Dark Entity
Two: Impend
The dropship descended slowly toward the landing pad of the building they will be using until the situation was finished. Kusanagi and Batou jumped down before the plane landed, and the rest of the members who were sitting in the back walked down a ramp, and the two Tachikomas quickly rolled down afterwards once Borma landed it.
After several moments, everyone gathered around near the edge of the building, except for Borma and Ishikawa, who stayed back in the cockpit of the plane to monitor everything that's been going on. All eyes were on the other building while Saito strapped the assault rifle he was carrying, and grabbed for his sniper gun. After setting his sniper gun up, he peered through the night-vision scope to see where the terrorists and the hostages were.
"Saito, do you see anything?" The Major inquired.
Togusa peered down to the street below to see that the police were evacuating the stand-byers away from the building, while more armoured officers were gathering quickly near the seized building.
"Nothing, Major," Saito replied, "All the window blinds on the three floors located in the middle of the building are down."
"Major," interrupted Ishikawa. He scanned through the security cameras when he hacked into the server, and looked on as he continued to tell her his find. "There seems to be about fifty terrorists in all, and I'm currently searching for who the leader is. I'll let you know as soon as possible."
"While you're at it," Major responded to Ishikawa, "Make sure you find if there's more than one leader in that group."
"Yes, ma'am."
Major Kusanagi turned her attention back to Saito, who continued to look through his scope, but this time he searched the roof to see if there were any terrorists hiding there.
"You were right, Saito," She told him. "Our friends are on those floors." Motoko smirked a little, thinking on how the terrorists don't know what they'll be going up against here shortly. Although, she knew better not to think any less of them since terrorists can be unpredictable in nature; especially unknown ones they never heard about yet.
"Batou," Batou turned, and she went on, "You take the Tachikoma across the street, and Togusa and I will ride the elevator down. We'll meet you there in the alley."
Batou nodded, and quickly climbed into the cockpit of his Tachikoma's abdomen. "Lets go..." He said happily to the machine.
"Right!" The Tachikoma replied with a raise of its arm, and activated its optical camouflage, and then launched itself into the air halfway across. Next, it shot it's adhesive string to the building beside the terrorist-seized one, and glided toward it.
"Come with me, Togusa," Major ordered. She turned and ran toward the elevator with Togusa close behind. She stopped at the closed doors, and pressed the down button before turning to face him. "I didn't want to say this in front of the others, but now that we're out of hearing range," She quickly explained while waiting for the elevator to arrive. "If your injuries start to impair you in anyway, tell me, and I will pull you out."
"Is that a recommendation or an order, Major?" asked Togusa. He watched her glare at him for a moment, and then turned her back to him. He blinked, and breathed in a deep breath. "I didn't want to go and you know that, but it wasn't like I had any choice in the matter. You and the Chief made the choice for me, remember?"
A "ding" sounded when the elevator finally arrived at the roof, and the metal doors slid apart. Motoko slipped inside without a word, pressed a button when Togusa stepped into the elevator, and the two silently watched the doors closed.
Inside the box, the elevator stalled for at least a couple of seconds before launching downward toward the lobby where they were headed to. Togusa stared, seemingly in a daze at the flashing numbers as they lit up one-by-one. He looked like he was ignoring the Major, but he was merely waiting for an answer. Any answer. He didn't care really. He didn't care if she pulled him out right now. Again, it wasn't like he had any choice at the moment. He tilted his head up, and looked up at the skylight of the elevator.
'Shit he thought.
Motoko, on the other hand, kept her glaring eyes on the buttons of each floor. She silently cursed herself, wondering if her idea to the Chief to bring Togusa along wasn't exactly a good idea. She shifted her gaze at the man. "Is something else bothering you?" The Major suddenly asked.
Togusa didn't look at her, but answered anyway. "Other than being pissed off in making me come onto this hellhole of an assignment? Causing me to miss the rest of my daughter's birthday? Causing me to apologize to my wife because Section 9 wanted me back ASAP?" He thought out loud, and shrugged his shoulders. "No."
She sighed quietly, and shook her head. "Whatever drugs that doctor gave you for the pain, maybe it's time for you to lay off of them."
