The The STN-J, Raven's Flat Offices. Tokyo, Japan. Thusday, Dinner Time.
It was a few hours later that Yurika walked out of the Tokyo police station that dealt with immigration cases, getting into her car and pulling out her earpiece.
"Oh, Michael? It's me."
Back at the STN-J, Michael twisted in his chair to look over at Sakaki and Karasuma. "It's Miss Dōjima." That got the attention of the two Hunters, and they quickly moved over to his desk, Robin, Hattori, and Kosaka paying ill-concealed attention to the voice coming over Michael's computer.
"What? He was killed?" The hacker was replying, shocked. "Wait, then he was killed right after he entered the country?"
"Yeah, there's no doubt about it," Dōjima answered. "I took a look at the death investigation record just in case, but the DNA identification data was a perfect match."
"Michael," Karasuma began, looking grave. "If you think about it, there is one other person who could have had access to that type of ammo. Amon."
"Well, yeah, but that can't be it! Why would Amon - ?"
"Think about it," she said. "I thought about it after the first incident, and in the end, we all chose to look away from reality. Kate was Hunted by someone she was familiar with; that is the truth. Amon made the notes in her file. Who killed her then?"
"No, it can't be." They looked up to see Robin standing there, holding her tea with a stricken look on her face.
"Why?" Miho challenged. "How can you even say that? I understand why you feel that way," she continued, gently, "but then where did Amon go? He hasn't shown up since yesterday, and we're in a situation like this..."
"But...!"
Dōjima didn't wait to hear the rest of Robin's rebuttal. She removed the communicator from her ear, cutting off contact with the STN-J. She stared at it for a long moment before setting it in her purse, and reclining back in her seat.
Yurika wasn't going back to the office just yet.
Under the streets near the STN-J, something was happening. One-by-one, security cameras in the Raven's Flat building were going offline, as a man worked deep underground, by the fiber-optics cables. When the last of his signals changed to off, he nodded at his companion, who smiled slowly. "This is the intruder from Worm," he said into an earpiece, not unlike the one Yurika had removed just a bit earlier. "We're going to take over the target's main building."
"Rodger on that, intruder," a voice responded to him. "We will begin the operation."
"I wish you luck, we'll meet back on the surface."
Moments later, a large black van pulled up the driveway and right to the front-gate, one of its passengers rattling the building's security fence to get the gatekeeper's attention.
Standing up was going to be something the man regretted later. Two shots - silenced - had him on the ground, and he was quickly grabbed and dragged over to the couch around the corner, hauled onto it with little ceremony, awake, but very much in pain. "You bastards," he managed, before a large coat was thrown over him, muffling any more complaints he could make.
Upstairs, there were no signs anything was wrong.
"Did you find out about his associates yet?" Karasuma was asking, as Michael knocked stuff off his desk for the second time that hour.
"Not yet," the American retorted. "Give me some time!"
"I'll wait about another three seconds," she warned, and Robin had to smile at the way the rest of the team was refusing to give up their usual good-cheer in the face of opposition from SOLOMON. They were determined to keep working, and correct whatever had happened, find a way to keep her safe.
There was no doubt in their minds at all, they steadfastly refused to believe she was a Witch and that the Hunt had been properly ordered, and Robin was grateful.
None of them heard the elevator ding as it arrived on fifth floor, or the scrape of the gate as it opened.
"What happened right before Kitajenko was killed?" Sakaki was asking, as Robin went to refill Michael's coffee. Someone had to keep him caffeinated, or he was going to forget to eat.
It was the only thing that saved her. One moment there was a huge crash and everyone looked around, and then the walls were exploding inwards, glass blowing out as the team took cover behind their desks. "Robin, run!" Karasuma yelled, already drawing her gun as the smoke bomb filled the room. Sakaki wasn't far behind, his own firearm coming up.
"Dammit!" Unarmed, Michael turned to run, to get out of the line of fire and leave the combat to his more capable teammates. He was down before he got two steps, Karasuma yelling his name as she shot back at the intruders.
But an Orbo gun was no defense against people wielding some sort of semi-automatic, and she went down, quickly followed by Sakaki as he was caught shoulder. Then Kosaka was shot in the stomach. Hattori in the back as he ducked under his desk.
And then Robin was surrounded by a group of large men in black, with weapons trained on her, and the world went bright as she was yanked up by her wrist, brought face-to-face with Amon.
"If you want to live, come with me."
In the end, Amon had told her the truth before forcing Robin to escape through the secret passage under the STN-J. Her powers had been deemed too dangerous, and while Robin herself was not considered a Witch, it was considered only a matter of time, and so SOLOMON had decreed she should be hunted. Better she should die now, when she was innocent and her soul would ascend to Heaven, than wait for her to go mad and be damned to hell.
And so the little pyrokinetic huddled under the floor, unwilling to abandon her comrades so easily, listening to the explosions and gunshots above her, and heard Amon fall.
"Is this all of them?" she could hear a voice say directly above her.
"Looks like one escaped through the hole in the wall," another voice answered. "We'll find her later. Report to the second group that we've secured the building. We will secure the server's hard disk immediately, and please switch to the secondary electricity generator."
"We've already recovered additional samples, sir!"
"They've got a failsafe that automatically destroys the database and all the information. We've cut off the fifth link..."
"Don't touch the Hunters until we get up there!"
"Currently we've switched the system to a standalone..."
Robin had not been the target; this had not been a Hunt.
