WITCH HUNTER ROBIN: Sparks of Reunion

The next day the STN-J members woke up to birds singing in their trees, and fire trucks wailing toward the still burning Raven's Flat. There was no longer any denying it, Solomon's Japanese Headquarters was gone, and gone for good. The higher ups in Europe weren't going to be very happy to replace such an expensive building, but at least no one who was important had died.

Michael still lay in the emergency room, connected to life support as Nagira's surgeons decided the best procedure in which to fix the boy, while Nagira's male assistant, Goro Kyoshi, took Doujima's place, waiting for the doctors to come out with some kind of news. The young girl wasn't sure what to make of him at first, he seemed like he was in his late thirties, early forties, and didn't say much, with the exception of a sympathetic frown at the boy, and a sly smirk at her, letting her know that there was nothing to worry about -- at least that's what she had hoped it had meant.

Doujima tried to track down Nagira, to force him to tell her what was really going on. How could he know what kind of attack was heading their way, who exactly was his informer, what had he meant by we? After a half hour of looking for him, she sighed and gave up the ghost, heading for bed, determined that after a few hours of sleep, she would try to find him again.

On the orders of Director Kosaka and Nagira, the other members of the group split up and spent the long night in a conjoined bed room, so that if there was another attack, at least they would not be separated. Kin had laid in the large rectangular room, eyes wide open, listing to Sasaki snore his ear off, and Karasuma mutter some kind of obscenity as Doujima entered, trying to cheer everyone up by making this whole thing a slumber party, not that he would have been able to sleep anyway.

His mind raced back to the phone call with his mother, and then the attack, followed by his sister's arrival, trying desperately to bring him back into the fold. Joining the police force in Tokyo, Japan, Kin had seen all manner of religious nut jobs and crazies. He'd read about countless horror stories of survivors who had managed to break away from the psychopathic leaders of such cults, and felt a form of kinship with them, if anything was family, these brave souls were his, not those who claimed the same blood as he.

There was another thing that disturbed the young man as he lay there on his cot. He knew somewhere, in this complex, were Amon and Robin, or at least they had been here just a few weeks ago. He shook his head; no they were definitely still here, Nagira's insistence that Karasuma not enter that one door proved that. But even so, if Amon and Robin were not ready to show themselves to the group, what if their united enemies were determined to do just that? Forces of darkness extremely determined to flush the two fugitives out into the open and . . ., and then what? Kin frowned and rolled back and forth as he thought. Michael and he were the only two people in STN-J who knew that the two of them were here, and Michael was in no condition to start talking to anyone.

And so it went throughout the night, only the second night of his young life in which he was incapable of sleeping even a few minutes. Finally, just as the sun began to rise he rose to his feet, managed to stumble into the main office of Nagira's business and plop onto a chair, staring longingly at a brewing cup of coffee.

"You a night hawk, or just can't sleep well in a new place?" a feminine voice said behind him. He turned, and looked at Mika Hanamura glowering at him. She was a young woman with a slim figure and very steady eyes, eyes that were prepared to nail him to the chair if he said anything that displeased her.

Kin smiled sheepishly and leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "I'm afraid I'm the type that can't sleep when there's too much going on in his busy mind," he said, "we paranoid folk tend to be funny that way," he continued with a chuckle.

The response took her back for a moment, and for a second she favored him with a smile of her own. "You're with the STN-J, aren't you?" she asked, walking toward the coffee pot, and pouring three cups of the dark brown liquid.

He refused the sugar, but gladly took the dark liquid, and downed it nearly all at once. "Hence, the paranoid part of my personality," he said with the best charming smile he could muster.

"You also used to be a police officer too, unless I miss my guess," she said, refilling his glass and glaring at the "forbidden door" with heat seeking laser beams coming from her eyes.

"The lady is starting to catch on for my reasons of paranoia," he said bursting out laughing. Again she smiled at him, but put a long slender finger to her lips. Kin blinked for a moment and ran his hands through his hair. "Sorry." He looked at her and cocked his head to one side, declining a third cup of the stuff.

"Aren't you going to ask what we do at STN-J?" he asked.

