Sector 6: The Container [20:05]
Arisa felt frozen in place. The look in Kyoushirou’s eye as he stared at her was filled with something Arisa had yet to come to experience. Hatred? Disgust? Disdain? She had never known this side of him. It scared her. He was running at her, and he would capture her.
From behind Kyoushirou a box suddenly landed on his head, throwing him for a surprise. He was then thrown violently to the side, crashing to the ground with a thud. Arisa covered her mouth in surprise, unsure of what was going on. Then, just in front of her, where before there was only empty space, Masahiko appeared before her, “Who the fuck are you?!” he growled at her snatching her by the wrist
Aku was just a little distracted. She kept glancing over to Arisa, worried about this confrontation with Kyou. Kenji’s fist slammed into her gut and she gasped, curling over in pain.
“Getting distracted??” Kenji licked his lips and swung back his leg to kick Aku once more in the stomach.
Aku fell into her own shadow, making Kenji slam his foot into the wall, “Fucking albino bitch!” he hopped on one foot clearly hurt from the impact.
While he cursed and hopped, Aku came up from behind him and slammed his face in the wall. He swung his arm behind him to hit her, but she grabbed it and swung him around, throwing him in the pile of boxes.
She turned to see Masahiko holding Arisa and decided it was now or never. She fell into her own shadow, came up from Arisa’s, grabbed them both and pulled them into the void.
Sector 1: STAM HQ [21:00]
Ryu and Hiro walked into the STAM building and were surrounded by the usual amount of press. He could see their disappointment with seeing just Rank 3.
“Container Mumei! Is there any comment you’d like to give the press? Perhaps about the rumors of the drug Free-”
“I will not be making any comments tonight. Everyone please be safe getting home,” he smiled at them and made his way through the reporters with Hiro behind him.
The two rode in silence in the elevator and as they stepped out Hiro turned to head to their room.
“Where are you going? Don’t you want to eat or something?” Ryu pointed to the cafeteria at the other end of the hall.
Hiro didn’t turn around, “I’m going to shower the mazoku filth off,” he sniffed himself, “I reek of trash.”
Ryu shrugged and walked off alone to the cafeteria. His mind wandered over the encounter with the elemental. As he replayed the events, his body moved on auto pilot through the small cafeteria to get his food and sit down at an empty table. He sighed, having finished his replay of the encounter. He stared down at the food on his tray, but the thought of eating any of it seemed beyond his capabilities. He didn’t know why but he was always in a bad mood after fighting a black agent. Was he upset that he failed to capture her? No, that didn’t seem to be right. Was he afraid of fighting? He couldn’t be sure, but that didn’t feel right either.
“What’s with the frown?” Seiji sat down across from him and grinned, “Shou and I were patrolling all night and he kept humming that song- you know the one that he’s been obsessed with for forever?”
Ryu smiled softly trying to push his strange thoughts away, “Hiro and I fought the elemental.”
Seiji gawked, “That’s right! The sighting!” his eyes seemed to light with fire at the topic, “And? Did you get her?”
Ryu shook his head, “She ran away the first moment she got.”
Seiji groaned, “Typical. That elemental is a coward.”
Ryu’s smiled faded once again and he poked at his food, “Seiji?”
“Hmm?”
“How do you...feel?” he paused realizing he couldn’t go back anymore, “After fighting a black agent I mean...”
Seiji pondered for a second, “Usually pretty angry,” he shrugged, “they always knock us out and run or just avoid a fight in general. But they always get in the way of our jobs.”
“Hmmmm...” Ryu nodded unsure.
“Why?”
Ryu shook his head and smiled, “I must be hungry!” he took a bite of his food.
Seiji looked down at this dog tags, “Food’ll have to wait. His Royalty Kyou has called a meeting.”
Ryu looked concerned, “For what? Wasn’t he just patrolling?” He stood from the table and followed Seiji from the room.
