"Amon!" she says, her gray eyes wide. Part of her isn't surprised, she's
been expecting this for a while, but part of her is beyond freaked out, the
psychological music of terror still playing on every nerve. And to her
amazement, she's still standing. Wow.
"You haven't been wearing your orbo for a while," he says dispassionately.
"That's your excuse to shoot me?" she argues, backing away on shaky legs. No way is Mr. Goth sending her to the Factory for such a stupid reason.
"You've been augmenting your powers illegally," he goes on in the same monotone. "You've been working with Takeda."
"Oh, so everything I do has to pass Solomon's standards?" she raises an eyebrow, not getting any closer. For a Hunt, this is going pretty humanely, despite the haunted house session. They're actually talking, she and her usually uncommunicative partner. "Or Zaizen's?"
"Give up, Kate," he says, his finger on the trigger. At this distance, he won't miss. Not that he always hits his targets, but Amon isn't known for missing at less than five meters.
"I'm not going to the Factory!" Kate cries out, running for her life. Almost a heartbeat later, she hears the sharp report of his gun firing, but she keeps running, despite the darkness closing over her vision. He shot me, I can't believe he shot me! she thinks hysterically, her long legs taking her farther away from her pursuer.
In a daze, she doesn't see her life flashing before her eyes. Instead, instinctively grabbing her arm and running, she sees something completely different. She sees the fifth floor of Raven's Loft, sunlight invading the STN-J office and almost washing out the drab outfits of the occupants. As usual, Michael is behind the computer, Miho and Haruto are lounging at their desks, Hattori carrying a stack of papers, Chief Kosaka nursing a headache probably due to Yurika being late again. It seems almost placid, a picture of office life in the STN-J. Suddenly the peaceful scene is interrupted with an explosion, a paramilitary team swarming into the office, and the team defending themselves desperately in this surprise attack. There is no sign of Yurika, which is normal, but there isn't any sign of Amon or herself, which is odd.
Before Kate can process this strange vision further, explosions rocket within the firefight in her mind as well as registering faintly in her ears, and, confused, she runs out into what appears to be a wide open field in the night time.
That turns out to be a big mistake, because she pitches over a rocky hill, and tumbles down, knocking herself out in the process.
Alert and oriented times zero, Kate blinks in confusion. Where is she? What happened? And, for a few moments of sheer terror, she thinks, Who am I? All she knows is, she's outside, it's dark, and she's cold and scared. And she's... bleeding fluorescent green? She checks her arm. What the hell?
As she touches the viscous substance on her arm, she grimaces. Orbo. And with that remembrance, she remembers everything else, including what just happened to her. I've been shot! Am I okay? She finds it's a superficial wound, but moving her arm too much stings, nonetheless. Dammit, Amon shot me!
Her gray eyes grow as cold as the night air. How dare he? I'm no witch! She forces her panic down from her heart to her stomach, and keeps running. It's almost like old times, when she was a thief living on the streets of the Technology District, doing everything she could to survive. She sold stolen goods, she sold information to various thugs, but she wouldn't sell herself. And Solomon had tracked her down and, through an interrogation, she became a Hunter rather than a hunted witch or a common criminal. And now, the organization that took her in, trained her, and paid her is now hunting her like a dog. Damn them. She doesn't need them now, anyways.
To her surprise and relief, she still has her orbo-loaded gun. Funny, she should've realized she was the target a while ago, but she'd gotten soft. Complacency in the home of the enemy is never wise, and she'd been very comfortable in STN-J, even after she hooked up with Takeda. I should have been better prepared, she thinks, wishing she had more weapons at her disposal, maybe even a few grenades to welcome Amon on his hunt. Still, she has her Craft, and she can see, if not hear, that bastard moving quickly and smoothly to where she's hiding.
I don't know this terrain, she thinks, scanning the countryside, I know how to hide in the city better. And realizes that's why he picked this place. Great. Well, might as well go down swinging. Tearing off her trenchcoat, she hisses from the pain in her arm and fashions a makeshift scarecrow. Not a decent decoy, but it'll buy her some time. Propping her stand-in behind a suitable tree, she keeps moving.
Houses, she thinks, her spirits rising a little. They might not have sympathetic people, but they'll have some decent transportation, she thinks, racing to the nearest home. Kate risks a quick glance behind, enough to see him toss the scarecrow aside angrily. Gotcha, she thinks, smiling a little as her legs continue to widen the distance between them.
