Thanks to Crossfade's single Cold, I was able to finish this chapter and the next two. XD Very good song BTW. Just a warning, tis a long chappie. o.O;
Disclaimer: I do not own Witch Hunter Robin, but if I did. . . .I'd be wearing a giant button that says "I own Witch Hunter Robin." Obviously I'm not wearing the pin, so I don't. Okay, I shall shut my trap and proceed to the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Stretten
The room grew silent as Haze gave the alarming news. No one, not even Amon, could find the words to show their utter shock. Though their faces told Haze enough. She was just as surprised as they were and she was the one giving the news.
"How. . .is he alive?" Robin stuttered.
"It seems my bullets didn't kill him," said Haze glaring at Jonathan. "I didn't know he was a healer," she hissed.
"Healer? You mean someone that heals themselves quickly like me?" asked Amon.
"Yes, unfortunately I didn't hit him in the exact spot I meant to. So when we all left the mansion, he got up and walked off. So that means Jaden's still alive and searching for you both. He's determined to turn Robin into SOLOMON."
"And what about you? Did you have any part in wanting to turn Robin over to SOLOMON?" Amon asked Jonathan. The ex-hunter mentally smiled as he saw the way Jonathan shrieked back at his question.
"No, of course not. That would be going against what we've been doing for years. I mean, turning in Robin would be going against our organization. We save witches, not turn them in even for the sake of others," Jonathan said in a slightly quivering tone.
'This is just great,' Robin thought to herself. 'Not only is SOLOMON after me, but Jaden too. What's next?'
"I also received some information from an informant about The Factory. Zaizen is conscious now and knows that Robin's still alive. He's asked his men to seek her out," said Haze in a quite putout tone.
'I just had to ask.' Too many things were happening and Robin felt closed in. They could possibly find her any moment. If they found her and Amon there, not only would they kill them both, but Nagira too. Surely they would discover Haze's deceit and kill her as well. Could she allow this to happen? Could she live the rest of her life on the run?
"So will we be leaving a lot sooner than expected?" asked Amon, whom at the moment was feeling the same as Robin.
"Yes, you two will have to move out by tomorrow. Any later and we risk someone finding you. There's no other choice. I hadn't expected for this to happen so soon, but with Jaden and those scientists looking for Robin too. . ." Haze paused as she glanced over at her chestnut-haired friend. The poor girl looked as if she may collapse at any moment. "Robin?" she asked worried.
Amon turned to Robin, whom had paled a sickly color of white. She suddenly didn't look like the sweet girl Amon had met all those months ago. Before he could even speak a word to her, Robin took off towards the door.
"Robin!" yelled the crowd as Robin ran out the door.
She bolted towards the apartment, ignoring the calls of her comrades. All of Robin's emotions seemed to be swimming around inside of her. Weariness had set upon her fragile body and she felt nauseated as the thought of her being hunted plagued her mind.
Robin threw open the apartment door and slammed it shut, locking it in the process. All the emotions that had been bottled up inside of her spilt out as she slid to the floor. She had never felt like this before. Not even when SOLOMON had gone after her the first time had she felt like this. It felt like her world was ending.
Amon banged on the door, utterly confused as to why Robin had just taken off as she had. 'What could she possibly be thinking?' he thought to himself. He glanced through the little window that set upon the door. It had taken him a moment to finally catch sight of her, her small frame lying in front of the door. "Robin, open up this door!" he yelled, not meaning to sound as harsh as he just had.
"Robin open the door now!" he said, this time sounding a bit more sincere than before. He jiggled the door knob, cursing under his breath at Robin's actions. As much as he would have liked to stay patient, his patience were growing thin. "ROBIN! Open this damn door!"
Amon wanted to bust out the window on the door, but decided against it, seeing as Robin was right underneath the window. He wanted to talk to her face to face, but how could he with her blocking the door? All he could do was talk to her from out there.
"Amon," said a muffled voice from behind the door.
"Yes." 'At least she's talking now,' he thought to himself.
"I want to turn myself in to SOLOMON," she said, nearly choking up.
Her comment had nearly knocked the man off his feet. "Turn yourself in!?" he said angrily. 'How can she think of such a stupid thing to do?'
"If I don't, they'll come after everyone and I don't want that to happen." She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her sleeve and sniffled. "We'll be running for the rest of our lives. They are determined to have me dead now and will never stop their search for me."
Amon suddenly remembered their conversation before Haze and Jonathan had arrived. She was fixing to tell him what he had been waiting to hear for so long. "Robin. . .why is SOLOMON so determined to kill you?" he asked, feeling his body grow heavy. He wasn't sure if he reallywanted to hear the answer.
Robin slowly stood up, turning her back towards the door. She was trying to regain her composure, but the tears kept coming. "Because. . ." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 'Just tell him.'