“Yeah I thought so,” they walked back into the hall where their quarters were, “Hiro, you get the message?”
Hiro had just opened his door. His hair dripping wet and his shirt sticking to his still damp body, “Yeah.”
The three made their way to the briefing room where Kenji, Kyou and Shou were already waiting for them. Shou was in his training gear, “So what’s this about Kyou?”
Seiji suddenly laughed and pointed to Kenji. His face was swollen and bandaged, “What happened to you man?”
Kenji glared, “Fucking albino….”
Kyou stood in front of the screen and tapped the display, several pictures flying up on the screen, “In Sector 6 Kenji and I found a mazoku supply house for their drug...this man,” he pointed at an image taken from the binoculars of Durim, “We identified as the owner of club R2 raided-”
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“Yeah he was probably the snake type mazoku we saw,” Seiji interrupted.
Kyou nodded,“He was with this man,” he pointed to the copper haired man, “Inside the container were 70 boxes filled with 600 doses of the drug each.”
“Holy fuck. That seems excessive for just mazoku use,” Ryu brushed a hand through his hair, “Are they planning some large scale distribution?”
Kyou shrugged, “The reason I called this briefing though is because we encountered something new...” he tapped the display and an image of the shapeshifter popped on the screen that had been taken from his dog tags, “Her.”
“Who’s that?” Shou asked, “R2 hasn’t seen her.”
Ryu shook his head, “R3 either.”
“She’s a shapeshifter. She was disguised as the blonde man.”
Seiji whistled, “That’s a new one.”
Kyou nodded, “She appears to be an agent for the mazoku-”
“Level?” Hiro asked, his eyes locked on the face of the shapeshifter.
“Didn’t fight with her much. But she seems less experienced in combat. Her ability puts her at a blue though,” Kyou tapped on the display in his hand classifying the shapeshifter as Blue.
Seiji groaned and crossed his arms behind his head, “Not even a black? Who cares then?”
“STAM has no record of ever crossing paths with a shapeshifting mazoku. Her ability could be extremely valuable to STAM’s research. All of us need to be more vigilant and try to capture her on sight.This mazoku is not to be disposed of,” the projection from his display updated to show the classification: Blue-Contain-High Priority
They all nodded in understanding. Kyou looked at her once more, a shapeshifter. We could use her.
Sector 27: Infirmary [21:45]
“She lost a lot of oxygen,” a white coat was reporting to the head Nurse. They stood in front of Keiko. She was suspended in an upright tank filled with gel. There was a tube in her mouth and electrodes stuck to her temples, “Her lungs were seizing when Agent 010 retrieved her. She was unconscious when she arrived...”
“She was completely wrecked!” Agent 010 was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He was older than most of the agents around in uniform, but his body presented fully human with no visible mazoku traits. He brushed a hand through his grayed hair, “Bruised, burned, and with no control over her body.”
The head nurse sighed, “How’s the omega response?”
The white coat scrolled through the file on his display, “There was a clumping around the burns but they have evened out now.”
She nodded and knocked on the tank, “Let her out. If we keep healing her so easily she will just get more reckless.”
The man nodded and tapped on the display a few times. The tank Keiko was in began to drain, “What should I do when she awakes?”
“You can leave that to me,” Agent 010 looked at the draining tank and clenched his jaw, “I’ll knock some sense into her”
[21:50]
Keiko opened her eyes and was greeted with the MRPA database filling her vision. She blinked it away and groaned. She had a headache.
“Get up already, what do you think this is? A bed and breakfast?”
Her body jolted up automatically at the familiar voice. Keiko winced at her aching body, “Ojii-”
“The head nurse didn’t finish your healing,” he flicked her hard on the forehead, “As punishment for your reckless behavior.”
Keiko rubbed her head, “Reckless? I got tangled up in a fight!”
He flicked her again, this time leaving a mark on her forehead,“You needed retrieval and were unconscious on the ground when I found you. You’re lucky the STAM agents weren’t able to follow you,” his voice was low and serious, “You could have run at any moment.”
