Declaimer: I don't own Witch Hunter Robin
Ominous Lover
Chapter TwoAmon stepped out of the elevator and walked to his apartment door. He had just finished his assignment for the night. Apparently the trucks that Amon had followed brought him to the Executors' training warehouse. Amon internally shuddered at the memory.
Walking to the door he stuck the key into the hole turned the lock and entered his apartment. The place was dark as it was silent. All the windows were pulled over by heavy dark blue drapes. He had never like the idea that anyone in the building across the street could look into his apartment, and follow his every movement. So at his request Amon had instructed his housekeeper, Mrs. Newman, to keep every window covered at all times.
As Amon walked down the few steps that lead to the living room, his footsteps on the hardwood floors echoed off the cream coloured walls. The sound ran parallel to what he felt in his soul. Empty.
Amon's living room was furnished with a dark three-piece caramel sofa set and an oval shaped glassed coffee table accented by gold trimming on the legs. Aside from the sofas and coffee table, the living room consist of a flat screen television on top of a mantel, a rug from India, and chandelier imported from Italy. His apartment was a home sellers dream. Everything was clean and void of any personal belongings.
Not bothering to turn on the lights Amon moved pass the living room towards the kitchen. He tiredly rubbed his face as he looked for something in the fridge to eat. Mrs. Newman had cooked him some fish fillet, steamed vegetable and mashed potatoes. Outside he could hear the laughter and chattering of children as they walked to school. Children. The children he saw at the training unit had their childhood and their innocent youth taken away. Suddenly losing his appetite instead Amon grabbed a beer from the fridge, snapped the cap off and down half the bottle in one breath before setting it down hard on the marble kitchen counter.
Leaving his drink on the counter Amon made his way to his study and sent a fax to Michael. Then he moved into his bedroom, all the while stripping to the nude before entering the joint bathroom in his room. Turning the water on high he stepped into the shower. Standing still facing the shower strays he let the water run down his face and body. He wanted to wash away all the memory of the pain and fear that he felt from those children.
Turning away from the sprays Amon wearily rested his forehead against the cool tiles, as the powerful jets worked on his tried back muscles. As he stood there unwanted memories of the night replayed in his mind.
Amon was at the docks watching in the shadows as members of the Executors unloaded a dozen large crates from a midnight shipment. As the crates were being unloaded from the boat, they were simultaneously being loaded o to two shipment trucks. After the henchmen were done transferring the shipment, they drove off heading towards the highway. Amon quickly packed up his equipment and followed discretely behind. After sometime, he realized the trucks were heading towards the Factory, the last place Amon wanted to go.
The Factory now was nothing more then a flat plot of land, used as a storage area for shipment trucks. When the trucks neared the Factor they took a detour off the highway and through an underground storage unit. Fortunately, for Amon he knew the underground storage unit connected to a series of tunnels leading to the center of the Factory. The tunnels within the underground unit ran parallel to a secret passage that Robin and he had escape through five years ago.
Unwilling to loose the scent Amon maneuvered through passages leading to the heart of the Factory. Hidden in the shadow, Amon had watched in silent as the henchmen unload and open the crates one by one, revealing to his amazement crates of children. In each crate there contain four children ranging from five to twelve years old. As each crate release them from their wooden prison, they were herded out and separated into two groups. A feeling of dread wasted over Amon as the last crate of children was unloaded.
Back in Amon's youth when he was training as a rookie, he had heard stories of cold-blooded assassins from veteran Hunters. From what he had been told, during time of war children were the most valuable soldiers. The younger the children were, the easier they were to train, as they grow older. As the children grow older many forget their past and become adults with no feeling for empathy, making them all the more dangerous. An additional bonus by recruiting soldiers at a young age was the illusion of innocence they could project. Often the enemy would let down their guard, believing the child to be harmless, that was when the child would strike. Killing with out a blink of emotion and here beneath the Factory Amon was witnessing the being of destruction and the end of humanity. There was nothing he could do.
The henchmen selected several children from the group. They instructed the children from the first group to face the children tied up in the second row. To Amon's trained eye he immediately could tell that the second row consist of physically and mentally weaker children. One man stepped toward a small boy about six years old standing in the first row and handed him an automatic gun.
"Boy, you see that annoying little kid?" the man said with an evil grin on his face, pointing to a boy about ten years old across from them. "I want you to shoot him!"