She looked at him for a very long time, her lips pinched and her back straight, stiffer than a board. "If I never worked here, I might consider it," she began, "but the question is, do you know what you do over there?"

He felt his skin crawl and leaned back. For the second time in these few months he had been asked that by someone he had just met, and it sent him mind racing. Kin shook his head and opened him mouth as if to answer, but the rest of his group decided to take the time to walk into the room just then, as did Nagira.

Karasuma tried desperately to crane her neck, to spy who might be behind those doors, as the tall, white clothed man walked through them, but he used his left shoulder to block her view, and smiled closing it as quickly as he had opened it.

"Better luck next time," he said between a massive yawn, and then ducked as Mika tossed the coffee cup at him. It shattered against the wall, and brown liquid slowly ran down it, staining its light brown surface.

"That was my favorite cup," Nagira protested, looking at his assistant with big, injured, puppy dog eyes.

"If you hadn't slept in so late, or should I say stayed up so late gambling, and came in late, and then slept in, you wouldn't have had to loss it," she snapped, as if she were a crocodile ready to slam its jaws down on its prey. Mika rose to her feet and pushed him aside, and cleaned up the mess. "You really need to get your priorities straight, boss."

"I have them straight," Nagira whined, raising his arms. From the corner of his eyes he could see the small group stare at them with odd expressions, and he started chuckling.

"Sorry about that," he laughed. He nodded to his assistant, and she sighed with bitter eyes and finished her cleaning, and fixed them all the rest of the coffee, before moving on with her paperwork.

"I thought I had rough assistants," Director Kosaka said, sipping his coffee, and looking across the table from Amon's older brother. The taller man smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Can't be helped I guess," he said with a sigh. "That girl keeps me grounded, without her I might not even remember where it is I live at times." He flashed the group a playful smile, and then leaned back in his chair.

"In all humor aside I doubt that the police will be able to catch the criminals who attacked us," Kosaka said. The air seemed to grow thick, and clouds rolled over the morning sun as he reflected. "What happened was almost nearly an inside job. There was no way any one just off the street could know where in Raven's Flat to strike and at what appropriate areas to concentrate their attacks, either."

"I was starting to think the same thing," Karasuma said, stroking her chin. "I thought it was the mafia at first, but there was no way they could have known that we would have all been there, or where we keep our extra weapons."

"It was the mafia," Kin announced suddenly, ferociously. The group, startled at his anger, turned to him. The young man blinked for a moment and then chuckled, stroking his head. "Sorry, didn't get much sleep." He sent a playful glare in Sasaki's direction, hoping to distract them and then continued. "Before I joined the STN-J my division was very familiar with Motokita and his gang." That much was true, "I recognized the symbols on the attack helicopter and matched it to his group."

"I knew the bastard was rich, but strong enough to be able to buy his own military helicopter?" Kosaka frowned and leaned his head on the palms of his hands.

"He has more than just that one," Kin continued, "he has a fleet of them, plus a secret air base where he stashes them when not using them."

"If Tokyo police knew about this, then why --," Doujima protested, her anger growing. Her parents were very powerful members of Solomon, she herself was a high ranking agent in its European fronts, but preferred to stay here in Japan, with her friends. She knew a lot about the Yakuza warlord witch. Still to see injustice down like this made her blood boil.

"He's a witch, right?" he snapped back at her. "Of course at the time my division didn't know that, still doesn't know that," that was partially true, there were a few of them that did, but that was a story for another time. "So he was able to hide them from us, and apparently is still able to hide them very well."

"Shit," Sakaki shouted pounding his fist into the couch in which he sat. "The Raven, this whole attack would have been to break the Raven out of our hands," he snapped.

"Sakaki, the Raven is in a highly guarded area of the Factory, not at Raven's Flat," Karasuma said, looking at him as if he had gone off the deep end.

"That's not exactly true," Kosaka said, slumping in his seat. All eyes were on him now. "The Raven was being transported to our headquarters for further questioning," he began. We really should have considered renaming that place a long time ago, how ironic, the Raven was being taken to the Raven's Flat. "He should have arrived just a few minutes before the attack began."

