Ga Rei Hime
Twenty One
Mashiro Kazahana would probably be annoyed her plots weren't enough to draw the attention of Yomi Isayama OR her superior, Kazuhiko Mitogawa. On the other hand, while THEY pursued grand schemes, they were also drawing the attention of major players like the Agency, the Japanese Government and others.
"Miss, I believe the subject has broken the restraints," Fumi Himeno noted mildly, the cool, purple maid standing by.
"I'm AWARE," Mashiro yelped as the werewolf literally tore it's own arm off to get free from the chains binding it.
"Wrrrrgggghhhh!" the monster made a incoherent noise, it's mouth warped and wolfen as it looked around the lab angrilly.
"Stop that thing!" Mashiro said harshly.
"Of course," Fumi said as she swiftly got between them, then gracefully dodged a swipe of it's clawed hand.
"Rowf!" it barked, snapping at her.
"Don't kill it," Mashiro added.
"Mistress?" Fumi asked as she grappled with it.
Mashiro watched the monster and beautiful woman fight as she said to her, "I want to see how it heals from this."
"Of course," the still mostly expressionless Fumi finally got a firm grip on it, then forced the struggling monster down.
"Grrrowww!" the werewolf tried to bite at her, then she hammered it's head into the floor, stunning it finally.
Mashiro watched as Fumi tossed it into a heavier cage, the door shutting and locking with a clang. "Well done," she said.
"Thank you," Fumi adjusted her maid uniform, that gotten wrinkled a bit in the fight.
Mashiro wheeled closer as she studied the captive beast. "Look at the stump where the arm was," she murmured, "the wound has already fully scabbed over."
Fumi noted coolly, "I could rip it open gain, if you wish."
"No," Mashiro shook her head, "I want to see how long it takes to fully regrow the arm."
"Of course, ma'am," Fumi agreed like a good maid.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Aaaaah! I'm gonna DIE!" Arika wailed.
"Oh, don't be a baby," Sara Gallagher said as she shot a gnome in the face.
NORMALLY, gnomes were just squat, humanoid entities that fed on left over supernatural energies and minded their own business. But they WERE fiercely territorial, and could get riled up if someone invaded their territory.
And they had WAY too many teeth!
"Gawr!" a gnome screamed as it;s jaw unhinged eerily and it lunged.
"GET BACK," Akita clubbed it with her purse.
"Gawd they're creepy tho!" Sara admitted as she shot another.
"You caklled for backup for THIS?" Nina Wong demanded.
"There's a LOT of them," Sara defended herself.
"Nina!" Arika beamed at her.
Nina blushed as she helped Arika up from where she had fallen. "Are you all right?" she asked her warmly.
"I am now," Arika purred.
"REALLY? NOW?" Sara rolled her eyes as she shot another gnome.
"Sorry," Nina said sheepishly as they finished the rest of the attacking monsters. "Everyone okay?" she asked briskly.
"I'm fine, bit banged up," Sara sighed, looking over the rapidly disappearing monster bits.
"So what did you DO to piss them off?" Nina wondered aloud. "They don't usually attack people randomly."
"I did not!" Arika said, pouting.
"Yeah," Sara agreed, "they just swarmed us. No idea why."
"Okay, well," Nina started then dsaw something, "shit."
Sara looked over and winced, seeing a body. Clearly someone else had stumbled over the gnomes first...
"I'll call the coroner," Sara sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Hey!" Later that evening, Midori waved to her buddy as she and Natsuki sat in the bar. Not that Natsuki felt the booze, but it was nice to hang out a bit.
Yohko Helene sighed as she walked over then sat at the table and grumbled, "Well, I'm glad that's over."
"You're Midori's girlfriend, right?" Natsuki asked, not having met the woman yet.
"Off and on," Yohko said dryly.
"I'm hurt," Midori pouted.
"We have a thing," Yohko admitted, "I wouldn't say 'girlfriends' exactly..."
"Waiter, beer us," Midori waved the man down, then looked at Yohko, "You look stressed. Rough day?"
"Homeless woman, savaged by entities," Yohko said sadly.
"She's the coroner, works pretty closely with us cops," Midori explained to Natsuki.
"You've got to see a lot of craziness," Natsuki said sympathetically.
"Oh, yeah," Yohko took a drink of her beer gratefully. She added, "And deaths due to Entities are rising, too."
"Not confirmed," Midori corrected.
Natsuki looked at them both questioningly, "Oh?"
Yohko looked sour as she explained, "We can't officially declare a death 'Entity Caused' without physical evidence, and most Entities leave very little traces. So a LOT of the time, I can't officially say it was Entities."
"So unless there's clear, solid evidence on the body, it's not listed as a Entity attack," Natsuki confirmed.
"Uh huh. And the City pushes for deaths to be listed with mundane explainations if at all possible," Yohko added.
"And the Chief goes along with this?" Natsuki demanded.
"If she didn't, she'd be fired," Midori pointed out.
"Shit," Natsuki scowled and drank some beer. "And I guess it's the Mayor ordering this?"
"Her or her deputy, Haruka," Yohko nodded.
Natsuki nodded, "I see..."
"Don't do something rash," Midori ordered as Yohko looked faintly alarmed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Ooooh," At around the same time Mai purred softly as Mikoto rubbed her back, both laying on Mai's bed.
"I guess you get back aches huh?" Mikoto noted.
"Is that a comment about my boobs?" Mai joked.
"Well, YES actually," Mikoto admitted willingly.
Mai laughed, "Yeah, they do that. On the other hand, seeing how much you like them makes it worth it."
"That's good," Mikoto gently eased her muscles then lay down beside her.
"Hmm, round three?" Mai started when they suddenly heard Nao yelling.
"Shit," Mikoto cursed as both swiftly rolled off the bed and grabbed clothes. A few moments later they hurried out to the small living room.
"What happened?" Shizuru was asking a blood splattered Nao as she examined the woman's arm where a bleeding gash was.
"I got jumped," Nao said, looking tired and annoyed. "Ow!" she yelped as Shizuru applied a splash of alcohol.
"Sorry," Shizuru apologized.
"Who?" Mai demanded.
"Don't know," Nao admitted, "There were three, one guy and two women. Carried bladed weapons, and were hunting Gnomes. They captured a few, riling them up, and I tried to stop them."
"On your own? You could have been killed!" Shizuru scolded.
"She's right," Mikoto agreed.
"Why didn't they kill you?" Mai wondered aloud. Nao gave her a LOOK. "I mean, you WERE outnumbered three to one," she added.
Rena Sayers strode in, looking annoyed, "They knew you were from the Agency and didn't want to piss us off."
"You know them?" Shizuru guessed.
"They're mercenary monster hunters, though I'm not sure who they work for," Rena admitted.
To be continued...
Notes: I'll reveal who the mercs are next chapter...