The boy holding the gun did not shoot but look up at the man in disbelief. The man became impatient and yelled at the boy again, "Didn't you hear me? I said shoot the little bastard!"
The boy turned to look at the crying boy across from him, then turn back to the man and said in a self-assured voice, "No, I won't kill him." The boy made an attempt to shoot the man, but his small fingers and inexperience was no match, the man backed handed the boy before the child manage to fully lift the gun.
The man grabbed the gun from the boy and was about to shoot the child when his superior commanded him to stop. "You better think twice before shooting that kid, Rick, he has potential. We break him eventually, he come around to our way of thinking soon. In the mean time stick to Zaizen's instructions." Cursing with rage the man shoot the tied up boy through the heart in one fluent motion. Causing many of the children in the facility to cry and scream. Before storming off he throw the gun at the boy on the ground.
Back tracking through the passages Amon left the factory with a heavy heart, the sound of tortured children still ringing in his ears. As he got into his car one question was stuck in his head, Zaizen's alive?
Finishing the rest of his shower Amon shampoo and rinsed before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower. Grabbing a clean towel off the rack he made his way into the bedroom, as he passed the full-length mirror against the wall, he stopped to look at his reflection. Amon saw himself in the man named, Rick. In the end he knew those children will one day become cold-hearted soldiers, Executers. Assassins with only one purpose, to execute witches and seeds. Deep down Amon knew at one time he was no different from Rick. Memories of Kate reemerged from his past.
Kate was his former partner, before Robin jointed the STN-J. He had done what he needed to do without a second thought when Kate stole information from STN-J. Kate had known she was loosing control of her Craft and wanted something to protect herself before she became the hunted. She had planned on using the information to buy herself immunity from STN. Kate had yet to learn that you don't negotiate with the government. With each passing day Kate became more of a threat so Amon was sent out to hunt her down.
Every so often the guilt of his action would return to haunt him. Amon could have easily taken back the secret file she stole from the STN-J and locked her up so she couldn't escape. He could have spared her life. The reality was he didn't, because he didn't trust her.
Below a car honked at another driver for stopping traffic. The city was welcoming a new day. Amon on the other hand needed to sleep so he could meet up with rest of the members of the Agency for their evening intervention.
As Amon lay in bed sleeping the nightmares came out to haunt him. He tossed in bed as visions of Kate appeared.
Amon and Kate we in the cemetery surrounded by gravestones surrounded by eerie thick fog. This caused Kate to fade in and out of his vision, her poignant voice accusing him of massacre. "Murder! You could have let me go. You got what you came for but it wasn't enough, was it?"
Her image disappeared into the fog, he chased after her. Amon stopped short as a figure stepped out behind a life size stone angel. It was Robin and she was dressed in her hunting uniform. Her eyes were an unnatural colour of green. Suddenly a circle of fire surrounded him.
"Amon! You will die for the sin that you have committed. Murder!" It was Kate's voice coming from Robin's body. Robin increased the circle of burning flames. Amon covered his hands over his eyes as he jumped through the fire. Rolling to break the impact of his jump, Amon landed at Robin's feet. A gun was immediately was placed at his temple, his jaws locked as he tried to control his boiling rage. Robin would have never used a gun. It was Kate. Her chose of weapon had always been a small compact and lightweight gun. He slowly moved to get up, but in one quick motion swung his leg from behind Robin causing her to land hard on the cemetery ground. He quick pounced on top of Robin grabbing her by the throat.
"Amon, help me!" Robin choked out as Amon strangled her.
"You were my partner, I once trusted you witch! But you betrayed us." Amon yelled at Kate's spirit. Suddenly Amon weakened as everything faded and became dark.
Next Scene
Just as Michael was done with his research, Robin came through the door.
"Good morning Michael." Robin greeted him with a smile. How he loved it when she smiled.
"Oh! Good morning Robin." Michael replied looking up from the computer. Apparently he hadn't realized that he had just spent a whole night at the Agency again. Michael was so focus on his research he had forgotten about the time.
"I see you spent the night here again."
"Yah, I tend loss track of time. Besides it not like there is someone special waiting for me back at my empty apartment." Michael reply sheepishly.
Robin walks over to Michael and hands him a cream chesses bagel and a cup of coffee. "So what have you been researching on?"
