CAUTION: Contains Spoilers! Read at your own risk. The anime and characters included in this fan-fiction are under the exclusive ownership of their creators and Bandai Entertainment.
Ch. 7 – Research
The hospital reeked of acrid chemicals and electricity. The very air buzzed with the low, persistent drone of machinery. As the hospital staff went about their rounds, their thick, rubber-soled shoes squeaked along the buffed linoleum floors. Everything was excessively bright: the starched nurses' uniforms, the fluorescent lighting, the bleached-white bed sheets. It was so clinical, so sterile.
As the STN-J hunters made their way to Michael's recovery room, Amon thought of how he'd always tried to avoid hospitals. Unfortunately, he'd found himself visiting them far too often in the past few months. They stirred feelings deep within him…helplessness…apprehension…insecurity. He did not care to recall from whence these troublesome feelings had come to disturb him. He preferred to focus on more current events, to suppress any thought that delved too far into his past. Thus, he returned his most recent memory of visiting a hospital. It was immediately after Zaizen gave the order to hunt Robin. Touko, Amon's former…she wasn't exactly a girlfriend or a lover, but neither had she just been a friend. Touko…the hapless victim and bait of Solomon's task force had been lying unconscious behind the cold glass of the observation window of a room in the intensive-care unit of the hospital, her shallow breaths fogging the oxygen mask she'd worn.
For Touko, for Robin…for all his inaction, he'd paid the price—humiliation at the hands of Zaizen. Every angry punch and kick had reminded Amon of his place and his duty. He'd deserved the beating…deserved every last well-polished oxford to the kidneys. He had never disobeyed orders to hunt before and, at the time, he couldn't understand why he'd done so. Even now he wasn't sure he was fully aware of why he'd done it. His steely eyes skimmed thoughtfully over Robin's profile, searching for some clue as to why she'd become important enough to defy Zaizen's command. But Amon knew the answer to that question without having to look at the girl.
Robin felt the weight of Amon's gaze on her; it was a bit unnerving. A brief sense of relief bubbled within her as they reached Michael's room and the raven-haired hunter finally stopped staring at her.
A pair of white-clad nurses scurried about the private hospital room, fussing over Michael and readying him for discharge. STN-J's hacker appeared a bit disheveled, having woken up only a short time prior to his fellow members' arrival. He swung his legs over the bedside, pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, and smirked at his teammates in greeting.
"Michael, how are you feeling?" Karasuma smiled gently, her voice tinged with concern.
"A little sore, but ready to get out of here as soon as possible," he replied as he touched the left side of his ribcage tenderly and glanced at the nurses in mild irritation as they flitted about the room. Wincing, he lifted himself from the bed and planted his sneakered feet on the floor.
One of the nurses handed Amon a plastic bag containing Michael's belongings. "Make sure he gets plenty of rest and takes the medicine he's been prescribed." The black-haired hunter nodded curtly at the elderly nurse, handing the bag to Doujima, who glared at the back of his head the instant he turned away.
The other nurse rolled a squeaking wheelchair towards the group of hunters, motioning for Amon to help Michael into the chair. The hacker hobbled stiffly towards the wheelchair and Amon wrapped one of the teenager's spindly arms firmly around his neck as he lowered the hacker into the seat. Amon wheeled the young man out of the hospital, eventually arriving outside at Doujima's parked car. The older man's grey eyes caught the scatter of bullet-holes denting the car doors as he placed Michael in the vehicle's passenger seat. Closing the door and pushing the wheelchair towards Doujima, he turned to Karasuma, asking, "This is the car you were in when Sakaki shot at you?"
She nodded briefly, the mention of the rookie hunter's attack bringing a touch of sadness to her features. Her dark eyes followed Doujima as the blonde hunter unenthusiastically made her way inside the hospital again, pushing the wheelchair before her with a look of disdain on her face.
"Did you try to scry the bullet shells?" He asked, knowing with bitter certainty what her response would be. The bullets had been specifically designed to leave no trace of will, no hint as to the intentions of those who utilized them.
