A new chapter! :)

Once again, a reminder that underlined speech is spoken in English.

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Chapter Sixteen – The Taunt

"Are we too late again?"

"Yes. Both MV-461 and GA-386 have vanished from the system and BK-201 is inactive."

"Damn it," Jacob shouted. "How does he do that?"

"Does that correspond to your information?" April asked Misaki.

Checking the latest text message from Kanami, Misaki nodded her head in reply. Based on the update, he had been active for longer than the last time, but Misaki was only glad that he was gone before they arrived. The area looked like it had seen a tornado as there were crumbled buildings and hydrant water flooding the street.

"Marissa, check the vehicle," Jacob instructed. "Devon, I want you and Ryan to find our dead Contractors."

"Yes sir!"

"Jack, call the city to have this water problem fixed."

"Yes sir!" he replied.

"And you three, just do whatever..."

"You're free to look around," April informed Misaki. "He gave us permission to do whatever."

"Alright."

"July, see if you can track him. I know we've failed before, but we've got to keep trying."

He nodded in reply and made his way towards an intact building. The two of them waited, but he finally shook his head. They still couldn't figure out why he was unable to see anything here in America. Eventually, Marissa called out to Jacob regarding the person in the car and they joined him.

"Take her in for questions."

"You'll never get anything out of her," April informed him.

[underlined]"What's that supposed to mean?"[/underlined]

"She's a doll, just like July. She can't tell you anything."

"So now what? We have a witness, but she can't do anything to help us?!"

"Dolls are rare. Even if people knew about Contractors, not many know about the dolls since they're used for surveillance. Since these two have been using her, I suspect some group activity. Are there any gangs that might have access to this type of thing?" inquired April.

"Check on that Marissa. We'll take her back anyways."

"What were you talking about?" Misaki asked after Jacob left to let Marissa process the car and continued to check on his other agents.

"Dolls... This girl is a doll. Why would these simple Contractors have access to something like this?"

Because they work for the Syndicate, Misaki answered her in her head.

***

"I'm kind of thirsty. Did you want anything to drink?"

"No, I'm okay for now," Misaki said, smiling as Amelia was keeping her company.

April hadn't been pleased by the idea of leaving her with Amelia, but she had no choice in the matter as she was called to a mandatory tele-conference with her supervisors, along with July. Since she was still looking into recent data, Amelia had been called into work with her. Misaki felt a little guilty for keeping such a pretty girl from her friends, but she had said that she didn't mind.

"Okay. I'll be right back. Then we can go over the latest information that we received."

"Thanks again for staying with me."

"Not a problem."

Misaki turned back to the papers in front of her, looking at the information they gathered from the two attacks that had happened after she had arrived. The first one at the university had been two college students who had been killed, but there was no connection between the two. They didn't even move in the same circles; one was a law student and the other a science major.

With the two from last night, they were also unconnected, even though they were found in the same general area. One had been killed by massive internal bleeding and a snapped neck while the other was electrocuted. A small half formed clay doll was found in his hands, but at the moment, it didn't mean anything. Both men were from the city, but not from the same parts as one was an ex-military agent who had an honourable discharge and the other was a struggling artist.

Then there was the doll as April had explained it to her on their way back to the hotel. She didn't know of any dolls that wandered around by themselves. Misaki could understand that as the ones she knew about, besides Yin and July, were the ones used for tracking back in the Astronomy Division at home. But it didn't make sense to send a doll to fight someone like BK-201, unless there was something she was missing about the setup.

In the university case, not counting the unfortunate victim, the law student or JP-177 had been killed first; HZ-805's body was consistent with a fall from the roof, but any damage to her body was post-mortem. In the business area case, MV-461 was taken out first, approximately six blocks away from GA-386 on two different streets. And nothing there described the type of damage seen for the buildings as many were completely levelled or partially missing.

Sighing softly, Misaki leaned back and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't make heads or tails of any of the data. It didn't help that she was positive some of the details were lost in translation. They weren't any closer to solving this than they were when they had arrived almost three weeks ago. She was going to have to go through everything again with a fine-toothed comb.