"Well, I just finish matching the DNA, that Nagira give me yesterday, to our database's list of witches. Guess what I found." Michael pause to take a bite out of the bagel before continuing. "Our John Doe here is a retired under cover witch hunter for STN. His names is Colin Black, and get this, the guy was a witch himself. Boy, STN headquarters are not going to be happy when they hear about this. Someone killing one of their own."
"Did he have a family?"
"Yah, unfortunately he did. News report says the widow is not taking it well."
"What about the substance? Was it Orbo?"
"Yah, it is." Michael took a sip of the hot coffee, savoring the taste before continuing. "My guess is that the Executer have decided to come out of hiding."
"Hiding?"
"Yah, the last few twenty incidents have been all kidnapping, in which they would leave a calling card. Setting it up in away that only the people working for the government in the special unit center, the STN and us would know. But, now that they have converted to killing their victims and leaving them in public places."
"How do you think they got Orbo?"
"The question is not how but who. My guest is it had to be an inside job. It had to be someone that once worked for Zaizen because stealing the formula for Orbo would have been difficult. But when was Zaizen alive he was very careful and had Orbo's chemical formula heavily under guard."
"So we're dealing with someone that knows what their doing." Michael told Robin as he polished off the rest of his coffee.
"Hey Robin, can I get another cup of coffee?"
"Michael you know too much coffee in one day is not good for you." Robin playfully scowled at Michael.
"Yah but you're a caffeine-oholic yourself. So don't tell me that I had enough." Michael said with a big grin on his face. It was times like this he felt that they could be a couple, playfully teasing each other. "So if I can't have coffee, can I have more of that cream cheese bagel?"
"Sure you can." Robin turned to leave for the kitchen in the back of the office, when Michael grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Robin there's something I've been meaning to ask you. I was wondering if you liked… or…you could be my..." Michael was so nervous he was stuttering and tripping over his tongue. Plus, he was starting to not feel good. His head was starting to hurt.
Suddenly the bell on the door rang as Karasuma come through the door. Michael inward sighed at the bad timing. He let go of Robin. "Good morning, Robin, Michael"
Robin and Michael both greeted her in return.
"Hey, Michael did Amon update you on last nights assignment?" Karasuma asked Michael.
"Yah, I forget. Amon sent me a fax a few hours ago. Last night Amon was following a suspect that we think maybe me part of the Executer. Amon has confirmed that we're on the right trail. Amon managed to follow the henchman to a training warehouse, where their holding kidnapped children. Amon was pretty vague on the detail, but we can ask him in detail tonight." The pain in Michael's temple began to heighten. Unable to bare the pain he held his head in his arms as he rocked back and forth.
Karasuma who was facing Michael at the time saw his odd behaviour and voiced her concern, "Michael, are you okay?" Michael didn't answer.
Suddenly, at an abnormal speed Michael attacked Robin. Since, Robin wasn't facing him at the time, he had the advantage of surprise.
"Robin!" Robin thought she heard Karasuma cry out from behind Michael. "Oh my god! Michael, let go of her. What do you think your doing?"
Michael pinned Robin to the wall with one arm. Robin could feel him choking her with his hands, as they were like steel clamps closing in on her air passage. Robin's feet were off the floor as he held her there with strength she never knew he possessed. With no weapon Karasuma couldn't pry Robin from his grip. Robin tried to loosen his grip but she no match against him.
"Michael let go of me!" Robin managed to choke out. Robin thought of use her Craft but that meant she would be forced to seriously hurt Michael. Michael's emotionless face began to be swarm with black spots, as there was not enough oxygen reaching to Robin's brain. As Robin began to feel her self loose consciousness one thought appeared in her mind "Amon, help me!"
Suddenly Michael began to shake and yelled disjointedly at Robin, "…my. I…trusted…betrayed us." All the while still pinning Robin to the wall.
Unexpectedly Karasuma left Robin. Two seconds later came back with the ceramic mug that Michael had been drinking from earlier. Karasuma used it to knock Michael on the head. He collapsed to the floor, in effect releasing Robin. Robin felt the air rush back into her lungs.
Karasuma ran to Robin's aid to check if she was conscious, great fully she was. Karasuma wiped out her cell phone to call for an ambulance.
Next Scene
Back at Amon's apartment he woke up from his nightmare. The only thing he remembered was that he had tried to kill Robin or was Kate he was killing? Amon got up to take another shower before returning to bed. This time when he fell asleep there was no nightmares of Kate awaiting him on the other side.
End of Chapter