"And those goons on the lower ends of your headquarters were hustling some guy in chains into a dark van, which raced off afterwards," Nagira growled.

"So it looks like Sakaki was correct after all," Doujima sighed. Everyone lowered their heads out of frustration, and was quieter than a mouse. The teenage woman's head snapped up, her eyes wide with anger, "But it's just not right," she growled. "Motokita always seems five steps ahead of us, how is that possible?"

"Perhaps Kosaka was correct in thinking that it was an inside job," Karasuma said; her voice strong and determined. "But who could have the access to all our files and cameras and war room?"

"It would have to be someone high up in the ranks of the STN-J," Kosaka said, crossing his arms.

"But you're the highest ranking officer there," Sakaki pointed out.

"But not in all of the STN-J," the older man admitted, "and definitely not in all of Solomon. There are even members of the Factory that are higher ranking than me."

"With access to everything that they would need to give Motokita the heads up?" Nagira asked. He stroked the bottom of his neck and shook his head. "I really don't buy it, you guys, what kind of group is run like that?"

"One that likes its privacy and its little army ants to do anything without questioning," Kin snapped. They were staring at him again, but this time with knowing eyes.

The STN-J for a long time had killed people in the name of scientific research without even knowing that they were doing it. It was only until Robin showed up, that they began thinking for themselves again. There was a new realization that circled the room, and most of their heads bowed in sorrow . . ., Robin. How they could use her help now.

Kin watched them and eyed Nagira, who likewise was watching, edging him along with bowing his head too. It wasn't time just yet for them to know what was going on, on that front, though both men suspected that certain of these individuals were secretly admitting to themselves that the young witch and her guardian were both very much alive.

It was a secret that, although Nagira desperately wanted to keep until the best possible time to reveal, would not stay secret for long. In fact, it would not even last to see the end of the day. Just after breaking up their meeting, four hours after it had begun, the group could hear tires screeching, and not just tires belonging to one car, but hundreds of them. Kin felt his back tighten, and he eye Nagira, who was already dashing toward the window, to see what was going on.

An endless line of short, black cars followed each other, until they made a perfect half circle around the complex. Behind them were small military units, and behind those were larger artillery units, all of them baring the same insignia that had been on the attack helicopter the night before.

"This didn't take them long to find us," Kin said, reaching for his gun. The officer flung himself behind a couch, and came face to face with Mika, her eyes wide and shaking, in her hand a rather nasty looking knife. He smiled at her and lowered her hands, "Let's leave that until absolutely necessary, okay?"

She swallowed, and nodded her head. When her employer bellowed her name, she shot up, like a ground hog for the first day of spring and looked at him. He pointed down a hall and ordered her to call for back up, and then to go to the hospital area and help Goro and the doctors protect Michael.

After she had gone, he took his place next to his front door, leaning against the wall and narrowed his eyes. "Nothing like a shoot out to start the day," he said with dry humor.

"I don't see anything funny about this," Sakaki said, brandishing a new gun. "There's more creeps out there than there was last night." He looked down at his clips and counted them mentally. "I've got enough ammo to last for at least an hour."

One by one, each of them admitted the same. "Then be careful not to take wasted shots," Nagira snapped. "The back up I called for should have enough ammo to let us stand here for at least three hours after that and by that time the police should arrive to help us with this problem of ours."

"Going to need every district in Tokyo for this," Kin groaned. From his place behind the couch he scanned the world outside of the windows, and narrowed his eyes. There were at least ten, if not more attack helicopters coming from different directions. "We're going to need the military too, maybe even the air force."

"I don't understand how they found us so quickly," Karasuma said quietly.

"Your buddy, the Raven probably identified my groups vans, and reported them to the big boss," Nagira said. "Unlike you guys, I'm listed in the yellow pages."

Kosaka flipped his cell phone off, and looked at the group. "I've just contacted the Factory, their sending what available units they can this way, but we better hope Nagira's forces come here first, or we'll end up slaughtered before they can do any good."

