Chapter Seven: Old-Fashioned Detective Work

Outside the warehouse, Amon carried the unconscious Robin back to his car, setting her in the passenger seat. Despite Robin's moped resting not far away, Amon knew there would be no time to stall and he drove them away.

Robin awoke to the sound of other cars moving around her, and glanced over at Amon from his position behind the steering wheel. "Amon..."

"You deliberately followed me when I instructed you not to," Amon told her. "You disobeyed a direct order from your team leader."

Robin nodded, lowering her head. "Yes, I did..."

Amon activated his headset. "Michael, we need some Factory personnel to pick up Robin's moped and a number of Orbo bullets from a warehouse within the Walled City." He proceeded to give coordinates and turned back to his partner. "You got involved in my conflict with Nasat."

Robin waited for a scolding, but instead noticed that Amon's expression had softend somewhat. "Because you intervened, we are both still alive. Nasat would've defeated me easily if my battle with him had been allowed to continue. I owe you my life, really."

Robin looked up at him, surprised. "No, you don't, Amon. You've saved me a lot more than I've saved you."

Amon nodded. "We should get back to headquarters. There's no need to tell Zaizen what went on here today. In the meantime, there are always more witches to keep us occuppied."

Elsewhere in the Walled City, Kamiya glanced out from his new hiding place, seeing as his old residence had burnt down.

"So, the hunter has been exterminating my followers," Kamiya noted. "I tire of this rather trite game."

"What do you suggest we do?" one of his followers asked.

"Gather all who remain alive to me," Kamiya instructed. "We must complete our mission. This hunter will not stop us."

"What about the other hunters?" another follower asked.

"Let them all come," Kamiya smiled. "All three of our forces shall meet to settle our conflict." He looked out at the Walled City. "And what better arena for that conflict than this one?"

Back at Raven's Flat, Amon and Robin returned. Karasuma, Doujima and Haruto were all gathered around Michael's computer. Even Kosaka and Hattori were close by, trying to see what occuppied everyone's interest.

"What's going on, Michael?" Amon asked as he and Robin filed behind their teammates to look at the screen.

"It's a message from Solomon," Michael answered simply. "They want us to assist in capturing Nasat."

"It's about time, too," Haruto smirked. "Let's go after him!"

"No," Amon stated flatly.

"No?" Karasuma repeated. "What happened between you two, Amon?"

"He is far too powerful for our entire team to bring down," Amon explained. "Robin and I couldn't even touch him."

"What are we supposed to do, then?" Haruto demanded.

"Be patient," Amon instructed. "We will allow Nasat to continue his little killing spree."

Robin glanced at him. "You can't be serious, Amon."

"You guys have told me that often enough," Amon glared. "But I have a plan on how to deal with him. Interested?"

"Do tell," Doujima requested.

"We will continue our investigations on Kamiya and his followers," Amon explained. "Try to apprehend as many of them as possible before the 'Night of the Devil's Children'. Nasat more than likely won't bother us, as his primary targets are witches."

"But we'll have to bring him in eventually," Karasuma noted.

"Yes, of course, I'm getting to that," Amon explained. "When Kamiya and whatever witches he have left launch their assault, Nasat will be drawn out. Given his desposition, he won't be able to resist such prime bait."

"So how are we supposed to find all of Kamiya's followers? Haruto asked. "Don't you think they'd notice that Nasat is after them?"

"By now they probably have," Amon confirmed. "But we need to go about business as usual. Though we might want to try slightly different arrangements."

"Why?" Karasuma asked.

"Nasat already saw Robin and myself together," Amon explained. "As a Solomon operative, he can probably tell that we're partners. I suggest a temporary change. A different partner every day- it'll be harder for Nasat to discern a pattern."

"So who will be teamed with who?" Robin asked him.

"We'll set up a schedule," Amon said dismissively. "And then we'll begin our work."

The following morning, Haruto and Robin took to the streets together, while Karasuma and Amon headed off in an opposite direction. Robin tried desperately to hold onto Haruto's waist as they rode his motorcylce at breakneck speed through the city.

"So, you actually saw this Nasat," Haruto noted. "And fought him twice."

"I didn't really fight him," Robin replied. "He was so powerful- I didn't have time to counter his craft."

"Craft?" Haruto repeated. "What abilities does he have?"

"Fire," Robin replied simply. "The same as me."

"That seems familiar," Haruto noted. "You hunted a witch with flame powers not too long ago, right?"

"Aki Yoshioka, yes," Robin recalled. "Only her flames were a different color. Plus she wasn't as strong as Nasat."

"He must've been strong if even Amon retreated from him," Haruto rationalized. "What about Kamiya?"

"His element is wind," Robin explained. "He's also a relatively powerful witch, but Nasat could destroy him just as easily as anyone else."

"How are we supposed to bring him down if he's that powerful?" Haruto asked.