Togusa's eyebrows narrowed, and he looked over at her. " What?"
"You're not yourself, Togusa," Motoko mentioned. "I haven't seen you like this, and it has me a little worried." She then added, " Maybe your injuries won't be the one to impair you, but your judgment will."
"Damn it, I'm fine," muttered Togusa. Although, his voice betrayed him as he tried to hide the fact that he was unsure of himself. "Honestly, Major, you..."
The Major frowned, grabbing his arm to turn him around, and before Togusa could react, she quickly pressed her hand against his chest, and shoved him hard with his back against the wall. He gasped in surprise, and stared wide-eyed as he grabbed her forearm with both hands, and stopped struggling when she spoke. Her voice was colder and more serious than usual.
"Listen to me, and you better listen to me now," she warned. "You either wake up quickly, or I'll bring your ass back to the roof by force." Kusanagi then repeated what she said earlier, "As I said before...if your injuries – or judgment – starts to impair you, you will tell me right away. That is a direct order from your superior officer, Togusa."
Togusa lowered his head after her words struck deep into his brain. His arms collapsed weakly to his sides when he let go of her arm, and then he nodded silently to answer her question. He watched as her hand lifted away from him, and she moved back to her place in the elevator.
"I'm sorry," whispered Togusa to Kusanagi. He stood away from the wall, and composed himself, but didn't look at her.
The Major glanced at him. "I'm not doing this because I want to, but because I care about my team members," she told him. "So, the least you could do is to understand that."
In the building, the leader of the unknown terrorist group sat rigid in a large business chair. He was repeatedly tapping a pen against the glossy top of the table in a large meeting room. At the corner of the room by the window behind him, was the body of the dead head official with part of his cyborg face blown off just above his bottom jaw.
Sitting in the seats around the rectangular table were twelve frightened hostages of the floor they were from. They were tied to their chairs, and their mouths taped tightly shut, except for one hostage.
"Now," The leader, who they called Ryusaki, finally spoke after a long pause of staring coldly to each employee. "Since your friend is dead because of his stupidity of calling the cops, we can continue." He asked with a smirk, "What do you say?" He glared at the young man who didn't have his mouth taped. "Well? I'm asking you a question, and you better respond..." The man dropped the pen for his small machine gun (SMG), and pointed it at the young man.
The young man, Kurosawa tensed up, and answered as calmly as he could, "Y-yes, s-sir," His voice stammered. The room interrupted with a fit of laughter from the terrorists, and Kurosawa silently wished he was elsewhere at another job.
Ryusaki laughed as he stood up. "I don't see why you idiots are scared," he said to the hostages. "If our demands aren't met real soon, then this whole area will be part of history, and you should cherish that thought while you still live."
Kurosawa stared at his reflection in the glossy finished wood of the table. Ryusaki explained that his older brother used to work here, and that he was hacking into their computer system "in the name of justice". Although, Mr. Akio, the man who the leader shot and killed, called the police on his brother, and sent him to prison. All of this happened nine years ago before he and a few other employees sitting in this room were even hired.
He frowned somewhat, wondering why it was taking the police a long time to help them. 'Why were they not doing anything to help us yet? Why is it taking so damn long?'' He thought. His life, and his co-workers' lives were at stake; this whole area was at stake. He glanced down at the floor next to Ryusaki where the briefcase with the bomb the leader opened to show them was. 'Dear God, help us all...'
He jumped at the sudden noise of Ryusaki's fist hitting the table. He gasped quietly, looking up at the crazed cyborg, and thought that he was angry with him. Ryusaki stood there with a cold gaze, talking to someone through a mind-link. The young man realized by the expression on the leader's face that whatever was being said, wasn't a good thing. Kurosawa smiled in his mind, feeling a little hopeful that something will finally happen to these assholes.
"What did you say, Kenji?" asked Ryusaki to the person he was mind-linking to.
"Two armed cops just came out of the elevator in the hotel," answered Kenji, who was an older-looking man in a security uniform. He sent him a visual as he stood in the lobby. "As you can see, they look different than the other cops outside of your building." He paused. "They look real serious about this."
