Disclaimer: Horst and Karina characters are based on the concept by E. F. Russel. All other characters belong to Sunrise.
"Raizo Itagake, 42 years old. A brilliant, or, should I say, extraordinary cardiologist, capable of making an unmistakable diagnosis just by listening to the patient's heart using nothing but his own ears, without any kind of medical equipment. His healing skills are just as good - his colleagues say he could instinctively 'feel' the heart and find a way to cure it. And now we have a reason to believe that our good doctor has gained a reversed ability as well - his wife, and then a police officer investigating her death died yesterday because of the sudden heart attacks. His last location is somewhere in this area," Michael concluded, putting a city map on the screen.
"Now, listen everyone," Karasuma stood up. "This man is capable of killing you on the spot, he is extremely dangerous. If you see him, shoot him at once."
And then, two cars were racing north from Raven's Flat with four hunters inside, and three of them were quite nervous.
"Heart attack," Doujima whispered, keeping her eyes on the Karasuma's car ahead of them. "Orbo suddenly doesn't sound so bad now. I mean, I know this stuff is quite bad for your health, but this guy... he can just make your heart stop, and you'll die!"
"Death isn't that bad if you don't suffer much," Kaider commented casually, as if discussing a headache.
"Are you trying to creep me out!" Doujima almost yelled.
Having arrived to the destination, they got out of their cars. Karasuma, Sakaki and Doujima drew their guns immediately, and Kaider just stood there with his hands in pockets and a concentrated look on his face.
"You should've taken a gun on this one," Karasuma reproached him.
"That won't be necessary."
She looked around the place, trying to come up with a plan that would keep her entire team alive. So, Kaider was stupid enough to reject a pistol and Doujima's shooting was worse than Sakaki's.
"Sakaki, you check that alley over there. Doujima, cover him. I'll take the other one. Kaider, you cover me."
Half a minute later Karasuma discovered that Kaider was trying to get in front of her.
"When I say cover me that means you follow behind," she hissed.
"I don't think its a..."
"Learn to stick to the plan, damn it! You don't even have a weapon, and I'm going ahead."
"You're going to regret it," she heard him mutter from behind. Great, she thought. A newbie that doesn't know what a teamwork is. She was too irritated to understand that it had been a warning, not a threat.
What STN-J couldn't have taken into account was the fact that Dr. Itagake's ability to hear human's heart heightened significantly when his power had fully awakened. And now, he could clearly hear a heartbeat... no, two heartbeats approaching slowly. The fact that they were keeping some distance between each other would only make things easier, as he was unable to control two hearts simultaneously. Catching the first one off guard was an easy task, since no matter how cautious she'd been, she hadn't even known he was there and therefore was no match for someone that knew her position exactly all the time. He could even hear how nervous she was, her heart beating fast and heavy. It started beating even faster when she saw him, and it was too late for her to do anything. Her gun fell out of her hands, she clutched her chest, moaning in pain, and slumped to the ground while the thumping of her heart was getting slower with every second. It had stopped completely by the time her companion arrived. This one, strangely, didn't have a weapon and didn't seem too affected by the woman's demise.
"You shouldn't have done that," the european man said, wincing distastefully.
Whether it was his tone or his posture, Itagake suddenly felt that this man was even more dangerous than the girl, and once again Raizo ordered a human heart to stop beating. The man bent in half without making a sound, and kept standing like that as his heart started losing its rhythm.
"There is no use fighting it," Itagake lectured softly, standing above the condemned man. "You cannot live with a stopped heart."
"Why?" the man hissed through clenched teeth. "I've pulled it off once."
And he unbent rapidly, like a spring, using this movement to add more power to the uppercut that landed perfectly on its unsuspecting victim's jaw, sending Itakage several meters backwards.
Itakage regained consciousness several seconds later, and saw the one who wasn't supposed to survive talking into his earpiece, telling the others to come his way.
"Impossible!" Itakage snarled, spitting blood. "No one can survive my wrath!"
He reached for the pistol lying on the ground and aimed it as thoroughly as his fury allowed him. The hunter didn't try to stop him or run for cover, which made it even simpler. Itakage attempted to pull the trigger... but failed to move it even a millimeter. The Beretta he held in his hand was perfectly fine, but his finger refused to obey. A smart man would've surrendered or tried something else at this point, but Itakage was too enraged to even consider doing anything but pressing the trigger. When the other two hunters stormed in with their guns ready, they didn't hesitate to open fire, as the picture they've witnessed hadn't been a pleasant one...
"Karasuma!" Sakaki and Doujima cried out at the same time, rushing towards the very pale woman on the ground.
"I tried to keep her behind," Kaider explained. "But she didn't listen."
Sakaki was attempting to find any life signs, like pulse or breathing, and Doujima was telling Michael to call an ambulance. They were both desperate and in panic, and neither noticed how Kaider had touched Karasuma's lifeless hand gently. They did notice, though, that Karasuma suddenly jerked and inhaled loudly, and her skin color slowly started returning back to normal. Then, her lips started moving.
"Karasuma... what are you saying? I can't hear you..." Doujima said anxiously, bringing her ear near Karasuma's mouth. "Butterfly? What butterfly? Look, just calm down, ok? You're in shock, obviously."
"What... happened?" Karasuma asked in a louder, but still weak, voice.
"We'd like to know that too," Sakaki agreed, and everyone looked at Kaider.
"I hypnotized him to think that he no longer had his power, so he tried to get me with a more conventional method," Kaider shrugged. "Then I kept holding him until you guys arrived."
"Well, I won't pretend that I understand this mind control business," Sakaki admitted, helping Karasuma up, "but it looks like you've saved us all today, man. Good job."