Chapter Nine
Shizuma poured two cups of coffee handing one to Nagisa who took it gratefully after placing her laptop carefully by her side. Sitting on the edge of her partner's bed they sat in silence for a time. Until someone found the need to break it.
"I did as you asked" making Shizuma give her, her full attention "I got hold of the security footage from the night of the event and ran that individual you took an interest in, through the face recognition."
"What did you find out?" Shizuma asked
"Only that they have been in operation for two years. Known only as the Shadow. Nothing personal whatsoever in the file. Not even the sex. I even sent it to a few of my friends in other countries; they know as much as we do maybe the only addition is the places they've been have changed. Mainly their base being in Japan." Taking a sip of her coffee
"It seems these two fit well together. Nothing can be found out about them." Shizuma shook her head in disbelief "Anything else?"
"I sent the plans of that sub of Reede's back to Astraea. They'll let us know the moment they find something about it. Strange though it may seem Reede was working alongside Havershack back home."
"Seems we are going in circles"
"There's more Shizuma" Nagisa heaved her laptop back on her lap with Shizuma kindly holding her cup in safety "I found out something that might lead somewhere"
"Where did you find this out?" Shizuma asked holding her warm coffee in both hands.
"I just looked around; this building went up within days of the plans being stolen and closed just a day or so before the test on the government intelligence bureau." Nagisa showed her.
Shizuma read through the reports on the laptop, all of it detailed in showing the dummy corporation. One thing still bothered her about it.
"How do we know that this is linked with The Archive at all?"
Nagisa clicked her way on her laptop before showing the confused etoile her success. Somehow much to the agent's surprise, Nagisa had managed to find actual proof that it did indeed come back to their elusive target.
"I thought he might go with something linking with Troy and I was right. Now we have a building that needs checking out." Nagisa gave a sharp nod of her head.
"Is that the place?" Shizuma asked
The building looked like any other along the quiet street. The same style, size and make, nothing about made it stand out. The sign which adorned it was relatively simple, not as flashy as some she had seen. That's what made Shizuma pause.
"Yep. That's the place. Quite smart in disguising it that way. No one takes a second look even goes as far as to forget it. Which come to think about it, not a good idea if it was a proper business."
Moving swiftly towards the building, they took a quick glance at the front and inside, everything seemed empty and not a person was in sight. Shizuma decided to check out the perimeter before they went on in, telling Nagisa to stay put and keep an eye out and made her way to the back. Down the side of the building, in an alleyway hidden between the two buildings, making it dark and closed off from the main street, Shizuma spotted cameras carefully placed. Whether or not they worked she had no clue, so staying out of their range moving agilely and swiftly she moved on by. There was a back door as the etoile had hoped for; all electronically locked down with no access from any direction other than the alleyway she had come by. It was something at least. 'Well at least there's another exit. Hopefully it will go smoothly when we go in. Humph! Pigs fly!' It didn't take long for the agent to make her way back to Nagisa, jogging to her partner's side.
"Anything?" Nagisa asked
"A few cameras in the alley, also there's a back door which is locked down tight. Apart from that nothing."
"Were the cameras working?"
"No clue" Shizuma shrugged her shoulders
Shizuma didn't miss the slump of the redheads figure or the little eye rolling. She was quickly learning to read the different signals coming from her temporary partner. It was sure coming in handy around about now.
"What?"
"Chikaru was right; you never do read the manual do you?"
"That monstrosity? Do you read it Nagisa?"
"I don't need to Shizuma. Especially the ones I've helped design" heaving a sigh "Your phone apps Shizuma, there is one on there that could have helped, if you had just fiddled around with it a bit."
The accusation as soft as it was delivered made Shizuma blush a little. Fumbling a bit with the phone in her pocket in indecision. Wondering if it was best to go back and make real sure about the cameras. Nagisa made her decision for her.
"Just remember it for the next time. If there's no power getting inside I doubt they are working. Let's get going shall we? I'll put up alarms in case people come and visit."
Unnoticed by the two agents as they made their way inside, both of them giving the area a good search, was something that would have put them on high alert. Near the door hidden somewhat amongst the netted curtain, was a flashing red light. Dim as it was, still would have been noticed. Alarms they may have placed to tell them of visitors, they certainly told others of theirs.
The two agents paused a little in the darkened entry way, Shizuma shuffled her way over to the wall trying the light switch. No light. Seeing a door with 'Store Cupboard' printed on, she walked over making a wait gesture to her partner. Inside was the usual shelving and mess. The small backup generator sitting at the back was waiting to be switched on. A few minutes later after a lot of cussing and fumbling with the switches the lights came on, only a few flickers in protest. Coming back into the lounge Shizuma saw her partner look around in approval as she stopped by her side.
