Disclaimer: I do not own Witch Hunter Robin or Harry Potter...otherwise I would have made a second season of WHR.
Chapter 4: Dire Situations and Dwindling Options
Karasuma anxiously looked through the files at STN-E headquarters. She was unsure of how much more time they had, but she wanted to get this done as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, her partner wasn't making any progress on his side.
Not that she could blame him. The situation was out of control, and the possibility of becoming the hunted was unsettling to everyone. She'd been doing this job for three years, but it seemed like an eternity. By any right, she should be attending a college somewhere, dating some guy for a few months and only worrying about what topic she should write her term paper on. Right now, Karasuma was worrying about whether or not she will be alive tomorrow.
She was glad to hear Zaizen order her to go downstairs instead of staying in a room where people had been massacred. Amon seemed to be mad that she was sent to the archives, but he was particularly dim-witted when it came to human emotion. Karasuma felt bad for Robin on what seemed like a consistent basis recently. The poor girl was in love with an oaf, whom Karasuma knew was aware of the girl's feelings on some level.
Even if their relationship was complicated and bound to failure, Karasuma almost envied Robin's tragic love. At least she felt something strongly. Karasuma couldn't remember a time when she felt a strong emotion of her own, apart from all of the people she's scryed. The more people she touched, the less she felt alive. She looked to her partner, still dazed at the recent news.
She decided to give him a distraction from his own overpowering thoughts of death. Unfortunately, work was the only thing she had in common with Sakaki, or any of the other members of the team for that matter. Maybe she was just a kinder, female version of Amon.
"Sakaki, there's no point in looking through these files any longer," Karasuma said, startling the boy out of his reverie. "They don't mention anything about a Lord Voldemort or a Sirius Black. Why don't we go upstairs and see if any of the others have found something?"
Sakaki brightened while Karasuma felt an impending doom. She really was like a mother sometimes. She would sacrifice herself to make another person happy. Yet again, someone else would feel an emotion she no longer believed she was capable of feeling on her own.
"Good idea, Karasuma-san," Sakaki said. He eagerly ran up the stairs, and Karasuma trailed after him. Amon was going to make her scry the blood stains.
"Karasuma." She shuddered as her name was said by the one person she really didn't want to approach her. Apparently he wanted to catch her before Zaizen did. "We won't have a second chance here, and I need you to scry the scene."
"Where's Zaizen?" Karasuma asked hopefully, thinking some intervention may be in store.
"He and Michael are in the meeting room, copying files and searching for a safe location," Amon replied, misinterpreting her response, most likely on purpose. "You can scry out here." He pointed to a stain on the wall.
Feeling like a dog performing a trick, Karasuma kneeled down and prepared herself for the worst.
Flashes of green light appeared before her, and a man with snake-like eyes peered at her through a long cloak. He was saying something, but her powers were not developed well enough to include sound. Everyone around her was dying with a simple spell. They fell backward and hit the floor almost immediately after getting hit by the green light. The man was the only one there, yet he was easily defeating all of her comrades who have had years of training and experience.
Another green light flashed. She felt an overwhelming fear before it hit her. She fell to the ground without any time to scream.
"Karasuma-san! Miho!" She opened her eyes to see Sakaki hovering above her and desperately looking at her for signs of life. His yell had attracted the attention of Michael and Zaizen, the latter looking very pissed off.
Sakaki's hand on her forehead brought her attention back to her partner. "Are you okay, Karasuma-san?"
"Yes," Karasuma said, getting up slowly. Doujima helped her to her feet, while Sakaki held her up from behind. His hands lingered, holding her still, and she couldn't help but blush a little at the feelings of concern that washed over her when an errand finger brushed across her neck. He had also yelled her first name a few seconds earlier. Sometimes even she acted like a silly school girl in a shoujo manga, but she honestly couldn't remember the last time any guy had been really concerned or worried about her. She held back the tears that were starting to well up in her eyes. It helped to look at Amon, who seemed unfazed by her attack. He really is a bastard.
"What's going on," Zaizen said, pretending to be concerned about Karasuma and unconcerned about what she may have seen. His act didn't trick her, and from Amon's look, he wasn't buying it either.
"I saw the man...or thing that attacked the hunters," Karasuma said. "He had the body of a normal human being as far as I could tell, but his eyes and nose looked similar to a snake's." Karasuma tried to think of any more distinguishing features on the man's face and attire that could help them find him, but instead she realized why Amon had been so insistent on making her scry the crime scene. She'll mentally apologize to him later.
"There was only one man, and none of the hunters who were killed were dismembered." She looked at Zaizen pointedly. "How could there have been blood stains everywhere if the hunters were already dead. The witch had killed them with a killing spell, not any sort of brutal attack."
