Sector 1: Tenno Academy [10:00]
Kyoushirou was outside the girls bathroom feeling a wave of emotions running through him. He turned to the bathroom clenching his dog tag, only to turn away and ruffle his hair in frustration. It’s Arisa! She’s a mazoku! No, there's no way! I must be dreaming; I have to be dreaming! He pinched himself hard- God dammit she’s a mazoku! I have to arrest her!! He turned to the entrance again but remembered the look of pain on her face and turned away once more. What the hell? What the hell is going on?!?
From the bathroom he heard the water turn on. Oh god she’s going to come out soon! He looked around and started panicking. Quickly, he picked up all the feathers and shoved them into his pants pockets. When he heard the water turn off he went to the floor to pick up the papers she had dropped. I’m going to arrest her. I have to! It’s my job to arrest her!
Arisa emerged from the restroom, tears still in her eyes. She turned to see Kyou on the ground and actually gasped.
Kyou’s thoughts turned to jello. All he wanted to do was wipe the tears from her eyes and hold her and tell her it was OK.
“K-k-k-kyoushirou-” fear and nervousness grew on her face.
He got to his feet and couldn’t help but smile at her, “I thought you were sick today?”
She looked around nervously, “Ah yes-” she faked a cough, “I just- Keiko forgot these papers I needed to give to our teacher...” she glued her gaze to the papers in Kyou’s hands.
He felt an overwhelming urge to pat her head, “Your shirt-” he blurted out seeing the tear over her shoulder.
“Ah- I- uh- this is- uh-” she panicked trying to avoid looking at his face.
Kyou slipped off his jacket and wrapped it around her, “You must have caught it on something...take my jacket.”
Arisa’s face was beet red, “I couldn’t-”
He held the jacket tightly on her shoulders, “Take it.” he smiled warmly at her. In that moment he forgot all about the truth he had just witnessed. Right now she was just Kuma Arisa, the girl he had a crush on, “I’ll bring the teacher your papers. So go home before Keiko sees you.”
Sector 25: A Sector Center [13:00]
There was only one part of sector 25 that wasn’t an empty waste land or a lush forest of mutated plants. That was that sector center. It was a small, dense area right next to the station. Only around 800 people lived in this sector- mostly mazoku. The humans who lived here were extremely poor and were getting sicker and sicker due to the residual radiation. This was Agent 010’s favorite Sector. He stood against the nearby window watching the sun beam down across the buildings.
“Agent 010?” an elderly woman asked, pulling him from his dream-like state.
“Ah Mrs.Raffik, how are the children doing?” He presented his arm for her to stabilize herself with and led her to a nearby chair.
“Oh those rascals,” she chuckled as she carefully sat in the plastic chair, “They’ll be here any moment just you wait.”
He laughed, “Same as always then.”
She nodded and sniffled into a small handkerchief, “There are a few that are your age when you left the orphanage. They all know the stories...”
“Hopefully only the good ones.”
“OJII!!!” two young boys ran into the room. They stopped in front of Agent 010. The younger boy smacked the older, “SEE I told you Ojii was coming today!”
The older boy hit the younger back and looked up at the agent, “Ojii, is it true that you trained the black agents?!”
The Agent laughed nervously and rubbed his neck, “Out of all the stories that’s what I’m most famous for huh?”
“I wanna be a MRPA agent! Whacha!” the younger boy dropped into a wide squat and threw a hard punch into the air in front of him.
Agent 010, known to most as Ojii, laughed. He looked down at his omni-book, “Well it’s about time I start I think...” he went to the front of the room. Over the past several minutes people had begun to flow in. There were many empty seats, but that didn’t bother him. Most people living in this Sector knew him personally. He began speaking to them about his job- about MRPA. He was in charge of recruiting new potential agents and spreading the word about MRPA and what they did, “I think most of you know who I am...but for those of you who don’t, I am Agent 010 of MRPA, the Mazoku Recovery and Protection Agency. We are the ones actively fighting and finding ways to protect mazoku from the unfair treatment we receive from the humans and STAM. Today I’m here...”
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Sector 1: STAM Briefing Room [18:00]
“Rank 1 you are doing the monthly sweep of one of the high sectors. Sector 25. You are to not exceed the 2 hour time limit from entering the Sector. And you are to come straight back to HQ for testing and cleaning,” Shizune’s voice was dull and bland as usual, “You are to contain anything that can walk.”
Kyoushirou sighed heavily, he really was in no mood for a long night, “Can’t Rank 2 do it?”
She shook her head, “Rank 2 will finish clearing out Sector 6’s container and Rank 3 has to make hospital rounds.”
Kyou groaned, he knew it would be a long night.
Seiji scoffed, “So we get to pick up Rank 1’s leftovers? That’s rich.”
Shou smacked Seiji lightly with a disapproving glare.
Without another word, Shizune left the briefing room.
“You don’t like going to the high sectors?” Kenji turned to Kyou curiously.
“Who would like going to the trash hideout?” Hiro mumbled.