There was a tense moment of silence, as the mafia quickly moved everyone one the streets watching away into vans of their own, or back into their own houses. Both sides seemed to stare each other down, sweat and uncertainty lay thick in the air. Finally, after an agonizing amount of time, the mafia's forces raced forward with a deafening battle roar, and the bullets began to fly, shattering Nagira's windows, and punching tiny holes into his walls.

The STN-J returned fire almost immediately and the space between the two groups became thick with the stench of bullets and gun smoke. So far none of the thugs were able to penetrate too far toward the apartment complex, and Nagira thanked his lucky stars that he had recently purchased the whole thing, so he could put more people who did not want to be found, and just knew how to use guns to protect that secrecy to use.

He had children and the sick and elderly, including Michael, in the basement, where there were no windows, and unless his enemies had underground drilling vehicles could not invade there easily. There was an elevator that would evacuate these people to the top floor, and only headed to the top floor, should his enemies break in, that elevator was the only way to get into or out of the basement.

His more violent clients were on the first floor, and though their oppressors were cruel and evil, he'd shed no tears over his clients' deaths either. If the mafia truly wanted to take that floor, they'd take it with fifty dead bodies for ever inch that they took.

On the second floor, were much less guilty people, though not as innocent as the clients down in the basement. They could fire a gun, or fling projectiles with the best of them but the problem was there were a lot less of them on this floor than on the first.

The third floor was client free. It was practically a maze that one would get lost in unless he or she knew the current updated answer to the riddled walls. If the mafia made it up here, and Nagira didn't really doubt that they would, they'd have a hard time navigating the corridors and hinge doors to get to the fourth floor, where he and the STN-J were desperately fighting to keep their ground.

The mafia had succeeded in shooting out all of his apartment's windows, and had their less lethal helicopters move closer to the building, where their men could propel themselves down ropes and enter the floors that way, but it was a struggle just for the men to hang onto the ropes, and bullets flew out their directions, and many of them – body armor or not – dropped to the ground, oozing blood. Despite their losses, the cars and vans on the ground continually unloaded new reinforcements, and new cars and vans kept pulling up to the building all the time.

To make matters worse, the STN-J and Nagira could hear gun battles erupt all over the neighborhood, from many different blocks away. Police sirens were abruptly cut off as the sky exploded in flames, and the cries of the wounded echoed through the deadly day of violence. During the half hour of battle Kosaka's cell phone screeched to life, and he ducked under a table to speak. His skin turned ashen gray as he listened, and then told whoever had been speaking to him good luck, before hanging up.

"What's going on?" Karasuma asked, glaring in his direction.

"It's the Factory," he responded hoarsely. "They won't be able to make it here to help us; they've come under attack too."

"Damn it," the woman snarled. She spun on her heels and fired a volley of bullets at three of the criminals, dropping them like rocks and reloaded, pressing her back against a wall. "The police can't help, the Factory can't help," she turned to Nagira, "and where's your backup, cowboy?"

As much as he hated to admit it, the tall man did not know. "If they've ambushed the police and the Factory, it's a safe bet they've got my men pinned down somewhere in the lower levels of the complex," he said. "Which means they're probably inside, at least on the first floor," he dropped his used gun and reached for a sawed off shot gun, blasting the ropes that the criminals were using to shimmy down the side of the building.

"We're not going to be able to hold them out much longer from here," Sakaki said, his face and clothes damp with sweat. "I've only got enough ammo now for about ten maybe twelve more minutes of defense."

"I thought I told you to be careful with that," Nagira shot at him.

"I was," the boy shot back, "but none of us took into account that Motokita would send every Yakuza agent that either works for him or owes him favors down our throats."

"Nagira, is there any exit around here that we can take," Kosaka asked, wiping off dirt and muck from his forehead. The director was laying flat on his stomach, with an AK-47 that was nearly used up.