The group of hunters looked at Zaizen. "I'm not sure how that's possible," he said, still in his unconvincing tone of surprise. "The factory crew in England is an elite task force, and its doctors and morticians are the best in the world. You've only seen a portion of the memory, Karasuma, and you're powers are not at its peak stages yet. This man may have used some sort of strange dark magic afterward to mutilate the bodies."
The words were even, but if there's one clear indication of guilt, it's a rambling speech. Besides, Amon seemed to be set against him from the start.
"The surveillance tapes. Where are they?" Amon certainly knew how to get to a point quickly.
"The factory took the original tapes," Michael said. "I couldn't access the footage through the system."
"What about the copies? Solomon protocol is to send all evidence or copies of evidence to the investigating team." Karasuma thought Amon was going to start reciting lines from the manual word for word. It wouldn't necessarily surprise her, though Zaizen seemed less than happy with his team leader's affluence with regulations.
"They're in my office in Tokyo," Zaizen stated.
"Strange. They should have been brought here." Amon stood in front of Zaizen daring him to say something. If there was one thing Amon was especially gifted in, it was staring someone down. Squirming was a notable reaction by every unlucky person who found themselves on the receiving end of his cold stare, and that was exactly what Zaizen was doing.
Amon broke the silence first. "I assume you looked at the tapes, at least." He chose not to pause for an answer. "Why then do you only think he 'may' have used dark magic? You should know, shouldn't you?"
Zaizen was up against a wall, and no amount of lying was going to fool Amon or Karasuma into thinking anything else. The other hunters seemed to be slowly catching up, and the confused faces were replaced with curious and angry ones, with the exception of Robin whom Karasuma doubted could react in an angry way.
Karasuma knew there was no way out for Zaizen and apparently so did he. He reached for his gun.
Before Karasuma or Amon had a chance to react, Michael hit Zaizen in the crook of his neck withhis portablekeyboard, effectively knocking the man unconscious. "I always wanted to do that," Michael smiled triumphantly.
"Yes, but now we won't be able to get any answers from him," Amon said.
"Oh. But I saved your life," Michael countered hopefully.
"Do you really think that I wouldn't have been able to disarm him before he let out a shot?"
"Oh." Michael looked down at his shoes. Karasuma decided to repeal her earlier notion of apologizing. Amon deserved the title.
"It's alright, Michael," Karasuma said, walking over to Michael and putting her hand on his shoulder. She was thankful that she was able to walk steadily over to him without falling. "I would have done the same if I were in your shoes. Thank you."
Michael smiled at her as Sakaki grabbed him by the shoulders and started congratulating him too. Karasuma looked at Amon checking Zaizen's pulse. She really was like a mother, cleaning up after someone else's mess.
"We need to get out of here soon," Amon said, interrupting Sakaki's speech to Michael. "Finding a place will be difficult, though."
"Michael found some hideaways on the computer, right?" Sakaki said, slapping Michael on the back. Karasuma decided to take this one before both boys received hurt feelings from Amon.
"We can no longer trust Solomon, Sakaki," Karasuma reminded gently. "They tried to trick us with this case, and now we've acted in a sort of mutinous fashion by taking out the boss. Those safe havens are all under Solomon control. We can't stay there."
Sakaki looked over at Michael. "There weren't by chance any safe hiding places not under Solomon control?"
"If there were, they'd still be on a database, easily accessed by other hunters."
"We could try one place," Karasuma said. The others looked at her with hope, but she couldn't help but feel she was going to put everyone else in mortal danger. She only wanted to use this as a last resort. Apparently, now was as good as ever. "I scryed a woman today in the bookshop in Diagon Alley. Sakaki had alerted me to a possible lead." She looked over to her partner who was furiously blushing from the uncharacteristic praise of his work as a field agent.
"When I lookedat what she was thinking about, the memory included the name of Sirius Black, a possible reference to the Dark Lord and an address." She looked at Amon directly. "However, I think it's some sort of hideout for a group of very powerful witches. If we were to go there, I'm not sure what we'd do or what we could accomplish."
Karasuma could see Amon's wheels turning in his head. Both she and Amon knew that they didn't have many options left, especially if a group of dark witches and Solomon hunters were on their tails.
"We'll go to the address," Amon said clearly. "Did you see any alliance to this Dark Lord?"
"No. If what I saw was the truth, they are in opposition to him."
Sakaki smiled. "Well, an enemy of our enemy - "
"Is still our enemy," Amon interrupted. "They are still witches. They may be of use to us, but don't let your guard down. We don't know what to expect from them." Amon looked at Zaizen. "We can't leave him here for the witches to find." He closed his eyes and sighed. For the first time, Karasuma saw Amon as a very tired man who had grown up far too fast.
"Karasuma, take Robin and burn the hard copies of the files in the archives," Amon ordered. "There's no point in worrying about whether anything else will catch fire. We no longer need to keep this building intact. Michael, you and Sakaki will need to put some safeguard on the files, at least so the witches can't access them. Doujima and I will take care of him."