"Would you two keep it down please!?" hissed Haze through gritted teeth.
Amon turned towards the woman and glared. It seemed not even his glare had an affect on the woman. She just glared back.
"Robin," said Haze walking towards the apartment door. "Don't give up so easily. You're a strong person and you'll make it through this. Everyone here is looking out for you; you're not alone in all of this."
"What were you about to tell me Robin?" Amon said, nearly ready to swing at anyone else that interrupted him.
"Come on Robin, you need to open this door. We need to go over a few things before you two leave." Haze went for the doorknob, but backed off as it began to turn. A smile came to her face as Robin pulled the door back and faced her. "Good, now come on," she said grabbing her by the arm.
Amon just stood there, watching the two walk back to the office. 'Why does it seem like no one wants to tell me the truth? What is it about the Orbo that they are keeping from me?' Perhaps when they got out of here, he could finally manage to get something out of Robin. He was starting to hate the way Robin was acting.
Haze walked Robin back into the office and sat her down at the couch. "Listen Robin, Nagira and Jonathan will tell you everything you need to know before leaving. I need to run back to STNJ Headquarters and do some research for Juliano," she said, patting Robin on the shoulder.
The girl nodded and slightly smiled. "Thank you."
"Take care of her, alright?" said Haze, glaring at Amon.
Amon wasn't sure what the glare was for, but nodded. "What do you have to research for Juliano?" asked Amon inquisitively.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," she said with a wink. Haze smiled and walked towards the door, leaving Amon and the others bewildered. None of them seemed to know what Haze was up to.
STNJ Headquarters
Michael sat back at his desk, staring at the screen as if he expected something amazing to happen. 'Come on, flash again' he thought to himself. For the past week he had been receiving messages from an unknown person, claiming that the Factory had returned. It seemed that every single time these messages appeared, he was the only one in the office. The only person he had mentioned the message to was Miho. She was the only one he seemed to deem trustworthy. Doujima had proven far too many times that she couldn't keep a secret.
He was glad to know Amon was alive and well. Hopefully he would soon find Robin and get out of the country. If Michael could, he'd find a way to help them both, but unfortunately SOLOMON was watching them closer than ever. Haze was also someone Michael found himself having to watch out for. He still did no trust that woman.
The young hacker sat back in his chair, staring at the computer screen. "Nothing," he said to himself. For nights he had tried to uncover some information about The Factory, anything that would be of use. Yet he could find a single thing. If the Factory had returned, they were keeping themselves concealed pretty well. He began typing in the names of the few Factory workers he knew of, but unfortunately all the results came back blank. "Damn," he breathed.
"What's the matter?" asked a sly voice from behind him.
He turned around to see Haze, peering over him at the screen. "Oh, doing research on the Factory, eh?"
"What does it matter to you?" snapped Michael. He didn't appreciate this woman spying on him.
"Tsk tsk. . .no need to be rude to me. I just asked a simple question. It doesn't matter to me if you're researching the Factory. After all, I'm fixing to do it myself," she said with a mischievous grin.
"What? Why would you be researching them now?" he asked curiously.
"I want to know where they're hiding now," she said, clicking on the computer next to Michael. She sat down next to him, not noticing the look of confusion that had come to his face.
"Where they're hiding now?"
"Yes, where they're hiding now. You do realize they've reorganized themselves, correct?" Michael nodded, lowering an eyebrow at the woman. "And how do you know the reorganized themselves? Did you send me that email?" he asked.
She smiled and looked over at the boy. 'So he finally figured it out. I guess I didn't make it very obvious' "Yes, I sent it to you. I was hoping you would have figured it out on your own, but you're not as cunning as I once thought."
"You left nothing on the emails to indicate that you'd sent them."
"And why would I have done so? Do you really think I wanted to get caught? No one at the STN-J was to know the Factory had returned. If any of you had known, you would have surely tried to go after Robin and Amon," she hissed.
"So you are here about Robin?"
Haze ignored his question, proceeding the keyboard. With a few taps of different keys, the SOLOMON database appeared on the screen. She clicked through a multitude of folders until she finally came upon the page she had been looking for.
"You hacked into SOLOMON's file database? How?" Michael asked in shock.
"There's a lot of things you have to learn when you have a job like mine," she said with a grin. Haze looked down the page and paused at one particular section. It was archives from previous chat sessions between certain SOLOMON agents.
Friday, November 8th
D. Stretten: Have they been located yet?
S. Hiroki: The man was last spotted near a law firm in Tokyo. One of our agents claims to have seen the girl with him.
D. Stretten: When is the earliest that you can send our men in?
S. Hiroki: Sir, we can have them there by 3 a.m. or so. We need time to prepare.
D. Stretten: Have it done. Please keep me informed of the situation.
S. Hiroki: Yes sir.
Haze choked as she got to the bottom of the message. "Oh no," she breathed. 'They're planning on raiding the place this morning?' She looked down at her watch and felt her heart claw its way up into her throat. 'It's 2:30.'