"What took you so long?" Nagisa asked with a hint of a smirk
Seeing the hidden tease decided to fire one of her own "Miss me that much? I'm flattered"
Nagisa rolled her eyes at the remark "I give up"
"Suit yourself. Let's take a long around shall we?"
"Looks like we have to go to the next floor, this seems to be a reception area yet the work is done upstairs." Nagisa told her.
The two agents found the stairs behind a closed set of doors near the rear of the building, making their way upstairs into a long corridor with numerous doors along the way. Selecting the first one Shizuma entered first, making sure all was safe before Nagisa came on through. The room was full of desks with computers still sitting in their respective places. It was strange that the abandoned business had left all their supplies open and easy to get to.
"Why did they leave all this behind?" Shizuma looked around the room
Nagisa shook her head, then seated herself at a console powering up the computer. If any data was left on there the hacker would find it. Waiting for it to come on, Nagisa turned her attention to Shizuma.
"The Trojan Horse isn't like the normal computer viruses you get. It needs to be made again and again for each attack that it's sent on. It's partly why it's so dangerous. This place with all these computers doesn't fit the bill or the equipment in making it. But let's see what we can find here before moving on."
Shizuma looked to her partner, who was immersed at the screen, felt totally useless. Deciding to do something about it, she made a quick tour of the room logging in equipment she found, when that was done decided to check out the rest of the building. Just as soon as she left the room however, a loud cry of her name sent her scurrying back in. The look on the hackers face pointed to one thing. Nagisa had hit gold.
"You looked pleased Nagisa." Shizuma said as she bent over her shoulder to see the screen.
"I do don't I" smugly replying "Some idiot didn't erase everything on the hard drive. It left certain things behind. Lucky for us."
Clicking on an icon it pulled up a distorted picture of some kind, what Shizuma could make out was lines like a map, but unlike one she had seen before. Another image soon joined it, this time one of a familiar design, the mini sub from the party. Shizuma moved to Nagisa's side, pulling up a seat to sit comfortably whilst she looked on. Nagisa tried her best to clear the images up, with what little she had to work with, nothing helped.
"Is there anything else on here?" Shizuma pointed to the computer
"A lot of data, which for me doesn't make too much sense, without a proper context. My best guess is that it's either about the sub or the virus. Certain things about it suggest otherwise however. These are the only pictures, unclear as they are I could find."
"Save what we've got so far. I'm guessing you have the proper equipment back at the room to clear this up?" Nagisa nodded "Get to it then. Then we can check out the rest of this place and leave."
Nagisa fumbled in her backpack obviously looking for something specific, emptying it out as she went along. Shizuma looked amused as she did so, there was so much that the hacker had stuffed in there, some of it she rolled her eyes at. 'My god! It's like a Mary Poppins bag, everything can fit inside. Most of it she doesn't need. Come on there's loads of candy bars, a flask, wires and I have no clue on some of them. Just glad to say she put her gun holster on her belt. She's rather thorough though I have to admit. I'm glad I convinced her to stay, I have no clue what to do or how she found out these things' Finally Nagisa found what she was looking for, a small black box. It didn't look too interesting, but to Nagisa she quickly connected it to the computer and was off clicking away. There wasn't much else to see as they walked around the other rooms, much the same in each.
As they made their way back towards the front of the store much to both of their disappointment, Shizuma saw a doorway they hadn't been through. A sign which hung above 'Authorised Personnel Only' made it all the more intriguing. Pointing it out to her partner they strolled over and went on through, only to find a stairway leading down with small wall lights lighting the way.
"Why am I not surprized that there is something like this here" Nagisa grumbled
"He's a show off, I wonder what we'll find" Shizuma started her way down
Down the metal stairway they went when they reached a door that resembled something out of a futuristic setting. The door was metal facing with no handle to open it only a card scanner to the side was all in sight. Huffing in disbelief Nagisa was about to step forward fingering her shoulder straps, when a hand held onto hers.
"I have an easier way" as Shizuma held up a card she had pilfered earlier
"After you then." Nagisa waved her on
Shizuma slid the card down the scanner, the red light turned green and the door whooshed open.
"Wow!" Shizuma gasped as the door finally slid open.
The room revealed itself to be something come off a sci-fi movie. It was filled with different gadgets of various sizes, a paradise for tech whizzes everywhere, judging by Nagisa's face she thought so too. The hacker took one step in and paused, then as if a green light went off dashed to the nearest console looking ecstatic. Shizuma watched her for a while, taking in her childish delight which was in contrast to how she was acting a few days ago. It was time for the etoile to jump in and help too; thankfully she saw something she could help with.