"Well, well," replied the leader, "Looks like we certainly have more guests to join the party." He watched the video from his comrade's eyes of the Major barking orders to the hotel receptionist while Togusa stood by her. "I wonder who they work for? Are they from some kind of military branch, or what?"
"The woman said that they're from Public Security Section Nine, sir,"
"Oh?" Ryusaki was now more interested in them. "Section Nine, very interesting." He looked at Togusa, who was turned at an angle that he couldn't see what he looked like. "I wonder..."
"What is it, Ryusaki?"
"Get the guy next to the pretty bitch to look over at you for me." He demanded.
"Want me to go over to them?"
"I don't care," retorted Ryusaki. "You have the uniform on, so use it. Report back to me when you have a description and picture of that man."
"Yes, sir," Kenji closed the conversation, and made his way casually over to the two Section 9 members. While Kusanagi kept the female receptionist on edge with her demands, the man walked up behind Togusa.
"My, your partner is scary," he said, "How can you handle her?"
"Hmm?" Togusa turned around to face him. "Pardon?" He didn't hear him at first because of all the commotion in the lobby mixing with the Major's temper-filled voice.
"Oh, nothing," The man smiled politely. Too politely. His cybernetic eyes took a head shot of Togusa, and sent it over to another member of the terrorist group to find information on the ex-cop.
"No. What did you say?" asked the brown eyed human. He looked at him, and noticed that the man was part of the hotel's security.
"Oh, uh," he chuckled, "I'm sorry. I was saying that you're part of Section Nine, correct?"
"Yes," Togusa started to have a bad feeling about him. He instinctively rested his hand over the handle of his Matebe auto revolver cautiously. "Hey? Is there something wrong?"
"No, nothing," Kenji shook his head no, and smiled again. He bowed. "Just an old man with a curious mind."
"Then why...did you...?" asked Togusa, but was interrupted by the head of security of the hotel.
"Hey, Kenji,"A man in a business suit said, " There you are. Help the others evacuate the people on the top floor, would you please?"
Kenji nodded, and without another word, smiled and headed toward the elevator where three other employees were waiting. Motoko turned to Togusa when she was finally finished, and the two started to walk out of the hotel lobby to the street.
"What did that old man want with you?" she asked.
"I don't know," answered Togusa. "He gave me a bad feeling when he wanted to know if we were from Section Nine." He then mumbled to himself, "Creepy old man..."
"Oh," The Major looked back when Kenji entered the elevator with the three employees. She contacted Ishikawa.
"Ishikawa." She sent an image of Kenji. "Get data on this man for me."
"Okay, Major," Ishikawa started to look it up instantly. "Be a few minutes tops."
"That's fine," She went on. "Borma," Kusanagi contacted him, and also Saito and Pazu. "You will go with Paz and Saito to retrieve Kenji and those employees he went into the elevator with. I want them to be questioned."
"Roger," Borma said. He stood from his seat at another computer in the plane, and grabbed a gun, and headed out to meet with Saito and Pazu.
"Where will he be headed to, Major?" asked Saito.
"He'll be just below you on the top floor," answered the Major. "An easy prey for you guys."
"Good," Pazu chimed in.
"Just the way we like them," Saito finished.
Inside the elevator. Kenji was answered by the one who he sent the picture to. "Kenji," the unknown person said, "The man is named, Togusa. He used to work for the police before being transferred over to Section Nine. I'll sent you the rest of his profile to save some time."
The information on Togusa was automatically sent, and Kenji scanned over it before contacting Ryusaki. "Ryusaki," he said. "I have the information on the man you wanted to know of."
Ryusaki was sitting back in the business chair, and frowned. "Show me." He watched as a photo of Togusa and a profile popped up. Then came his police background. "That bastard...I knew it." He said out loud. "I like it when I guess correctly."
"I'm glad my information to you made you happy," Kenji replied, smiling. The elevator ride took several minutes, but when the ride stopped at the top floor, and the door opened. He looked at the guns pointed at him. "Oh dear." He raised his hands up, and the other three people did the same with a mix of shock and horror in their faces.