Karasuma led Robin to the vault where everything was up in flames in no time. Yurika hadn't said anything during the revelation, and she had gotten a little suspicious of her, especially since she doesn't generally keep her mouth shut at any point in time. Yurika may pretend to be interested only in fashion magazines and sleep, but Karasuma knew better. Yurika was hiding something, and she was certain that was half of the reason why Amon took her with him.
When Robin was finished, the two met up with Michael and Sakaki upstairs. Amon and a more fidgety Yurika followed after. The group hurriedly exited the flat.
"So where is the boss now?" Michael asked.
"In an alley looking very homeless in tattered witch robes," Amon replied. He looked at Karasuma. "Where are we heading to now?"
Twelve Grimmauld Place was grimy and filthy, though Snape supposed it was fitting for Sirius Black. The raggedy and older looking man sat furthest away from him, to which both parties, he was sure, were happy about. This time he had actually been the one to call a meeting. Albus Dumbledore would definitely want to hear this news, though another enemy in the midst was never a pleasant topic of discussion.
Remus Lupin was already failing at any attempt to lure the werewolves to their side. The man may have been the only one able to match his grades during school, but Lupin was still a half-breed and a Marauder, so in Snape's eyes - fated to fail at everything sooner or later. As he expected, only Alastor Moody had shown up from the group of aurors. The others had jobs to pretend to be loyal to at the Ministry and could not attend on short notice.
Transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall was one of the few other teachers at Hogwarts who was part of the Order. Unfortunately, she was also a Gryffindor and thwarted his attempts at taking numerous points away from Potter and his band of dimwits. Overall, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Lupin, Black, Moody and the Weasleys were the only ones present, though Snape had a sneaking suspicion that the brat pack upstairs would be eavesdropping on their conversation. Considering Mundungus Fletcher had no occupation, he was supposed to have been here too, but Snape saw no real use in his scalping abilities anyway.
"Why don't we get started?" Dumbledore kindly suggested, though Snape believed the old man felt the same way about the missing member. "Severus, what news have you brought us?"
"Bad news to be honest," Snape began. "Last night, the Dark Lord killed a group of Solomon hunters in London."
"Really?" Black said with feigned interest. "It's already all over muggle newspapers, Snivellus."
"Please, Sirius," Dumbledore warned in schoolteacher mode. Snape almost expected Black to be sent to a corner to think about what he's done. "Continue, Severus."
"As I was saying, the Dark Lord killed the hunters last night, but today, Draco Malfoy encountered a group of individuals that the Dark Lord has perceived to be hunters. However, they were inside of Diagon Alley when it happened." Snape thought that would get their attention. The murmurs began.
"I was just there this afternoon," Molly Weasley said horrified. "How awful that these hunters now have access to our children." The woman still seemed shaken from her earlier clash with a boggart, which Snape had been warned previously by Dumbledore not to say anything alluding to the death of her children or husband. The old man really knew how to spoil the fun.
"Lucius Malfoy was also attacked today in Knockturn Alley," Snape said. Ignoring the side comment from Black that sounded like "serves the git right," Snape continued. "The Dark Lord believes the attack is related to the hunters. The assailant hadn't used a wand, but used brute force instead. While the Dark Lord would usually not be bothered by muggle attacks on his Death Eaters, this hunter had stolen something of value from Lucius."
"What was it?" Lupin asked breaking his silence and deferring his attention away from restraining Black.
"I don't know," Snape uneasily admitted. "The Dark Lord said nothing of the item, nor was Lucius in any position to say anything. All I know is that the Dark Lord will stop at nothing to retrieve it. A search party has already been sent to the group's headquarters, but it had been evacuated, and all of the files were burned. None of the Death Eaters have been able to trace the band of hunters."
The group fell silent. The lack of knowledge pertaining to the whereabouts of the hunters was obviously making the Weasley woman nervous. And she should be. No one has ever been able to gather concrete information about the group, because everyone who has approached them has been killed, with the exception of the Dark Lord, whom he doubted would be willing to share information. The hunters were known to have a 100 percent success rate, and adult witches, who knew of their existence, lived in fear that one day they could be hunted. Everyone had been disillusioned into thinking that they were safe in England,surrounded by such a large wizarding community. Apparently they were wrong.
Dumbledore's mischievous glint was no longer present, and even Black managed to keep his mouth shut. The silence didn't last long. Mrs. Black's screech could be heard loud and clear in the dining room turned meeting room.
Black sighed. "What's Dung done this time?" He got out of his chair with a grunt but stopped short when her words reached the group's ears.
"FILTHY MUGGLES NOW? MY HOUSE HAS GONE TO RUIN! MUGGLES ARE IN MY HOUSE! MUGGLES!"