"You haven't been wearing your orbo for a while," he says dispassionately.
"That's your excuse to shoot me?" she argues, backing away on shaky legs. No way is Mr. Goth sending her to the Factory for such a stupid reason.
"You've been augmenting your powers illegally," he goes on in the same monotone. "You've been working with Takeda."
"Oh, so everything I do has to pass Solomon's standards?" she raises an eyebrow, not getting any closer. For a Hunt, this is going pretty humanely, despite the haunted house session. They're actually talking, she and her usually uncommunicative partner. "Or Zaizen's?"
"Give up, Kate," he says, his finger on the trigger. At this distance, he won't miss. Not that he always hits his targets, but Amon isn't known for missing at less than five meters.
"I'm not going to the Factory!" Kate cries out, running for her life. Almost a heartbeat later, she hears the sharp report of his gun firing, but she keeps running, despite the darkness closing over her vision. He shot me, I can't believe he shot me! she thinks hysterically, her long legs taking her farther away from her pursuer.
In a daze, she doesn't see her life flashing before her eyes. Instead, instinctively grabbing her arm and running, she sees something completely different. She sees the fifth floor of Raven's Loft, sunlight invading the STN-J office and almost washing out the drab outfits of the occupants. As usual, Michael is behind the computer, Miho and Haruto are lounging at their desks, Hattori carrying a stack of papers, Chief Kosaka nursing a headache probably due to Yurika being late again. It seems almost placid, a picture of office life in the STN-J. Suddenly the peaceful scene is interrupted with an explosion, a paramilitary team swarming into the office, and the team defending themselves desperately in this surprise attack. There is no sign of Yurika, which is normal, but there isn't any sign of Amon or herself, which is odd.
Before Kate can process this strange vision further, explosions rocket within the firefight in her mind as well as registering faintly in her ears, and, confused, she runs out into what appears to be a wide open field in the night time.
That turns out to be a big mistake, because she pitches over a rocky hill, and tumbles down, knocking herself out in the process.
Alert and oriented times zero, Kate blinks in confusion. Where is she? What happened? And, for a few moments of sheer terror, she thinks, Who am I? All she knows is, she's outside, it's dark, and she's cold and scared. And she's... bleeding fluorescent green? She checks her arm. What the hell?
As she touches the viscous substance on her arm, she grimaces. Orbo. And with that remembrance, she remembers everything else, including what just happened to her. I've been shot! Am I okay? She finds it's a superficial wound, but moving her arm too much stings, nonetheless. Dammit, Amon shot me!
Her gray eyes grow as cold as the night air. How dare he? I'm no witch! She forces her panic down from her heart to her stomach, and keeps running. It's almost like old times, when she was a thief living on the streets of the Technology District, doing everything she could to survive. She sold stolen goods, she sold information to various thugs, but she wouldn't sell herself. And Solomon had tracked her down and, through an interrogation, she became a Hunter rather than a hunted witch or a common criminal. And now, the organization that took her in, trained her, and paid her is now hunting her like a dog. Damn them. She doesn't need them now, anyways.
To her surprise and relief, she still has her orbo-loaded gun. Funny, she should've realized she was the target a while ago, but she'd gotten soft. Complacency in the home of the enemy is never wise, and she'd been very comfortable in STN-J, even after she hooked up with Takeda. I should have been better prepared, she thinks, wishing she had more weapons at her disposal, maybe even a few grenades to welcome Amon on his hunt. Still, she has her Craft, and she can see, if not hear, that bastard moving quickly and smoothly to where she's hiding.
I don't know this terrain, she thinks, scanning the countryside, I know how to hide in the city better. And realizes that's why he picked this place. Great. Well, might as well go down swinging. Tearing off her trenchcoat, she hisses from the pain in her arm and fashions a makeshift scarecrow. Not a decent decoy, but it'll buy her some time. Propping her stand-in behind a suitable tree, she keeps moving.
Houses, she thinks, her spirits rising a little. They might not have sympathetic people, but they'll have some decent transportation, she thinks, racing to the nearest home. Kate risks a quick glance behind, enough to see him toss the scarecrow aside angrily. Gotcha, she thinks, smiling a little as her legs continue to widen the distance between them.