Towards the back of the room, sectioned off from the rest, was a small room covered with screens on the wall. A security place, the whole building was constantly being watched from here. The only thing was to find something she could use. Sitting down on the chair available, she looked to the console switched it on and began to navigate her way through the system. It was easy going; everything was filed in order and the console easy to use. What gave her pause was that this was easy to get into; no one had bothered to erase this making it more confusing to the agent not to mention more questions rather than answers. Time moved on, with both agents working on their tasks.
Shizuma kept an eye on Nagisa from the room, each time seeing her at a different machine doing what she was good at. It seemed to be going alright. Clicking on yet another entry, symbolising another day of the working day inside the building, Shizuma found something which she hoped would lead them somewhere. Bringing the image up closer on one screen she highlighted the features of one man, whilst on the other she found the same one again. He was practically in all of them, mostly around some of the lesser worker force than the security or scientist people. Thankfully there was some symbol on their jackets to help them out.
'Well I found something, what I have no idea as yet. If I can save this image Nagisa can run it by the face database she keeps. That will tell us who it is.' About to turn around to look for her partner, a hand landed on her shoulder with an arm moving forward to the console made her jump in shock. The redhead certainly had a flair for making an entrance. A muffled chuckle erupted from beside her, when Shizuma turned her head to see she knew at a glance that it was a lost cause to play it off.
"Sorry about that." Nagisa apologised looking not a bit sorry
"Did you have to do that?" looking straight at her noticing the sheepish expression "you do don't you. Anyway what have you found out?"
"Nothing concrete, this place was definitely where they made the first Virus, the machines here prove that. However some equipment does seem to be missing. Apart from that nothing much. You?"
"Only this" pointing to the screen "This man appears nearly every day, mixing in among the workers. They haul stuff and do grunt work mostly, but he must know the goings on to be this close. Was about to get your useful skills in running him through your face search."
"I'd love to" smiling brightly.
Once more she fiddled in her bag to remove yet another gadget of hers, quickly connecting it together and clicking her away. A flicker passed on her face which Shizuma saw, her focus then moved on to how her partner seemed to tap away more quickly than before. The etoile was given a tap on the shoulder, bringing her full attention back on the hacker.
"Did you press the record button by accident or bring the cameras back online?" Nagisa asked curiously
"No. I only dived into the memory bank. Why?"
"Well it must be a default of it to begin automatically if the console is used, because it's recording and storing the data as we speak." Nagisa clicked onto a different setting showing the minute by minute of real time footage.
Both of them were looking at to what they hoped couldn't be happening. Four armed men made their way in the door stealthily, each holding on to a gun. An unwelcome party had arrived. Shizuma watched them for a second longer, before she started to prepare herself. Jumping from her chair, making Nagisa flinch in surprise, checked her gun making sure the safety was off and ready loaded then looked to her partner. Happily observing her doing the same thing, with the extra addition of putting her gadgets safely away and raring to go.
"Well looks like we overstayed our welcome. All set?" Shizuma asked briskly.
"Yup! Front or back?"
"The back should do it. Stay behind me" Shizuma ordered
They sprinted for the staircase taking two steps at a time as they made their way upwards. Reaching the door Shizuma flung it open making a large thud as it hit the wall, not caring for stealth. Down the corridor the two ran, turning sharply for the corner two shots fired out. Ducking back around the corner Shizuma and Nagisa braced themselves holding their guns in their hands. A gasp from the red head made Shizuma turn to her in a flash, watching as she holstered her weapon and rummage through her bag. Shizuma didn't waste time in watching her partner, it had gone eerily quiet. Treads of two she counted were making their way down the corridor, if she was to peek to see she was surely going to be hit with the close range.
A hand on her arm was pulling her back and a body shuffling forward to swap places. About to protest at the change the etoile was given a glare. It was safe to say she didn't protest any further. She watched in tense suspense as Nagisa fiddled with a contraption that she couldn't quite see. Suddenly something was pressed into her hand, looking at them she got an idea of what was to come. Putting in the earplugs she waited and watched gripping her gun tighter in readiness. A hint of a muzzle and in a second Nagisa switched the gadget on. A loud shrill painfully struck their ears, even with the earplugs it made Shizuma wince in discomfort. Shouts and moans from the two men as they dropped their weapons, trying to stop the sound reaching their ears. Shizuma pounced.
Landing a hard blow against one knocking him to the floor starting for the other one, watching as Nagisa finished him off with a sharp kick to the head. Shizuma grabbed the man kneeing him in the stomach and then bashed his head into the nearest bit of wall, letting him fall to floor out cold. Then silence. Beautiful silence was heard in the corridor as Nagisa had wasted no time in turning off the shrill whistle. Removing her earplugs Shizuma shot Nagisa a questioning look as the programmer was removing their weapons.
