Differing Paths...
Chapter Two
Tomo, Miyama, and a group of snipers sat atop the Opera City Art Gallery. They were prepared for the cat to strike, and the snipers ahd their guns at the ready. "Alright," Tomo said to the group, "Here's the plan. Judging by what we know about the other burglaries, the perpetrator uses rooftops to enter the buildings they're stealing from. So, we're going to pin them down with sniper fire, while I chase after 'em. I'll fire off a few of my own, then you guys go through all your bullets trying to hit 'em while they're out in the open. I'll save a few of my own for if none of that works.". "How are we going bring them in with that plan?", Miyama asked, prepared for the answer he was about to get. "Bring 'em what?No, no, no, they're going to die. I'm sure of it!", she said, grinning and giving a thumbs-up. The entire team was quite a bit unnerved at her readiness to kill suspects, particularly Miyama. "I know from experience that she's a loose cannon,", he thought to himself, "but a never thought she was this... crazy.". Tomo ran towards the edge of the rooftop, and jumped. Miyama ran after her, unaware of what she was doing. She landed on the next rooftop over, gave him the thumbs-up again, and began running between the rooftops. She saw a suspicious shadow far off, and was now running, though no one had any idea. One of the snipers realized quickly, and looked in the direction she was moving through his scope. He saw a plain, person shaped shadow running from roof to roof, silhouetted against the lights, and fired off. It was as though this person had known their strategy, as they moved perfectly to a lower-level rooftop, where they couldn't be hit by sniper fire. The lucky sniper informed the others of this, and a few of them fired off warning shots. Miyama picked up his phone. "Hello? We need a helicopter in Shunjuku for a major investigation going on right now.". The line told him there was one on its way. "Hopefully, we can catch this guy without killing him.", he thought to himself, hoping that Tomo would keep the chaos to a minimum. Tomo hadn't felt this kind of adrenaline in years. She saw the shadow and that they were pinned down by sniper fire, as expected. The person was wearing a massive hood, covering their face and preventing their body structure from being revealed. The person saw Tomo coming. "Interesting. This certainly wasn't planned for.", the per thought to themselves. They ran to the next rooftop, moving in erratic patterns to dodge sniper fire. Tomo kept running, jumping from roof to roof, always a few behind her opponent. "Damn, they're fast.", she thought to herself. She slowed down, but kept going, and fired off two shots. The suspect fell as she did. "Ah, the satisfaction of justice...", she thought to herself. She ran as quickly as she could to the perpetrator. She finally arrived, and had planned a course of action. She was going to lift the hood, and shoot them in the head, just to make sure. She began moving the hood, but felt the movement of air around her ankle. A wakizashi, hidden in the hood, came out, and slashed at Tomo's ankle. Tomo, feeling the air, jumped across the roof, the sword missing. "I knew you were playing dead!", she yelled as she landed. The two were now seperated by the length of the rooftop. "This has to end now.", Tomo thought to herself, "The perp has nothing but a sword, and I can fire at a distance. The advantage is all mine.". Suddenly, she felt a strange feeling of remorse for the person. She had killed planty of criminals in the past, but this seemed... different. Was this guilt? Tomo sure as hell didn't know. She fired at the suspect, wondering what had happened to the sniper fire. The suspect dodged her shots with amazing grace. They then ran over rooftops, back towards the gallery. The snipers were out of ammunition, Miyama had left, and knew they would be killed if they stayed, so they ran into the gallery and out onto the street, where they would be safe. The person arrived on the gallery roof, and prepared to dig their sword into the massive skylight on top of the building. Tomo jumped, went into a laying postion in midair, and began firing at the suspect wildly. One of the bullets put a small hole in the skylight, setting off the alarm. The people inside began running about and panicking. Tomo ran at the suspect, and shot once more. She now only had eleven bullets, and the two were trapped in close-range. Tomo fired with both guns, at two different and erratic angles, making them hard to dodge. Yet, the burglar was able to dodge the shots, and get across the now-fragile damaged skylight with agility like Tomo had never seen. This person had clearly mastered the art of moving with grace, as they ran across the skylight with incredibly light footsteps, jumped onto the rooftop entrance, and jumped at Tomo, sword at the ready. Tomo began firing off shots, all of which the perpetrator slashed straight through with their blade. They took a swing at Tomo's jaw with it, which she blocked with the extended barrels of her revolvers. Tomo kicked the person in the chest, sending them flying backwards into the rooftop entrance. She gave two careless shots for the head while the person was on the ground. Luckily for the suspect, they missed. The person got up and began running towards Tomo, seemingly without regard for their own life. Tomo had five bullets left, and knewthat this person would stop coming, so she only fired one shot. "Just as planned.", the perpetrator thought to themselves. They dodged, and slashed at Tomo's chest. The blade cut through her jacket, slicing into Tomo's skin. Fortunately, it was a quick, shallow cut, and the only thing holding Tomo back because of it was the burning pain. But for someone like Tomo, pain merely drives them further. She let off two shots, releasing half of her bullets carelessly. She felt the cold wind going into her wound, the cut being deep enough to expose the skin on the side of her chest through her jacket. She ran to the other side of the perp, and tried to shoot them in the back, but they turned around instantaneously, faster than any movement Tomo had seen before. The shadowy figure had their blade at the ready the whole time. Life went into slow motion for Tomo. "I-I... messed up. They knew I would do that, and they knew they had the time to slash.". Her thoughts soon went into pain, fear and rage the moment the blade struck. The person had taken an awfully wide slash, the blade hitting Tomo in the bottom of her eyelid, splitting it open. She released a scream of agony, and fell to the ground. She could feel her right eye, damaged and blind. Her left was misty with shock. Tomo felt a massive light coming over her. "This... must be death..." she thought, desperately, "No... More... time...". She gave a whimper on the ground. She stood up and screamed as hard as she could, "I hope this gets to you, you fucking asshole!". She fired off the remaining two shots into the air, where she could feel a presence. The bullets pierced through the bottom of the newly-arrived helicopter, and hit its driver in the head and chest, respectively. The copter immediately lost control, and smashed through the skylight, killing Miyama, the driver, and twenty-seven gallery staff and guards. Tomo's left eye came out of shock, and she looked around. The building was on fire, the perpetrator leaving their typical mark, a small symbol carved into the wall next to an opened grate, and the hood lying on the ground. She once again collapsed, and started crying. The cries soon turned into screams of rage. She sat on the ground, her eye still severely bleeding, surrounded by flames. She whispered to herself, "Wherever you are, whoever you are, I will find you. And I will kill you.". She was soon airlifted down and taken to hospital.
Author's Note: Working awfully quickly! Hopefully things get a little lessy downer-y soon.