A/N – Yes, I'm back. Finally. Sorry it took me this long and the chapter is so short. I will try and do better with both these problems.
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"Honestly, just how ironic is it that what is left of those damned Shadow Ghosts have taken refuge is in an abandoned industrial unit merely a mile from were Togusa was killed?" The Major asked softly as Ishikawa drove them to the hidden away place.
No one answered her. Even over a year later, each and every one of them hated themselves for abandoning Togusa. They had carried the memory of him throughout the past year, and it drove them all to become their own Stand Alone Complex, individuals who walked their own shadowed paths in a chaotic world, their only goal being to destroy the ones who took away someone they cared about. Togusa had been a co-worker, fellow soldier and comrade. But most importantly, Togusa had been a good friend.
The image of his slaughtered body haunted everyone's dreams, making many of them fear falling asleep. Or at least those who could. For the others, they were haunted in times their minds were without anything to occupy them.
And now the day had finally come to end it all.
Fury and sadness had made all of them dead serious, even the Tachikoma. The pride they had taken in being a strong group had been all but shattered at the loss of Togusa. The one most affected was Saito, who had been paired with the human during the ill-fated raid. He had become almost mute, refusing to speak except when he had to. The rest of them were nearly as bad.
FLASHBACK
The building was abandoned, empty. Once again the Shadow Ghosts had managed to escape them. Taped to the door of the building was a photo, the same image the leader of the Shadower Ghosts had shown them of Togusa. He had been targeted because he was fully human, and thus hated by the Shadow Ghosts, a yakuza-like group of cyborgs.
Another time they found another photo; it had been an image of Togusa's other child, a little boy, also dead just like his parents and sister. In his fury, Batou had punched a hole in the wall next to the photo.
The wall had been solid steel, and six inches thick.
END FLASHBACK
Ishikawa parked the large vehicle before the last bend in the narrow road leading to the supposedly abandoned industrial unit. The three Tachikoma who had been chosen remained unusually silent as they moved outside. Even though they were machines, they were developing minds of their own and understood the gravity of the situation. Especially when one of them was the one who had been the one with Saito and Togusa on that ill-fated raid.
The Major held up her hand to stop the men as they started to disembark.
"I know all of you want to bring justice to these people for Togusa and his family," she said, speaking softly but firmly. "But do not kill them, no matter how much you might want to, unless you have no other choice." Her gaze rested on the two people she was mainly addressing; Batou and Saito.
The men – every one of them – scowled, but nodded in acknowledgement of the order.
Silently, Section Nine entered the building.
Immediately it became obvious that the building was not abandoned and empty; far from it. Security cameras winked at them from all directions, and sensors criss-crossed across the halls. Every one of them slid silently over Section Nine's new raiding suits.
Halting at a four-way intersection, the Major pointed, motioning Batou to the left, and Pazu to the right while she went straight.
As they started down their appointed halls, the Major said, "Be careful, all of you. I don't want to lose anyone else. If something happens to you or your group, let us all know right away. But otherwise try and keep cyber-transmitions to a minimum. We don't know who advanced their equipment is. Last time it was better than ours. Hopefully this time it isn't. Do you all understand?"
"Yes, Major." Replied the rest of Section Nine, though both Saito and Batou did so hesitantly.
OoOoOoO
Batou peered around the corner, looking down the next hallway. It was empty, and lined with doors – cell doors, from the looks of them. They were all open except for four in the middle. Cautiously approaching them, Batou quickly examined the locks. They were all digital, and complicated. But only one, the furthest from where he was standing, was activated. Taking that as a bad sign, Batou pushed the first door open. Immediately the sickening smell of rotting flesh assaulted his nose. Resisting the urge to cough Batou halted his breathing, glad for the first time in a long while that he was a cyborg and actually able to do that. Shining his flashlight about the small cell he found in the far corner a body, probably male, lying broken and headless on the ground. Skin grafts were rotting away to show metal underneath. The prisoner had been a cyborg.
It was the same in the other two cells as he neared the only one that seemed to be locked, albeit the bodies were not as decomposed as the first. Batou scowled down at the last body. Why were the Shadow Ghosts killing their own kind? Had these three – or maybe four, who knew what was in the last cell – failed to follow orders, or had they disagreed with the group's views on humans? Or was it something else entirely?
Approaching the last closed cell, Batou could see that the numeral keypad was asking for a thirteen digit code. The whole thing was solid metal. That was too bad. The makers of the cells had never counted on a furious, vengeance-filled Batou coming into contact with one of their doors. Stepping back, Batou kicked it. The door flew open, banging loudly against the cement wall of the small cell. Stepping into the doorway, Batou peered around. At least this time the smells that assaulted the large cyborgs' nose were not of rotting flesh and death, but of stale sweat, urine and blood. The faint rasping sound of cloth on cement in the far corner made Batou turn around, flickering into the visible spectrum.
"Who's there?" he called, trying to make his voice soft as he slowly brought his flashlight up. Receiving no answer, he flicked it on and pointed its beam toward the sound.
An overly-thin figure huddled in the corner furthest away from the door. It had short, unevenly cut dark hair, matted with blood against his skull over his right temple, among other places. This made the figure's hair color impossible to tell. A dead-white hand attached to a bare, almost skeletal-thin arm flew up to protect his face. "Stay away from me," he begged, voice hoarse and shaking with fear, exhaustion and hopelessness. He wore only a ragged pair of pants. His chest and feet were bare. Batou could make out every one of the poor figure's bones, along with other things he didn't want to name.
