Disclaimer: Horst and Karina characters are based on the concept by E. F. Russel. All other characters belong to Sunrise.
Kosaka stared in shock at the sight of Doujima, wearing a shabby coat, striding in without being even a little bit late (even earlier than Kaider), and everyone else stood with their mouths open as well.
"Well, we're all happy to witness such a manifestation of self-discipline," Karasuma announced, still not quite believing her eyes.
"Err... right. Thank you," Doujima said quietly, looking perplexed by all the attention she'd gotten. She's acting strange, Sakaki thought. Is it possible that she's playing some kind of joke on them? Speaking of jokes...
"Hey, Doujima, it's your turn to make me some coffee you know," he teased. "No sugar, as usual."
"All right," Doujima nodded docilely and headed to the "coffee corner". This got Kosaka so distracted that he missed the door to his office, bumping into the doorpost instead. Hattori's lamentations and director's curses followed. Kaider entered couple of minutes later, and Sakaki suddenly believed he had it all figured out now.
"You bastard!" He yelled instead of greeting. "What have you done to Doujima?!"
"Something wrong with her?" Kaider wondered.
"Well, apart from her BEING here at this time... yes! She's not herself! Just look at what she's doing," and Sakaki pointed to Doujima, who had been just walking up to them with a cup of coffee.
"Here it is," she nearly whispered, offering Sakaki the cup, the turning to Kaider. "You want some coffee too?"
Kaider then did something hardly expected from a man who was offered a cup of coffee. Swiftly and without a warning, he hit his female partner in the chin with his fist, making the coffee and Doujima herself drop on the floor. Everyone gasped and Hattori dashed into the director's office.
Sakaki reacted to the event by pulling out his gun and training it at Kaider, his hands shaking from fury. The bastard has hurt Doujima! Doesn't he deserve death here and now? The outrage got Kaider worried, and it took him several attempts to be heard by a hunter with a clouded mind.
"Look at her. Look at her, Sakaki! Look at her!"
Sakaki finally turned his head to look at Doujima and shivered in disgust. Her chin was deformed horribly in the place where it caught the punch, and her face now looked like a damaged wax doll, without a single drop of blood on it.
"It's not Doujima," Kaider said. "It's a witch."
And then he made a mistake. Concentrating on the thoughts of Sakaki, who seemed to be more of a threat, with his gun still pointed at Kaider, he failed to read the intentions of the witch lying on the floor until she pulled out her gun, bulky Desert Eagle, and switched off the safety. It was now too late to attempt to take the imposter's mind under control, as it required precious seconds he didn't have. He was still ahead of her, though, as he knew the intended target before the gun was raised. He jumped at Michael, who was now standing near them, and dropped him to the floor as the bullet flew right above them, and then another one. And then Sakaki opened fire, and he couldn't miss from such distance.
The witch dropped her gun right after being hit for the first time, but Sakaki didn't stop. He kept pressing the trigger repeatedly, his face once again distorted by anger. Probably for the first time in his life, Haruto Sakaki was actually willing to kill, and he did, emptying the entire clip into the now lifeless body lying in front of him. He came to his senses only when Karasuma's hand touched his, realizing that he was still attempting to shoot from the empty gun, breathing heavily.
Kosaka, who came running out of his office upon hearing gunshots, ordered Hattori to call the police, then turned to look at the mess and gasped at the sight. The face of the dead witch was melting slowly, losing its shape like a heated wax, changing to something completely different. Lying in the widening pool of blood was a woman of about double Doujima's age, with a face that hardly had anything in common with what it had previously been.
Finally, the standard super-natural crime scene procedure started rolling. Things were complicated now, as with the demise of the Factory, the crime scene investigation part had been divided between the police and STN-J, at the discretion of the latter. So, Karasuma immediately put the gloves on and went to check the woman's pockets and Michael fired up his computer to find any information regarding similar cases.