[OOC: More from 1.15, "Time to Say Goodbye." NFB, NFI, OOC=OK!]
"Oh, Michael? It's me."
Back at the STN-J, Michael twisted in his chair to look over at Sakaki and Karasuma. "It's Miss Dōjima." That got the attention of the two Hunters, and they quickly moved over to his desk, Robin, Hattori, and Kosaka paying ill-concealed attention to the voice coming over Michael's computer.
"What? He was killed?" The hacker was replying, shocked. "Wait, then he was killed right after he entered the country?"
"Yeah, there's no doubt about it," Dōjima answered. "I took a look at the death investigation record just in case, but the DNA identification data was a perfect match."
"Michael," Karasuma began, looking grave. "If you think about it, there is one other person who could have had access to that type of ammo. Amon."
"Well, yeah, but that can't be it! Why would Amon - ?"
"Think about it," she said. "I thought about it after the first incident, and in the end, we all chose to look away from reality. Kate was Hunted by someone she was familiar with; that is the truth. Amon made the notes in her file. Who killed her then?"
"No, it can't be." They looked up to see Robin standing there, holding her tea with a stricken look on her face.
"Why?" Miho challenged. "How can you even say that? I understand why you feel that way," she continued, gently, "but then where did Amon go? He hasn't shown up since yesterday, and we're in a situation like this..."
"But...!"
Dōjima didn't wait to hear the rest of Robin's rebuttal. She removed the communicator from her ear, cutting off contact with the STN-J. She stared at it for a long moment before setting it in her purse, and reclining back in her seat.
Yurika wasn't going back to the office just yet.
Under the streets near the STN-J, something was happening. One-by-one, security cameras in the Raven's Flat building were going offline, as a man worked deep underground, by the fiber-optics cables. When the last of his signals changed to off, he nodded at his companion, who smiled slowly. "This is the intruder from Worm," he said into an earpiece, not unlike the one Yurika had removed just a bit earlier. "We're going to take over the target's main building."
"Rodger on that, intruder," a voice responded to him. "We will begin the operation."
"I wish you luck, we'll meet back on the surface."
Moments later, a large black van pulled up the driveway and right to the front-gate, one of its passengers rattling the building's security fence to get the gatekeeper's attention.
Standing up was going to be something the man regretted later. Two shots - silenced - had him on the ground, and he was quickly grabbed and dragged over to the couch around the corner, hauled onto it with little ceremony, awake, but very much in pain. "You bastards," he managed, before a large coat was thrown over him, muffling any more complaints he could make.
Upstairs, there were no signs anything was wrong.
"Did you find out about his associates yet?" Karasuma was asking, as Michael knocked stuff off his desk for the second time that hour.
"Not yet," the American retorted. "Give me some time!"
"I'll wait about another three seconds," she warned, and Robin had to smile at the way the rest of the team was refusing to give up their usual good-cheer in the face of opposition from SOLOMON. They were determined to keep working, and correct whatever had happened, find a way to keep her safe.
There was no doubt in their minds at all, they steadfastly refused to believe she was a Witch and that the Hunt had been properly ordered, and Robin was grateful.
None of them heard the elevator ding as it arrived on fifth floor, or the scrape of the gate as it opened.
"What happened right before Kitajenko was killed?" Sakaki was asking, as Robin went to refill Michael's coffee. Someone had to keep him caffeinated, or he was going to forget to eat.
It was the only thing that saved her. One moment there was a huge crash and everyone looked around, and then the walls were exploding inwards, glass blowing out as the team took cover behind their desks. "Robin, run!" Karasuma yelled, already drawing her gun as the smoke bomb filled the room. Sakaki wasn't far behind, his own firearm coming up.
"Dammit!" Unarmed, Michael turned to run, to get out of the line of fire and leave the combat to his more capable teammates. He was down before he got two steps, Karasuma yelling his name as she shot back at the intruders.
But an Orbo gun was no defense against people wielding some sort of semi-automatic, and she went down, quickly followed by Sakaki as he was caught shoulder. Then Kosaka was shot in the stomach. Hattori in the back as he ducked under his desk.
And then Robin was surrounded by a group of large men in black, with weapons trained on her, and the world went bright as she was yanked up by her wrist, brought face-to-face with Amon.
"If you want to live, come with me."
In the end, Amon had told her the truth before forcing Robin to escape through the secret passage under the STN-J. Her powers had been deemed too dangerous, and while Robin herself was not considered a Witch, it was considered only a matter of time, and so SOLOMON had decreed she should be hunted. Better she should die now, when she was innocent and her soul would ascend to Heaven, than wait for her to go mad and be damned to hell.
And so the little pyrokinetic huddled under the floor, unwilling to abandon her comrades so easily, listening to the explosions and gunshots above her, and heard Amon fall.
"Is this all of them?" she could hear a voice say directly above her.
"Looks like one escaped through the hole in the wall," another voice answered. "We'll find her later. Report to the second group that we've secured the building. We will secure the server's hard disk immediately, and please switch to the secondary electricity generator."
"We've already recovered additional samples, sir!"
"They've got a failsafe that automatically destroys the database and all the information. We've cut off the fifth link..."
"Don't touch the Hunters until we get up there!"
"Currently we've switched the system to a standalone..."
Robin had not been the target; this had not been a Hunt.
[OOC: More from 1.15, "Time to Say Goodbye." NFB, NFI, OOC=OK!]