Her face flushed in her failings being pointed out. She turned to a scowl and she looked away from him, “I lost control of my breathing… and his weapon-”
“What was it you were taught to do when faced with a STAM agent?” he interrupted her excuses.
“Not engage,” the response was automatic. All agents, regardless of how highly regarded, learned this one single rule.
“And what did you do tonight?”
Her brow furrowed, “I didn’t have a choice!”
“There weren’t mazoku to protect! There weren’t even humans to protect!” he shot an intense glare at her, “What did you do?”
“I engaged,” she spat the words out.
Agent 010 sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose tenderly before sitting beside Keiko, “I know,” his voice was softer now, “I know you are doing your duty as an agent. I know you want to protect the people you care about...” he paused to watch Keiko’s face soften at the remark, “But if you get yourself killed, who is gonna protect those you care about?”
Keiko furrowed her brow in thought.
In the silence, Agent 010 flicked her forehead again, “So stop it with this reckless behavior! Next time the head nurse won’t heal you at all!” he stood to leave, “You have a meeting in Hong’s office. 00 and 014 had quite the mission I heard.”
Hong’s Office[21:55]
“YOU WHAT?!?” Keiko’s voice shook as she heard the news, “You put her in the most dangerous position you could have?!” she braced herself against the table, her lungs still recovering.
Arisa nervously tried to break the tension, “Nothing happened-”
“Nothing happened?!?!” Keiko shouted at Arisa before turning back on Aku, “Rank fucking 1 showed up!!! She was in direct battle with RANK 1!!!!!”
Aku was sitting still with her eyes closed and arms crossed. Her face was bandaged, you could jus’ kill ‘er right now...no one’d stop ya
“How could you do something so-”
“Will you stop shouting at me?!” Aku’s eyes shot open and glared back at Keiko, “Yes I took her on a mission! Yes I used her shifting to my advantage to not only get intel on this major drug crisis but to also capture Masahiko!!! Yes, Rank 1 did show up. But is she hurt?! No. So why are you screaming at me like she’s been stabbed?!”
Keiko slammed her fist down on the table, “Don’t you dare act like you did the right thing!! She isn’t ready for high level missions!! You risked her life for no other reason than to make your job easier!! You could have handled Masahiko without her, don't try to deny that!”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!”Hong’s voice boomed through the room. Keiko sat down in her chair at the command, but her glare stayed fixed on Aku.
Hong continued, “014 while you did manage to bring back Masahiko, I can’t say I’m happy with the method you chose. As consequence, 00’s promotion review will be postponed,” he cleared his throat before continuing, “You are lucky that your shift in the warehouse while you were paralyzed was to 00 and not to Arisa. You can’t be a solo agent if you are unable to control your shifting. You are to stop taking MS immediately-”
Arisa’s jaw dropped, “But how can I- I can’t-”
“It’s time to stop using MS as a crutch. You will control your shifting completely or you won’t stay at Tenno.”
Arisa nodded, “I understand.”
“Don’t go to the academy tomorrow. You may have a few uncontrollable shifts in response to the lack of MS. So let’s be careful. As far as Masahiko, he will be held here tonight to go through the testing and first round of interrogation. Tomorrow evening you will follow up on him 013. For now, finish your duties here and go home,” his silhouette on the screen shifted and turned to 00, “You’ve all had rough days...”
The screen went blank and Keiko stood, “I’m sure you’ll stay at home with her tomorrow since you clearly have her best interests at heart,” she left the room.
Aku rolled her eyes, “What’s her problem?”
Arisa looked up and sighed, “Who knows...” she stood slowly and made her way to the door.
“Arisa,” Aku called after her.
She turned around to look back at Aku.
“I’m sorry about your promotion. I didn’t want you to get in trouble,”
Arisa nodded, “I know.”