She lept from her chair and headed towards the elevator, quickly pulling out her cell phone. Haze hadn't bothered to notice that the young hacker was following her. "Nagira!" Haze said in a quite panicked voice.
"What is it? Is something wrong cause you sound freaked out."
"Yes something's wrong! You have to get them out of there now!" she snapped.
"Why so quickly?"
"JUST DO IT! SOLOMON knows they're there. Get them out of there now!" she shouted into the phone.
"SOLOMON?" asked Michael.
Haze turned around and looked at Michael, her jaw dropping. 'You shouldn't have been so loud you idiot.' "Do you hear me," she breathed into the phone, staring straight at Michael.
"Yes I'll get them out now."
"Is there a back way out of your office?" she asked, still focusing on Michael's slender figure.
"There's a fire escape."
"No! I don't want you sending her down the fire escape. Just carefully lead them out the front. I'll get over there as soon as I can," she said snapping the phone shut. Haze slipped the phone back into her pocket and turned towards the elevator.
"What is going on Haze?" Michael asked in a quite irate tone.
"If I tell you, you must promise not to tell anyone else, understood?"
"Fine, just tell me what's going on."
Haze flicked the elevator button, sighing heavily. "SOLOMON is planning a raid on a law firm tonight. They're after two runaway witches. You know them both."
"I know them? You mean Amon and Robin?"
"Yes," she said sadly. "I was sure we'd have more time, but I was wrong."
"Wait, so you're saying Amon is a witch?" Michael asked stunned.
Haze slowly nodded and put a hand on Michael's shoulder. "You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" she asked.
The hacker agreed not to tell anyone about tonight as he walked into the elevator with Haze. He was quite stunned to hear that Amon's powers had surfaced, though he was kind of glad they did. It meant Robin didn't have to feel like an outcast around him.
Nagira's Law Firm
Robin and Amon walked a little ways down the street and turned into an alley where a black car was waiting for them. Nagira stood next to the car with Jonathan, whom both were watching Amon wearily as he approached. Nagira made Robin get into the passenger's seat and then walked over to the driver's seat. Amon hadn't quite expected what happened next. His brother quite literally shoved him into the driver's seat. He looked back at the man, glaring a glare that could have even sent a rottweiler, cowering in fear.
"Here's the map to the area you'll be staying at," he said handing Amon the map. "I've had it set up so that you have access to any money you may need. Now, since you're both having to live together, I also had to draw up a fake marriage license. You two can come up with the whole 'how we met' and 'what the wedding was like' story later. Under no circumstances will you come back here, understand?" he asked, glaring at Amon.
He nodded and huffed, trying to make a mental note of everything that had spilled out of his mouth. 'He tells me all this and expects me to suddenly be okay with it?' "Fine," he muttered cranking the vehicle.
"Oh and Robin, take this," Nagira said, handing Robin a cell phone. "This is for emergencies. Whenever you need to talk to me, just use that phone. Don't use the regular phone line at the house," he said with a wink.
"Thank you Nagira," smiled Robin.
Amon put the car in gear and sped off, not even bothering to say goodbye to his brother. His mind was spinning from the plethora of information that had been handed to him. All in one night, he found out he would be moving to the countryside with Robin, hiding out from not only SOLOMON, but the Factory and Jaden. He was starting to wonder who else would be after them next.
After them. Sometimes Amon forgot he was now a witch. It seemed like his powers awakening should have been a big impact on him, yet they weren't. Probably because they weren't all that noticeable. In fact, they had been with him for a long time and he had neglected to notice.
A part of him hated the fact that he had powers. Yet the other felt relieved that his powers were nothing like Robin's. He had hoped his powers wouldn't be something that could become out of control. Nagira had at least made him feel as if being a witch was nothing. Amon would never forget the day in the hospital when Nagira so plainly put that his powers had shown. There was no hint of fear or disgust in his voice.
Nagira stood outside his law firm, observing the damage the SOLOMON agents had done to it. Haze stood next to him, her face emotionless. A few SOLOMON agents stood near Nagira, keeping a close eye on him.
Right after he had returned to his office, the SOLOMON agents crashed through his office windows, knocked down the door, and raided the building. They even ransacked the upstairs apartment. Everything had been ruined and Nagira felt the anger inside of him boiling. All this ransacking meant he'd have to do the repairs and replacing of damaged items. Hana would not be happy when she returned to work the next day.