"Well, well. Look at what we have here."

Misaki turned around in surprised to see Jacob standing behind her. Pulling away from him, she hadn't even noticed his entry. What was he doing here anyways? They usually avoided dealing with each other, especially because they couldn't communicate. The fact that they were alone together made her nervous.

He approached her chair and Misaki felt like shrinking underneath the table. He still intimidated her. But he didn't say anything as he glanced at the paperwork on the table. It seemed like he was assessing the amount of work she was doing. He finally glanced at her and she was sorely tempted to dash out of the room.

"At least one of you tries to do something. Though I think the lot of you are a waste of our time," he said snidely. "Even if you're here, you haven't done anything to help."

"Um... I..."

"Save it. You're supposed to be the best they have. If you had done your job properly back in Tokyo, I wouldn't be in this situation to begin with."

Misaki flinched as he reached out to grab her ponytail. He was using a nasty tone of voice with her; she understood that much and he wasn't here for a pleasant chat. She snatched her hair from his hand; he laughed mockingly in response.

"You should have chosen a better, more suitable occupation. A beautiful woman like you," he said, leering at her.

He reached out to touch her and Misaki quickly scrambled out of her chair to get away from him. Now she was beating herself up as she should have gone with Amelia. That way, she wouldn't have to put up with his rude behaviour and condescending attitude. If he did something to her here, no one would know since it was already late.

"There's no one here, you know," he stated, following her as she continued to back away from him.

Eventually, she found her back pressed against one of the bookshelves. She was trapped! He stood a foot away from her, casually leaning in as he braced an arm along the bookshelf. Misaki tried to push him away, but it was impossible with someone his size. Neither she nor April had trusted him to begin with and it looked like their thoughts were justified.

"I wonder. Do all you Japanese have such soft and smooth skin?" he questioned as he trailed the back of his fingers down her cheek. "I mean, April... If it weren't for the orders, I wouldn't go near a hag like her. But you... That's a totally different matter."

Misaki jerked away from his touch, once again pushing at him to get away from her. Though she didn't understand what he said, she didn't care to. She just wanted to get away from him! He didn't move and once again laughed at her futile efforts. She had thought Japan had enough problems with train gropers and perverts, but she never imagined that this would happen to her here.

"Ahem..."

Jacob turned around at the sound and Misaki used the opportunity to escape from where he had trapped her. A look of relief passed over her features and Amelia smiled at her. She quickly took her seat again, staring at the papers and hoping that he would just leave. Though she had been given clearance to use her weapon, she didn't think it meant to use it on their agents inside their own building.

"What do you want?" Jacob asked as he fully turned to face her.

"Nothing. I was just helping Misaki with the file translations when I went to get a drink. I never imagined seeing you here."

"Hell! Are you her other watchdog now?"

"Not at all. I can't help it if I happened to walk in on you at the wrong time, but you better leave her alone unless you want me to report this," Amelia threatened.

"Empty threats. They'd never believe your word over mine."

"Maybe not here, but I'm sure Foreign Affairs and MI-6 wouldn't like that. Need I remind you of what happened with April? She's not going to leave you alone until you're buried if she hears about this."

"Fah! A Contractor with emotions; bullshit."

Even so, he let the matter drop and left the room, the door slamming shut behind him. Misaki flinched at the sound, but finally lifted her gaze to look at her saviour. If Amelia hadn't come in at the time; she shuddered to think of what would happen next. She was a little shaken by the event as she had every right to be.

"Are you okay?"

"I – I'm fine."

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"No, but I can't imagine what would have happened if you didn't walk in just then," Misaki replied, shuddering.

"I can't believe that this would happen right in our own building!" Amelia exclaimed. "But don't think about it anymore. It's over and he won't do anything to you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I kindly reminded him of who you work for and who April works for," she answered with a grin. "We'll keep this between ourselves for now, but if it happens again, April's not going to be very happy and neither will Foreign Affairs or MI-6."

"Thanks. I really appreciate it."

"Not a problem. I'd do that for everyone. Now let's not stay too late next time, to avoid situations like this."

"Agreed."