Sakaki just stood there, looking into emptiness, trying to understand what had caused such an outburst just a few minutes ago. It wasn't the fact that a single witch was capable of infiltrating their stronghold so easily, and not even the fact that she was trying to kill them - it was all part of the job after all. But the mere fact that someone could impersonate Doujima... that someone could fake her face... her beauty...
"You'd better put that away until you regain some self-control, you know," Kaider quietly advised, pointing to the gun.
"How did you know she wasn't real thing anyway?" Sakaki asked, holstering his weapon.
"You've told me she wasn't herself, remember?" Kaider pointed out. "You thought this was my job, but it wasn't, so that raised my suspicion."
"Suspicion? You don't hit people in the face just because of suspicions! Come on, what's the real reason?"
"You really want to know?" He winked and tapped himself on the forehead. "I read her thoughts."
"Don't joke it off..."
"Guys, look at this," Karasuma interrupted. She showed them a card she had just found, with a company name, address and telephone printed on it.
"Can't be," Sakaki whispered.
"What? You know the firm?" Kaider asked.
"We even know the owner," Karasuma said. "Syunji Nagira."
"I told the guard to let the police in when they arrive," Hattori informed his boss, putting down the phone.
"How do we explain it to them?" Kaider wondered.
"We don't," Michael explained. "It's the same division that always works on our crime scenes. They'll just clean it up, won't even ask questions. Very convenient."
"Found anything on the witch?" Karasuma asked.
"Yes, I think I know what it was," Michael reported. "Since she was stupid enough to bring her ID, I've managed to discover some interesting medical records here. It's about her face - there are no bones at all in it, only cartilages. Theoretically, that allowed her to twist them any way she wanted. Couldn't alter her voice, though, so she had to speak quietly."
"Solomon knew about it?"
"They christened her Chameleon," he nodded. "Attempted to keep her under control, but underestimated her. She escaped easily, changing faces like gloves."
The cops arrived, and all STN-J members had to leave the building to let them get to work.
"Don't let them near the computers or papers," Kosaka had instructed their guard, who was left behind to watch over the procedure.
"How long?" Michael asked with a sour look on his face.
"Just long enough to clean it up," Kosaka assured him. "They've whined a little about the procedure but I told them I'd be taking responsibility."
"It's been a while since you all gathered here like that," Master welcomed them. "Anything happened?"
"We've been attacked," Karasuma informed him. "Michael, show him."
"Have you seen this woman here lately?" Michael asked, showing the picture he printed before leaving Raven's Flat.
"Why, she's been around since last week," Master nodded after taking a look. "Tried to ask some questions about you guys and your place, but I played it dumb, of course."
"Well she's just attempted to kill me," Michael reported nervously. He wasn't a hunter, and facing immediate danger is something one can't easily get used to.
"She's been lurking around, checking us out, all this time," Karasuma summed up, ignoring Master's predictable lamentations.
"Why to disguise as Doujima, of all people?" Sakaki wondered.
"Isn't it obvious? Doujima comes late, so Chameleon didn't need to worry about meeting her twin."
"But why did she choose me as a target?" Michael asked. "Especially when Sakaki was the one with the gun."
"Must have seen you working," Kosaka said, sipping his drink. "Probably figured you're our computer genius."
"So?" Michael still couldn't understand.
"Kill a hunter, and there are still three more left, but taking you out would've hampered us for real."
"Are you saying... she was after me from the start?" Michael shivered.
"Not necessarily," Karasuma shook her head. "She was cornered, and maybe you were the target of opportunity."
"So who is this Nagira guy," Kaider asked Karasuma.
"He's using his firm to support seeds and witches. Unofficially, of course."
"That means he's our opposition," Kaider said thoughtfully. "You think he's behind this?"
"No way," Sakaki protested. "He's a good guy who has his own views. He has nothing to do with this madness."
"Still, we've got to talk to him. Ms. Karasuma, could you drive me there?"
"He's a lawyer, and he will tell nothing about his clients," Karasuma said. "Especially to someone he doesn't know. I think I should go alone."
"I'll talk to him," Kaider promised, with a silvery glow in his eyes. "He'll tell me everything."