Kyou rubbed his face, “I’ve got a headache. Come on, let's go and come back quickly.”
Sector 27: MRPA Interrogation Room [19:23]
“Come on Masahiko,” Keiko was sitting on the opposite side of Masahiko rubbing her temples, “Let’s not play this game OK?”
Aku was seated beside her. Her arms crossed, “Just tell us how you got such a large quantity of MS and we can work out a deal.”
Masahiko was silent. He no longer wore the brightly colored kimono Aku had seen him. Now he wore a pale brown shirt with matching pants. There was a barcode printed across his chest to identify his holding cell and arrest record. With the omnibook, his information automatically appeared in Keiko’s vision when she looked at it.
Losing her patience Keiko slammed the table and flicked open the display to show Masahiko’s file, “Masahiko! Age: 37 Mazoku type: Human Like. Ability: Invisibility- ooh that sounds like it could be useful...” Keiko stared at him closely, “Seems like something that would help you out quite a bit...but you don’t use it very often?”
Masahiko rolled his eyes.
“Awww poor Masahiko is already an old man but can’t use his abilities fully, how sad.”
Masahiko glared, “I can use it!” he snapped.
“Oh I’m sure. That’s why you are sitting here captured and not hiding from sight.”
Sector 25: The Sector Center [19:28]
Agent 010 left the building he was in and headed outside. He had a good response from the people here, he hoped to see them again at MRPA for recruitment and testing. When he turned the corner to get to the underground train he saw Mrs. Raffik and the two boys she had brought on their knees before two STAM agents. Without stopping for a moment to think, Agent 010 dropped his bag and pushed off the ground, zooming forward with such speed he could feel the joints in his ankle crunch together. He slammed into the two agents, throwing them back several hundred feet. Quickly he turned to the three captured and moved his arm so fast as to break through the cuffs. On the last one he felt the joint in his shoulder crumble. He held it protectively, “Run quickly! Get out of here!!” Ojii had been a full blown MRPA agent in his prime, but his ability to move at high speeds in combination with his aging joints and bones, put too much strain on him. He wasn’t properly warmed up, and the impact of combat would no doubt continue to break his body.
The two boys were covered in snot and tears, “Ojii!!!” they cried but Mrs. Raffik pulled them away.
“Thank you agent!” she too was crying.
He gave them a small smile through the pain in his arm, “Go quickly!”
He turned back to face the agents who were now on their feet.
“What the fuck was that?!!” The tall one cried out. He picked up his long spear.
The red haired one turned to see the agent that had attacked them, “A blue one. You can dispose him.”
Agent 010 swallowed hard. There are mazoku back there still. They need more time to escape. I might be an old man…but I’m not going to let these agents take these mazoku without a fight. He pushed a few buttons on the omni-watch and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the worst.
The tall one with the spear lunged toward him with a wild look in his eyes. Agent 010 sped to dodge his attack at the expense of his already damaged ankle, MRPA hurry!
Sector 27: Interrogation Room [19:30]
“I’m telling you people nothing!” Masahiko shouted, “We can stay here allllll night long! I’m not saying shit!”
Keiko opened her mouth to scream at him but was cut off by the lights turning red and an alarm going off in the building: “DISTRESS SIGNAL- LEVEL 1- AGENT 010 SIGNALED LEVEL 1 DISTRESS” the message repeated over again and Keiko jumped from her chair, running for the door,
“013!!” Aku called after her, but it was too late, Keiko had already left slamming the door behind her and running down the hall. She pulled up the display in her eyes and accepted the distress signal. Not long after she received a call from Hong, “What?!” she ran into the stairwell and flew up to the top level.
“You know the protocol. Bring back the omni-book.”
She kicked open the door to the surface of Sector 27, “I’m saving Ojii!!” she cried into the phone, memories of training with Agent 010 when she was younger flashing into her head.
“And if you can’t you will-”
“I will!!!” she cut the call and sped across the landscape of the surface using air to push her forward, Ojii, I will be there. Just hold out till then
Aku was still in the interrogation room when the alarm shut off. She sighed. It was like Keiko to rush out at the first moment of a call.
“That red head is quite the fiery one...” Masahiko tapped his finger on the table.
Aku stood and went to the door, “Stay here.”
Masahiko tugged on the handcuffs holding him to the table, “You got it.”
She locked the door behind her and headed for the nursery. Part of Aku knew she shouldn’t get Arisa involved in this anymore. But Arisa had a certain softness to her that might help open up Masahiko. That, and Aku didn’t understand Keiko’s over protectiveness. Sure, Arisa needed to be protected because she was weaker than them...but she was still an agent. She was still a mazoku who was trained to risk her own life for the sake of all mazoku. So why shouldn’t she be a part of the dangerous missions?
Aku opened the door to the nursery, “Hey 00.”
Arisa was staring lifelessly at the corner of the desk. Her thoughts seemed to be far from her.
Aku came up closer and whispered in Arisa’s ear, “Arisa!”
She jumped in surprise, “Ak- 014 what are you doing here??”
Aku motioned for her to come with her, “I need your help.”