A black car soon pulled up in front of the building, a man dressed in a grey cashmere suit stepped out. He had wild, feathery, black hair and pale white skin. His eyes were a dark grey color and nose seemed to crook out. Nagira thought he looked like a vulture.
He walked over to where Nagira stood; a most displeased look on his face. The man stopped in front of the SOLOMON agents that had been watching Nagira. All four agents straightened up and saluted the man.
"Did you find them?" said the very scratchy voice that escaped from the man's mouth.
"No sir," answered one of the agents.
"Well, where did they go!?" he asked quite irate.
"We don't know sir," answered another.
He grunted, sneering at the men for their failure in capturing the two witches. The man then turned to Nagira, whom felt his gut jerking inside. Nagira knew this guy was trouble and not just by the way he looked and talked. There was something about him that made him know this guy was bad.
The man stepped in front of him, his face drawing close to Nagira's. "Where did they go?" he asked, biting his tongue.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Why in the hell did your men storm into my office and destroy the place?," he answered in a furious tone. Nagira mentally smiled as he saw the displeasure that came to the man's face.
"Really? I was told that two very dangerous witches were spotted here, in your very firm. Was I misinformed or are you lying to me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Um, I'm still not following you. Can you describe them? And you still didn't answer my question!"
"You're saying no witches were here? Well, let me refresh your memory. One of them was an ex-agent of the STNJ's by the name of Amon. The other was also an ex-agent of the STNJ and SOLOMON whom went by the name Robin Sena. Does that ring a bell?" the man asked curiously.
Nagira shook his head and sighed, "Listen I'm not good with names. Could you at least describe them? Oh and WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING MY QUESTION!"
A vein in the man's temple had become quite noticeable as Nagira continued to play along. He was now grinding his teeth together and glaring at the man. "We stormed in because we thought two highly dangerous witches were in your office!" The man reached into his business jacket and pulled out a folder. He flipped it open and pulled out two pictures.
"These are the two witches," he said, showing the pictures to Nagira.
Nagira looked at them for a few moments, trying to act as though he'd never seen either one before. "Hmm. . .they look kind of familiar. You know, they may have stopped by the law firm once. Oh, I remember now. That guy Amon or whatever-his-name-is was asking about "witch protection" or something like that. I didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about, so I sent him and that girl out of my office."
"Really? And what day did this occur?" he asked Nagira.
"Um, maybe last Thursday. I can't really remember. We have many clients come in and are always quite busy." He hoped that whatever day SOLOMON had found out about Robin and Amon being there was after Thursday.
"Hmm, unfortunately your story checks out," said the man quite displeased. "One of our agents had only spotted them here once. We were informed yesterday. Seems you really didn't know these two, correct?"
"Correct, oh and I remembered something. That girl said something on the way out about "America." Maybe they were running off there," Nagira added.
The man nodded and grinned. "Yes, we'd heard this before. So they really did run off to America." He turned towards Haze and grinned. "You know what to do," he said nodding to the woman.
He turned back towards Nagira, reaching into his jacket once again. This time he pulled out an off-white business card. Nagira took it from the man and looked it over. 'Stretten?' Nagira thought to himself. 'This is the guy Amon told me about. He's the new head of SOLOMON.'
"If you see either one of them again, give me a call," said Stretten, walking back towards his car. He got back in, staring intently at Nagira. "Mr. Nagira, if I find out you are lying, well. . .I'm sure you can guess what will happen. I know you've had previous dealings with witches," he said closing the door. It seemed this wouldn't be the last Nagira saw of this man. How did he know Nagira had previous dealings with other witches?
As the car drove away, Nagira looked back at his office. "Yeowch." he said with a wince. "This is going to be fun repairing. You don't suppose he'll do anything about it do you?" he asked Haze.
"Probably not. Stretten's not that type, unfortunately." She walked up closer to him and leaned towards his ear. "It's best not to talk about Robin or Amon when you go back in. Chances are they bugged the office. I know where they hid each of them, so they'll be easy to remove," she said with a wink.
Haze walked off towards the office, while Nagira continued to just stand there. He was thinking about Amon and Robin. Hopefully what he told Stretten would stick for a while, before they discovered the two had never gone to America. At least they were safe for now or so he hoped.
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That's the end of this chapter. We finally met Stretten and well. . .we haven't seen the real side of him. Poor Nagira. He has a lot of cleaning up to do. o.O;
Since the chapter was entirely too long, I decided to cut it into two.
Sorry for any grammatical errors. I spell check and go over this story many times, but still overlook errors. (I like to stick this in each chapter, in hopes that someone will not make fun of my grammar and spelling)
Preview of next chapter (and yes I know this was the same preview from the last chapter. Chapter 5 was split up into two different chapters ;):
The truth revealed. . .awkward moments. . .all alone.