Miho's gaze drifted from Doujima's diminishing figure back to Amon's dark, discerning eyes. "Yes, but I couldn't read anything from them. It was like the last time-". She stopped, recalling how Robin had given Michael one of the witch-slaying bullet casings to research a few months before. "What are you thinking, Amon?"
The early afternoon sun above peered out from behind a patch of wispy, white cirrus clouds floating in the pale blue heavens. Amon squinted up at the sky, considering Miho's question as he watched the clouds skim lazily over the fiery orb. "Those bullets were outlawed by Solomon around six years ago. There are very few hunters who can obtain such ammo."
"You think perhaps Sakaki could have…? That he was an agent of Solomon?" Karasuma's brow furrowed. She did not like what Amon was insinuating and didn't want to believe such a thing could be true. But if Doujima had been one of Solomon's operatives, wasn't it possible that Sakaki was one as well? Even she had been tempted to betray Robin, to follow orders as she'd always done. And she had always been a hunter to go by the book, just as Amon had. She'd pledged herself as a loyal follower of Solomon's ancient dogma almost as soon as her inquiry was over and her life signed away.
Amon frowned and glanced at the young hacker who watched from behind the tinted car window, his keen jade eyes reading every word that passed his older teammates' lips. "We will need to talk to Michael first before I come to any conclusions. He's the last one to have seen Sakaki before he attacked you."
Robin climbed into the backseat of Doujima's car as Amon and Karasuma continued their discussion outside. "I'm glad to see you are safe, Michael."
Michael tore his eyes from Miho and Amon's conversation to meet her gaze and smiled faintly. "Me too. Sakaki and I barely got out in time."
The fire-witch's eyes filled with compassion, but quickly lit up. From a brown paper bag that sat beside her she withdrew a small box of donuts and a thermos of coffee. With a small smile, she held them up for the hacker to see. His own thin smile stretched into a grin as he accepted the box and proceeded to gobble up its contents.
After a moment of amicable silence, Robin spoke again. "Solomon has cut off our access to their database."
Michael replied, his voice muffled as he bit into his second donut. "I know. I tried to hack into it. Made some progress. I was able to find out that a hunter from Italy has been dispatched to Tokyo."
So the hunter is from Italy… "Master told us that a hunter was asking questions at Harry's yesterday. Did you find out anything else?" The lack of concrete facts regarding this new hunter was becoming more and more disconcerting.
"Not really. But it does seem that he wants us to know he's here. It's almost like Solomon let me hack into the system on purpose."
Mulling over his words, Robin watched Amon and Karasuma walk away towards Karasuma's car. It was a relief to be reunited with the other STN-J hunters, but being separated from Amon—after having been by his side constantly for two days straight—left a strange, hollow sensation in her stomach. Of course her partner would want to talk to the other STN-J agents, to those with more experience. But she couldn't help feeling abandoned. She had the sudden urge to run after him, to climb into Karasuma's black coupe so he couldn't desert her again.
Doujima returned from the hospital and opened the driver's side door. She dropped into her seat behind the wheel with an irritated sigh, tossing Michael's bag of belongings into the backseat beside Robin. "Off we go," she declared, revving the engine. They waited on Miho and Amon to get into Miho's car and then followed their lead back to Raven's Flat.
"There is a single-eye witch currently on the loose in Walled City," Amon began, taking in the varied expressions on the faces of his comrades. They sat in the conference room, its arrangement of computer monitors casting each STN-J member's face in an unnatural, blue-green glow. Regrettably, nothing more was displayed on the monitors than the definitive characteristics of a "single-eye witch" and vague information about the witch they were about to hunt.
Michael clacked away at his computer terminal, his eyes bouncing from line to line of the information that scrolled rapidly up its screen. "We had one of those witches several months ago. As I remember it, we didn't catch him."
"Do you think it's the same person, then?" Doujima propped her chin in her hands and watched Michael's fingers fly over his keyboard.