Saito, Borma, and Pazu stood in the corridor with their guns aimed at shoulder-height. "Get out, now. All of you." Saito ordered. They backed up to let them out of the elevator.
"What is it? What's wrong, Kenji?" demanded the leader.
"I'm afraid that I was found out by more people like that scary woman and the man called Togusa," he explained. "I'll be going into autistic mode for now."
"Damn it!" shouted Ryusaki. He punched the desk again, scaring all the hostages. After a moment, he calmed down, and laughed a little. "Oh well, that doesn't matter now. I have what I always wanted to have since the day my brother was arrested and sent to prison for the rest of his life."
Ryusaki turned his attention to his people, and said, "All of you get ready, and tell the others on the other floors to get ready for a fight,"
"Yes, sir." All of them said in unison, and a couple of them went out the door.
Togusa and The Major quickly darted across the street toward the alley where Batou and his Tachikoma were waiting for them to show up. The Tachikoma saw them, and greeted them once it deactivated it's camouflage to reveal itself.
"Where's Batou?" Major asked.
"He's looking for a way in while I stayed here to keep watch for you and Mr. Togusa," It said. "I can show you where he is, just follow me."
"No need for that," called out Batou. He jogged toward the three, disabling his camouflage. "Where were you two?"
Kusanagi smiled. "In the hotel across the street," she answered, "I had a heck of a hard time to get that woman receptionist to call each occupied room in the hotel to leave the area because of a bomb." Batou grinned. "That wasn't the only thing we had to deal with."
"Oh really?" Batou's grin became wider.
"There was a suspicious old man who seems to work there as a security guard," she continued, "He talked to Togusa, and asked him if we were from Section Nine. I guess he heard me tell that to that woman in the lobby. Togusa had a bad feeling about that man, and so I sent the others to arrest him so they can interrogate him and several others who were with him."
"Is that so?" Batou turned to Togusa. Togusa nodded. "Maybe your feelings will be right about him..."
"Hopefully," Togusa whispered.
"Batou, Togusa, cut the chatter," commanded the Major. "We need to infiltrate the building right now while there's still time." They nodded, and followed the Major toward the back of the building with the Tachikoma. "Where's the entrance you found?" She asked Batou.
"Right over here," Batou headed over to a basement door, and started to kick it, but was stopped by Motoko. "What?"
"Your way is too loud," she commented. The Major motioned for Togusa to open the door quietly.
"But his way is too slow," Batou protested. He stood out of Togusa's way to let him open the door, and waited. In a couple of minutes, the door clicked opened.
Togusa stood out of possible gunfire from the enemy, and hid in the corner from the door, and opened it while Batou and the Major stood on the other side. The Tachikoma was in the middle, ready to fire as it shined a light around the large basement.
"All clear," The Tachikoma told them.
"For now, at least," Major replied cautiously. "From here on out, we will use optical camouflage to try to avoid as much gunfights as possible. Engage the enemy when needed. Our job here is to take out the leader and find that dirty bomb before they activate it."
She gazed over at Togusa, making sure he really wanted to go, and when he nodded a reassuring yes, she silently pointed her hand inside. The team activated their camouflage, and one-by-one, headed inside the dim lit basement. A fight is on the horizon...
A/N: Hey. Thanks for the reviews. I'll be working on Chapter Three, and hopefully get it uploaded by Sunday or Monday. It depends really. Questions/Comments/Etc are welcome, of course. What do you think of Chapter 2? Chapter 3 will be a lot of action, and long because when I write battle and/or fight scenes, I tend to be really long...hehe
Comments to my reviewers:
lunabear – Thank you. I hope you do stick around for more. It's going to be a wild ride, I must say.
Ben-hayag – Sweet is a good way to put it.
The-Anibee – Wow. Thank you very much for your comment. Togusa's awesome. I wish he had more screen time in the anime.
Lithiumflower56 – To be honest, my story looks like it is a Motogusa fic, but it isn't. Motoko and Togusa remind me of a big sister, little brother type of relationship, which is what I'll be aiming for in this fic.
Starline – Thank you, and I will. Feel free to slap me around if I don't.
Kyo-Tatsu – You wished it to be updated ASAP, you got it.