"Not without giving these guys a break in the fighting," the other man replied. "Even if we made a dash for it, there would be enough of these 'storm troopers' to slip in here and take us all out before we could get to the door." He dropped the shot gun, and reached for a small rocket launcher, with a grim smile. No one ever told the man that he was unprepared for nothing. He took aim, and fired it, just between two of their armored vehicles. The missile shot out, knocking him off of his feet, and landed right where he wanted, taking out not only the two machines, which had been raining death on the first floor, but also a good chunk of the others, and at least eighty of their men. Bodies and metallic shrapnel flew up everywhere, before slamming down on their former owners and comrades. Nagira didn't wait to whoop in victory, like some of the other defenders did. He armed it again, and this time aimed it at one of the helicopters, pulling the trigger before Kin could stop him. The sky flashed red and yellow, and the large dark whirlybird wailed as it limped to the ground, crushing many more of the goons at the bottom of the building.

"Smooth move," the officer growled at him, baring his teeth.

"What are you talking about?" Nagira hissed.

"Haven't you wondered why they were using their helicopters' missiles to attack us," the other man questioned, aiming his finger at the remaining air machines of mayhem hovering by the building. "It's because they didn't think we were that much of a threat."

"Until now," Karasuma said, her eyes widening with realization as to what Kin was getting at. She glowered at Nagira and howled from the deepest part of her throat. "They might have only been after something, now they won't hesitate to cut their losses and blow us all up."

Nagira stared at the two of them, and then at the others, and then at the helicopters, which were slowly pulling away. It almost looked like a retreat, and in a sense, that's what it was. There was no reason they had to stay within rocket launcher range. But there was more to it than that, they were moving out of range of the explosion that would be caused when they fired their own missiles.

"Oh crap," he muttered. His eyebrows collapsed and he began thinking. There was no use in calling for an evacuation, the whole building was about to go up. Those in the upper floors could try and race toward the fifth floor, and the elevator that would take them to the basement, but the fact was only Nagira, and the STN-J would make it there before the explosion. So what was he going to do now?

As he sat there thinking, the sounds of a pair of foot steps echoed near the forbidden door, and got louder as the seconds past. All heads turned in the direction of the door, their hearts and minds racing as the enemy helicopters turned in position for the final countdown to ignition of the missiles.

The mafia down on the ground held their hands to their ears and listened for instructions, and then rushed away from the building, scrambling out the front door, to the safety of the other side of the street, if not the other side of the block. Those defenders still remaining in the first two floors screeched and howled with victory, until their collective cheers turned to shrieks of terror, as they realized why the enemy was retreating. Some of them on the first floor tried to barrel out into the open air, but were cut down by the Yakuza as soon as they left the safety of the building.

And just like that, it was checkmate. The Japanese mafia had brought down the STN-J and Nagira with one finally play of the hand. Now it was their turn to whoop and high five one another as the missiles lowered from their racks and stared greedily at the building they were about to demolish. Another few seconds, and the war that had begun last night would be over, and they would be able to go to Motokita with the charred bodies of the resistance, and be decorated heroes of his "family". And as an added bonus, with the Tokyo police force combating their forces, and losing as well, they could hand over the city to their crime boss on a silver platter. Some of them even whispered talk of "actual" revolution, which would bring down the current regime, and establish Hashi Motokita as the new emperor.

The seconds ticked down to a bare minimum, everyone counting them a different way, with a sob, a cheer, a punch to the shoulder of a partner in crime, but Nagira was counting them in a very different way, with the sounds of a pair of footsteps that were getting closer to the door. If nothing else, the enemy got what they wanted here, in flushing them out.

Time seemed to stand still, and then as the first of the missiles launched from the helicopters, the door burst open, and a red clocked body with long bicycle pig tails and wearing tiny bifocals leapt over the banister in one solid movement, and stormed to the busted window, behind her, a large man wearing black clothes and an even blacker disposition, holding twin machine guns next to his chest.

Jaws dropped in the room, and it suddenly flooded with hope. Nagira turned to look at the many stunned faces, and saw two in particular that seemed to have a knowing feel about them. Kin and Director Kosaka both seemed to know, his brother had told him about Kin, that the two individuals standing by the window were still very much alive.

Doujima felt her skin crawl, in a very good way, and she bounced to her feet. "Robin, Amon," she shouted, calling their names. The young witch briefly turned to look at her, wearing a slight smile, and motioned with her hand for her friend to get down. Doujima stared for a second, and then realizing what was going to happen, obeyed.