"No, most likely it isn't. Although, it is too early to dismiss any connection between the two cases," Amon answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "I was able to intercept information on this witch from Solomon's database, but we don't have his or her physical description or even a name yet. Michael is working on that as we speak."
"So we're supposed to hunt down some nameless, faceless witch in the maze of Walled City? Sounds…great," Doujima sneered.
Amon narrowed his eyes sharply, his response dripping with thinly-veiled annoyance. "Be quiet, Doujima. We're doing all that we can with the means available to us." But even as the words slipped passed his lips, he knew they weren't entirely true. If the STN-J was doing everything it could, they'd be patrolling Walled City right now. Though, with a hunter tracking them, it was suicide to wander through those slums without some damn good intelligence.
Robin glanced up from the monitor before her. "Michael, did Sakaki say anything after you escaped Factory? Anything that would help us understand why he attacked Doujima and Karasuma?"
The hacker abruptly stopped typing, his hands still hovering over the keys. "He didn't say anything much. I helped him out of the rubble and we met up with Nagira soon afterwards. We were both pretty bruised and battered, but I think he was in worse shape than I was. I lost track of him on the way to the ambulances." Michael peered at Robin over the rims of his orange-tinted glasses. "He seemed worried about you and Amon when no one could find you."
A touch of guilt caused her emerald eyes to break away from his gaze. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"It's all right. As long as you are both alive, it's all right," Karasuma replied, smiling kindly at the fire-witch from across the line of computer terminals.
Amon dredged through his memories, happening upon a strange, but plausible, conclusion. "This hunter… Michael, find out when he arrived in Japan, however you can," he ordered, turning his steely eyes to Doujima. "Doujima, when was the last time you spoke with your Solomon contacts? Did they tell you who was going to supervise Factory's infiltration?"
The blonde hunter's azure eyes widened slightly at the accusing tone of his voice. "The last time… The last time I talked to anyone from Solomon was after Factory collapsed. I told them to hold off on their plans to take over the facility because of the explosion. Now they've cut off all communication with me, just like they've done with STN-J." She frowned at Amon. "I know that Juliano was supposed to have supervised…although I never saw him there."
"Juliano?" Robin and Amon repeated in unison.
Doujima nodded. "I was told he was staying in Japan to oversee the operation, but I never received any real confirmation."
"Juliano is rarely ever alone," Robin remarked quietly. "He's almost always followed by a high-ranking Craft-user or two."
Amon quirked a dark eyebrow. "Do you know any of these Craft-users, Robin?"
The young witch blinked at her raven-haired partner. She tried to think back to her days in Italy, to the faces of Juliano's elite guardians. Yes, she'd known them, at least as well as anyone else in Solomon knew them. They'd all been S-class hunters, the highest ranking agents she'd ever known besides Juliano himself. Mysterious, dangerous, experienced witch hunters. She'd never been told the Craft with which each was endowed.
Her voice was hesitant as she responded to Amon's question. "I have met them before, but I do not know very much about them. They kept their powers a secret from everyone other than Juliano. They are S-class hunters and were rumored to be the most powerful in Solomon's organization. I think most of them were European."
"Were any of them Italian?"
Robin nodded slowly, aware of Amon's train of thought. "Yes, I believe there were at least two Italians. They traveled with Father Juliano the most often."
The witch hunters glanced at each other in thoughtful silence. Now they were getting somewhere.
The unexpected sound of a man clearing his throat came from the doorway of the conference room. The hunters turned to see Kosaka standing there, his stern eyes peering at them from under sharply slopping eyebrows. His hands were balled in fists at his sides and he fixed each of the STN-J members with a look of disapproval. Hattori, Kosaka's perpetual shadow, stood behind the STN-J chief and held a large box awkwardly in his arms.
"May I ask what is going on here?" Kosaka bellowed. Hattori shifted the box in his hands uncomfortably, glancing over Kosaka's shoulder at the hunters.