"What?" Nagisa asked as she checked her backpack
"You're full of surprises aren't you?" Shizuma told her with a little smile
"Shall we?" nodding her head down the corridor
The elder nodded her head as they both set off once more heading towards the back door. Twists and turns and long stretches of corridors with no signs of the other two. It was too easy for the etoile. As they had found out earlier the backdoor was sealed tight, Nagisa went to work and Shizuma stood guard. A loud beep later and a bit of fumbling with the locks and the door were open. Grabbing Nagisa by her shoulder as she was about to step outside, Shizuma pulled her backwards.
"Behind me" Shizuma whispered
Carefully she pushed the door letting it slowly swing open, taking small steps cautiously she made her way outside. There wasn't a person near the door ways, so creeping their way along the two agents stopped at the alleys point hearing a low grumble of two men. Listening to them Shizuma quickly deduced that they were trying to locate their two team members, having no such luck.
Bending her head a little lower so that they couldn't over hear Shizuma asked Nagisa "Anything helpful in your bag of tricks that could help us?"
"Firecrackers?" Nagisa supplied as once more took off her backpack to dive into its depth
"That will do" Shizuma agreed turning back round to spy
Nagisa took out a globe which Shizuma raised an eyebrow at. 'She did mention Firecrackers right?' Shuffling a bit to make way Nagisa popped her head around the corner coming quickly back in, lit a small wick which sparkled and hissed and wasting no time rolled the globe towards their prey. One guard looked down in confusion when he saw it, bending in closer for a better look. The other turned just as it went off. Loud bangs erupted making the bent man flinch in pain hunched over as he tried to back away, the other took a few steps back in shock. It was all the two needed. Flinging their way forwards they each took one making sure they were out cold and unarmed, landing heavy blows and kicks to ensure it. What they didn't encounter on was the former men coming in for a rematch. Once more they each went in, one on one in a final round.
A loud bark of a gun made Nagisa turn in fear and caution. Her target was already taken care of, as he lay in a painful grimace on the floor. Her eyes found the shooter quickly; he was still for a second longer before training his sights on her. His gun fired once more, hitting nothing but air and brick wall. Nagisa finally pulled out her own gun, which she barely used and clicked the safety off. Steady arms held the gun as Nagisa sighted her target and pulled the trigger twice. Each shot landed true. All of it happened as if in slow motion to the young agent, however truly only lasting but a few seconds.
Her mind finally caught up with her, realising that it was only a matter of time before the authorities would show themselves. One thing was bothering her; the silver temptress hadn't shown her face or talked her obvious remarks. Nagisa's heart beat faster and her breath came in shorter spurts as she quickly scanned the little battle zone, her red eyes filled with terror as they found what they sought. Running quickly over, Nagisa dropped to her knees beside the still woman, carefully and quickly turning her over. All the while unchecked tears started to form.
"Shizuma…Shizuma…please wake up…you're scaring me"
Shizuma heard her name; her muddled mind registered that much, in amidst the pain in her chest. In an unfocused daze she tried to focus more on the voice, the sweet scared tone, made her work a little faster to clear away the fog. 'She sounds so scared. Is that rain?' Shizuma opened her heavy lidded eyes, still feeling a little sore when she breathed in. Her yellow eyes met with red teary ones, seeing her expression change from scared to relief and try as Nagisa might calm, but failing miserably. A small smile tugged at the etoile's lips, given the care she had just received; the redhead must not dislike her all that much.
"What happened? Oww" Shizuma moaned, trying to get into a seated position.
Nagisa helped her up, keeping a steadying hand on her back just in case. "You were shot and went down. Thankfully your vest stopped the bullet, but badly bruised your upper side; it's why you're probably having a little trouble breathing."
Shizuma let her eyes drift down to her chest, her shirt was unbuttoned and the bulletproof vest easy to see. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nagisa's cheeks tint pink.
"Thank you" she said gratefully
The computer whiz looked a little shocked at the sincerity behind those words; she was certainly expecting her flirts. Nodding her head to accept the thanks, Nagisa stood from her crouched position offering the bruised agent a hand up. Shizuma looked to the hand then to the face of the woman, taking the offered hand with a smile. With a lot of grunts and a few tumbles, Shizuma finally made it to her feet. With her left arm around the shoulders of Nagisa, bringing them close together.
"How do you feel?" Nagisa asked concerned looking at the paler woman beside her
"I'll be fine when we get out of here." Shizuma told her moving towards the street
AN: Hi readers! :) Sorry for the wait been a bit hectic lately. So i hope you enjoy it Happy reading!