Robin glanced out. "Amon will come up with something," She turned back to him. "But we've got a job to do. We don't have time to worry about Nasat."

"Who's our target today?" Haruto asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

Robin reached into her jacket pocket and examined a document. "..Shiro Masuda. He lives somewhere around here."

"Not anymore, I don't think," Haruto murmured as he brought his motorcycle to a halt. Before them was a small apartment complex, being doused by firemen to control the raging fire surrounding the building.

Robin glanced at him. "I guess we move on. Nasat's already a few steps ahead of us."

"Like that's a surprise..."

Later, Karasuma and Amon returned from the daily search to Raven's Flat, looking significantly less-than-pleased. Michael and Doujima were stationed by the hacker's computer, glancing at the constant stream of information.

"How'd it go?" Doujima asked. Amon just glared at her while Karasuma shook her head, as they joined Michael at the computer.

"What is it?" Amon asked him.

"A huge number of sudden disappearances," Michael explained, typing frantically. "Nearly thirty-five known witches and a half-dozen Seeds have not reported for work and have not been recently seen in their homes. The police haven't found any evidence to suggest they've been kidnapped or killed, so it seems more likely they're...gathering somewhere."

"Kamiya," Amon grunted. "He's calling all the witches together before we can get to them."

"And with Nasat torching the ones who DON'T leave," came Haruto's voice as he and Robin joined their fellows. "We haven't found anyone left to bring in."

"We've got two forces working against us, then," Karasuma noted, going over to the coffee pot. "At this rate we won't be able to get to Kamiya until he actually starts up this plan of his."

"And time is running out," Amon growled. "But at this rate we won't manage to apprehend enough people in time to stop Kamiya's plot. And of course, since Solomon has effectively failed to deal with Nasat, we have two very serious problems on our hand."

"Why not just let them destroy each other?" Robin suggested.

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at their newest recruit.

"What did you just recommend?" Amon asked her.

"Why not just let them destroy each other?" Robin repeated. "With the number of witches that'll be following Kamiya with his plan, he'll be unable to resist such a prime target.

"And facing down Kamiya and his followers may weaken Nasat enough for us to surprise him," Robin continued. "Because on our own we are no match."

Amon nodded. "You may be on to something. But with the number of witches Kamiya has waiting for him presents a problem- we'd need more than our five- person team."

"We could ask Zaizen to bring in the Factory," Karasuma suggested. "There's more than enough armament for them to use."

"That'd be a pretty serious risk, though," Michael reminded them. "Kamiya's plan is to kill humans, regardless of whether or not they're hunters. There could be a large number of casualties before we even arrive."

"We'll just have to position ourselves all throughout the city," Amon stated. "Michael, set up as few 'key' points in the city as you can. No more than five if you can help it."

"So we're just going to wait for them to make the first move?" Haruto asked.

Amon nodded. "Watch yourselves over the next two days... I'm going to ask Zaizen for Factory support. The rest of you can return home for the night. Michael should have results by tomorrow."

Robin descended to the parking lot from the fifth floor in an elevator, alongside Haruto and Karasuma. None of them were talking, simply waiting to reach their destination. Robin glanced idly about as they passed each floor, looking out through the shaft's metal bars. In the darkness between each floor, Robin couldn't help but notice movement in her glance... but resigned that her eyes were merely playing tricks on her and disregarded it.

Instead, she took to her beloved moped, Vespa, which had been returned by the Factory and refueled. She bade farewell to Karasuma and Haruto before heading out to Touko's apartment.

Back up in Zaizen's office, Amon faced the STN-J's administrator as he took a long breath from a cigar.

"I can give you an additional twenty of my men," Zaizen stated. "And enough clean-up crews to pick up all the bodies that may be left behind. But I can only restrict so much of the local law enforcement."

"Kosaka has connections in the police department," Amon noted. "We could ask him to restrict their movement."

"We have a bad enough reputation with the police already," Zaizen dismissed. "They won't be too keen on agreeing not to do their jobs, especially if they know what's about to happen."

"Is there any other aid we can get?" Amon asked.

"We could ask Solomon for help," Zaizen considered. "But they've already lost a large number of operatives. They might go as far as to just bomb this place to get rid of him if we can't."

"Is apprehending Nasat that important?" Amon asked.

"They won't tell me," Zaizen grunted. "In the meantime, carry through on our dear Robin's plan. She will be needed to deal with both Nasat and Kamiya."

"Do you know anything about the similarity of their powers?" Amon inquired.

Zaizen raised one eyebrow. "What similarity?"

"Both of them use fire as their craft," Amon explained. "Has Solomon stated if there is any reason for this?"

Zaizen shook his head. "It's just coincidence." He glanced at his computer. "Keep an eye on Robin these next couple of days. Keep up your vigil."

Amon nodded and headed away. "And if I should fail to protect her from either of our adversaries?"

Zaizen did not answer, merely put out his cigar and showed Amon out of his office.