hacker shouted his brief commands and Robin's face grew puzzled and
then troubled, he only sat and smiled.
And when the gunshot echoed in the communicator, followed by a
evil silence that did not bode well, when the eyes and angry faces of the STN-J
members turned to him, obviously believing he was involved, he only smiled.
"Naw I know what y'all are thinking but I'm standing right hyah." He said with
an evil grin.
Robin had not spoken, she had not turned, she only
stared down at the blank screen on the comm. She only sat in silence, an
overwhelming feeling of horror in her heart and a wave of sickness engulfing
her.
"Michael. . ."
Her voice was so quiet and so small that no one but she heard herself say it.
She just stared in mute horror.
----
Amon and Karasuma were in downtown, hunting a Witch believed to be responsible
for killing her husband and then magically disposing of the body when the call
came through. It was Rica, and from the second he spoke Amon grew bitter.
"Naw Amon, you there?"
"What?"
Amon's voice was cold and short and gave a wordless warning that if Rica was
wasting his time there would be hell to pay.
"That geek kid's been shot. You might wanna take a
look at that."
Amon narrowed his eyes, he had realized he meant Michael in a
instant and quickly he jumped up and ran into his car and started the ignition.
"Karasuma, get in!"
----
The second Robin stepped off the elevator into the main room of Raven's Flat;
she realized a lot of things very quickly.
Firstly, she noticed that Michael was gone, and she noticed the bullet hole in
the computer screen and the two similar bullet holes in the computer's hard
drive, she also noticed the spatter of warm red juices, just like the same
liquid that hit her face when Rica had shot the suicidal witch the other day at
the hospital, and she also noticed the trail of blood leading away from the
computer and up towards Zaizen's office.
She was vaguely aware of Doujima, Kosaka and Rica who were moving around the
room, their eyes noticing all of the things she had already realized. She
didn't care. As fast as her young legs would carry her, Robin Sena ran up the
stairs following the blood.
Once she reached Zaizen's office she saw the body. Whose body it was, she
didn't know. It was a tall man with long red hair, much darker than hers. He
also had three bullet holes in his chest and was completely dead.
Her eyes then zipped over to Zaizen's desk, where the drawer in which he kept
his own gun, (a Colt Python rather than an Orbo) and several bullets scattered
on the ground, as if someone had loaded the gun in a hurry and had been sloppy.
When these sights fell on her eyes she knew right away what happened. The
intruder had shot Michael, who had ran for the stairs.
The intruder waited and destroyed the computer, obviously wanting to get rid of
whatever it was Michael had discovered, and then followed him.
Michael had grabbed the gun, loaded it sloppily, and shot the man when he came
to finish the job.
Robin saw a lot of things as her nimble eyes looked around, but the one thing
she didn't see was any trace of Michael other than the smeared blood on his
keyboard.
----
Michael was in pain.
He never imagined that being shot could hurt quite so much, but it did hurt. It
felt like a thousand small people were running around his shoulder, stabbing
him with thousands of tiny knives. He could hear the cruel laughter of the mean
little people inside his shoulder.
His eyes were having a hard time adjusting to the bright light of the sun. He
lost his sunglasses and he hadn't been out of the office in the middle of the
day in a long time. True, he and Robin had gone to Harry's during the ordeal
with Nobunaga, but most of the time they had been out was late at night when he
took her home.
Robin. He groaned thinking about her. She didn't know. She didn't know what he
knew. And she was still with Rica.
She was in danger, and that made the pain in Michael's heart worse than the
pain in his shoulder.
The woman he loved was in danger.
It never occurred to Michael that this was the first time he truly admitted to
himself that he loved Robin Sena, all that occurred to him was the fact that
David Rica was probably the most dangerous witch in all of Japan.
Hell, David Rica was the most dangerous witch in the entire World.
-----------------