Just as the missiles neared the building, Robin spun back on her heels, her pupils turning small as she concentrated, and the first of the tree missiles launched burst into flames, before they could do any damage. The building did rock, and knocked everyone off of their feet, but that didn't last. Robin rose to hers and looked at the new wave of missiles, narrowing her eyes each time. One by one, the deadly projectiles detonated before even reaching the building, some of them exploding before they got a chance to be launched from the helicopters, which took out the enemy aircraft too.

On the ground below, one of the thugs cursed an obscenity at the girl and took aim at her with his gun. That seemed to be the signal for Amon to begin his attack. Lowering the machine guns, he narrowed his own eyes and rained death from above with superhuman accuracy. Although not all of his hits kill, they all managed to wound or maim his victims.

For a moment Nagira watched his baby brother work, and then smiled. "Oh hell yeah, this is what I'm talking about," he whooped pumping his fists. He reloaded his rocket launcher and took aim at the enemy, firing his deadly package down to one of the more armored of their vehicles. A few seconds later, the entire STN-J group had taken their positions by the window, and was now gleefully pushing back the enemy. On the first and second floors the clients seemed to stare in amazement at the new offensive their side was on. It didn't take them long to add to the mayhem and confusion that the mafia was being plagued with now.

After taking out the last of the helicopters, Robin turned her attention to the armored vehicles and then to the smaller vans, that were pilling up with scared and freaked out Yakuza agents by the minute. There was evidence that the confusion on this block was rolling its way all over the neighborhood, as new gun shots rang out, and new police sirens began to wail closer and closer to Nagira's apartment building. A minute or two later some of Nagira's agents had entered the fourth floor, and were handing out new ammo to the STN-J crew, as well as taking their own places by the window, and busting other windows on the floor to take cover and fire.

Within the next hour, the Yakuza had completely given up the will to fight, at least on this block. Director Kosaka received many other phone calls from the Factory, some bearing good news, others bad, and back and forth and back and forth, like a yo-yo. Nevertheless, the police had finally broken through the endless borders of mafia concentration, and were now on the block were the major fighting was starting to die down. A few military forces accompanied them, and were now making swift work of any die hard fanatics that remained in the tired ranks of the mafia. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, one hundred and forty-three Yakuza agents threw down their used weapons and surrendered. The battle was over.

The next couple of hours were spent with interviews and interrogations by the police and military forces and a few news media groups. After it was all said and done, a few of the military forces headed off toward the Factory, to tell in ridding them of the criminal army, and the police took the criminals from this block into custody. Now the gang could successfully reunite, and explain what was happening.

"So all of this is because someone in Solomon is after you two?" Karasuma asked looking at Robin and Amon.

"Particularly Robin," Amon said. "Nagira warned us about some kind of American hunter, and Harry explained he had heard that there was a new threat within the agency itself."

"So that American hunter really is trouble," Doujima said, narrowing her eyes and putting her fingers on her lips.

"And you told me I shouldn't worry so much about it," Kin said, teasing her with his eyes. The young woman stared at him with a shocked expression and then stuck out her tongue, making him smile.

"Michael," Robin said softly. Everyone turned to look at her, at her green eyes turning soft and wet. "Will he be okay?"

"I don't see why not," Nagira said. "The Yakuza never made it to the fifth floor, so they never made it to the hospital ward. And the doctors told me that once they decide what to do with him, he'll pull through."

"And what do they plan to do with him?" Amon snapped quickly.

"They told me they haven't decided yet," Nagira said. He watched his brother rise to his feet, and head out the door. "Threatening them to make a decision isn't going to help Michael."

Amon paused and closed his eyes. They were going to need Michael's computer skills if they were going to get through this. "I know there are a lot of injured people now, but tell them not to take too long in deciding," he began. "Time is something we're running out of."

There you go Lynx; the gang is all back together, told you it wouldn't take too much longer. Now hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully before the 4th of September I'll be able to write a ninth, but no promises, as it is the 30th of August as I write this.