Batou took a step forward. "We're here to get you out."
The body shifted, pressing itself ever further into the corner. The thin arm shifted so what little there was of it now shielded the blood-matted head. "No, you're not," he whispered. "You tried this one me before. I'm not falling for it again. You'll only hurt me again."
Batou frowned. "We're all police, sir. We're from Public Security Section Nine."
The man flinched at the last four words. "Like hell you are," he hissed, daring look over his arm at Batou. "Police don't kill and torture people."
Batou's frown deepened. Maybe the Shadow Ghosts were pretending to be police officers? As he took another step closer to the figure, he could see new, healing and old torture marks, cuts bruises and burns, all over the man's arms and back. His chest and probably his legs were the same. He had known this as soon as he had seen the figure. He just hadn't wanted to name what he saw. Batou clenched his teeth. The Shadow Ghosts were still hurting people.
"Batou, where the HELL are you?" The Major demanded suddenly.
"I'm on the first floor below the main one. I found their cell block. Four of the doors were closed, but only one was locked. Three hold dead bodies, cyborgs who probably angered the Shadow Ghosts. The one that as locked holds a guy who's still alive, but scared to death of anyone, including police. He's also been tortured. Why are you asking?"
"At this very moment I am watching you talk to someone I don't recognize, that's why," The Major replied, sending him video feed.
Batou scowled. "What the hell-"
Batou was interrupted by Saito. "Major, Batou, take a look at this."
Saito sent them his own video. It showed the Major, Saito, Pazu and Ishikawa – or very good likenesses – looking at security monitors, all frowning.
"Holy shit," Batou swore. "It's another Section Nine."
"An evil Section Nine." Pazu corrected blackly.
"Wait a moment," Batou said. "This explains why this guy is afraid of me. I look like one of his captors."
"But why would the Shadow Ghosts want to look like the ones who are hunting them?" Pazu asked.
"Maybe they're planning on killing us all and taking our places." Saito suggested darkly.
"Stop that," the Major ordered. "We don't need talk like that."
Batou wanted to shake his head. While Saito's idea made some sense, he couldn't help but think that it was something far more complicated than that. If that was even possible.
Slowly, as to not alarm the man, Batou approached the figure and knelt down a few feet away. "Will you please look at me?"
The man's only reply was to flinch away and not look at him.
Clipping the flashlight to his vest, Batou slid his gun noisily across the floor, trying to assure the thin figure that he wasn't holding any weapons.
"Damn it," Saito cursed. "They're moving out. Something must've alerted them. They're also talking about a prisoner and the cell block-"
Saito's words were abruptly cut off.
"Saito! What's going on?" the Major asked sharply.
When Saito didn't answer, the Major demanded again, "Saito, what's going on?" This time a trace of worry lancing her words.
"Saito!"
After a brief but far too long silence for anyone's liking, Saito said, "They spotted me."
"Pazu and I are on our way." The Major said. "Batou, try and get the prisoner to trust you and get him out. Otherwise sedate him. Ishikawa, be ready to get us out of there fast. Tachikoma, head out to cover our retreat. There are too many for us to take at the moment."
"Yes, Major."
The prisoner was shaking his head, his arm pressed against it. "Stop," he begged. "Please, just stop."
"Stop what?" Batou asked, creeping an inch closer.
"You know what," he replied, voice shaking. "After what you did to me after claiming to be my friends, do you really think I would trust you again?"
Batou frowned again. If people looking like them, Section Nine, were friends of this man…who did they all know, and were on a friendly basis with, look like this? Or had it merely been the imposters who had supposedly befriended this man before putting him through who knew what kind of living hell. Or…
No. It could not be that simple. It just couldn't.
Gently Batou touched the man's shoulder. "Look it me," he said sharply, voicing it as an order. If this man had been a captive for a long amount of time, he would probably obey orders. Batou hated having to scare the skeletal man any further, but he had to get a better look at his face.
The man refused for a moment before lowering his arm.
Fear and resignation to a bleak fate stared at Batou from glazed, sunken brown eyes. A thin but jagged scar cut across the man's right temple and almost non-existent cheek. Batou reached out and touched the man's face. Even in this state, the face struck a chord in his memory, but he would be damned if he could remember the person's name. The man closed his eyes and flinched; Batou pulled his hand back. Sighing, Batou reached for the syringe in one of the pockets in his vest. If the man wasn't going to let himself be touched, then he would have to sedate him.
The man flinched away again, though he had himself pressed as far as he could into the corner. "Why do you all keep doing this to me?" he asked softly. "Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?"
Batou was at a loss for words briefly. Finally he said, "Sir, I need you to listen to me. I am not one of your captors. I am here to get you out of here."
The man shook his head before leaning it against the wall. "Don't lie to me, Batou. Not that it matters, I guess. None of you are ever going to stop. Especially not you."
Batou's eyebrows shot up. "How do you know my name?"
The man lowered his arm and glared at Batou with a look of equal hate and fear in his eyes. The look of resignation had been pushed aside for a moment.
Eyes that were not brown, Batou realized with a jolt, but dark amber.
"You know very well how I know your name, Batou," Togusa whispered. "I used to be a member of your murderous Section Nine."
"Holy shit. Major!" Batou shouted across the open connection.
"What's wrong, Batou?" Eight voices – Five human and three Tachikoma –demanded at once, all worried.
"Guys, I don't know how to say this, but… I found Togusa."
Annnnnd I think I'll cut it off there. Please don't be mad…
And please please PLEASE review! Reviews will make me try to update update faster!