Amon stood up from his seat and met Kosaka's glare with one of his own. "We are attempting to determine the whereabouts of a single-eye witch. If we aren't permitted to use what little advantages are currently available to us to find the witch, what do you we propose we do?" His dark eyes bore into Kosaka's for a long moment until the STN-J chief looked away.
"I propose you take what weapons we've been supplied when you go on your hunt," Kosaka replied, motioning Hattori to bring the box forward. "The police chief has given us permission to use any means necessary to detain witches. I suggest you take him up on his offer."
The gatekeeper smiled as Amon and Robin stepped out from behind the elevator doors. "Mr. Amon, sir. Your car's been repaired. It was just the starter, nothing major," the portly man said, pointing a plump finger towards the parking garage. Amon nodded and strode towards the garage with Robin in pursuit.
A short while later, Robin fiddled with her headset, adjusting it in her ear for comfort as the sedan sped through the city streets. Karasuma and Doujima's voices faded in and out of frequency as their car traveled under the tunnel through which Robin and Amon had just passed. The fire-witch tapped the earpiece twice to turn off the receiver and glanced up at the outskirts of Walled City that loomed ahead. The decision to proceed with the hunt seemed premature to her. They still didn't have enough information to go on. So far, they were having to rely on out-dated maps of the slums and their own past experience to devise a plan of action. And no matter how skilled Michael was at hacking, he'd been unable to dig up any new information from Solomon's database. He'd promised to track their positions during the hunt and to forward any new intelligence as soon as he got his hands on it.
Amon maneuvered through the claustrophobic alleyways that wound themselves amongst the network of tenement buildings. Eventually he parked in front of a fence that blocked further travel and exited the vehicle. Robin followed suit, taking in their surroundings as she climbed out of the car. Amon's voice echoed in her earpiece as she tapped it on again. He was ordering Doujima and Karasuma to advance on the designated rendezvous-point from the North.
"We've exited Karasuma's vehicle, Amon. The GPS says our destination is 253 meters South-Southwest." Doujima's voice vibrated with static in the receiver of his headset.
Amon glanced at the small screen that displayed the GPS on his communicator. "Good. I've input your position. We're 216 meters due East of the target. See you there."
"Robin, let's go." Her partner's voice crackled in her earpiece as he spoke a few feet away from her. She nodded and arranged her glasses on her face before proceeding cautiously down a series of alleys.
The weight of the new, black .50 Desert Eagle was solid and reassuring in Amon's hand as he slid along the brick wall, staying a few feet behind Robin. The dark-haired hunter cocked the pistol as he rounded a corner and he aimed into the dimly lit alleyway before him.
Nothing.
He listened hard, trying to stifle the thousands of voices that were filling his mind at that particular moment. Where are you? He knew someone was here. Someone who was hiding in the shadows, toying with him. Someone who was brushing his mind playfully and then darting back into the protection of Walled City's labyrinth.
Amon's headset burst with sudden static and he winced inwardly as Karasuma shouted that she and Doujima were having to back-track. "The map on my handheld shows an unblocked alleyway where we are now, but apparently that has changed. We'll be at the objective shortly, as soon as we find a way around this obstacle."
"Affirmative. We're proceeding as planned. We'll meet you there," Amon responded, cringing at the volume of the woman's voice through the earpiece.
He and Robin emerged from the passageway into a walled concrete courtyard. A dead end, Robin thought. Had they made a wrong turn somewhere? She glanced apprehensively at her partner, who pursed his lips and surveyed their surroundings.
The sky had grown noticeably darker since their arrival in the slums. Robin's emerald eyes tried to pierce the encroaching shadows. There didn't seem to be a way out of the enclosure besides the alleyway from which they'd come. They were surrounded on three sides by run-down apartments with every window boarded up. "Amon, we should head back and radio Karasuma and Doujima."
They turned towards the alley to leave, but stopped short.
Standing in the entryway, and barring their escape, was the silhouette of a young man. A very familiar young man.
"Sakaki…" Robin whispered in disbelief.
The man lifted his head, his features half-obscured in shadow. Shaggy brown hair fell over one eye as a slow, eerie grin spread across his face.