Sector 25: Warehouse [20:02]
Arisa tried to take soft breaths like she was still unconscious. She was nervous, but forced herself to collect information about her situation. Her omni-book was no longer on her wrist. She heard the man give it to Ms.Mary once she was inside. There was no one who knew she was here. She had secretly left MRPA. Aku was busy. Keiko was on her own mission. Arisa was completely alone. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to relax, It’s ok….if they wanted me dead they would have killed me already...they want me for something...just listen carefully and slowly, very slowly, I’ll shift myself out of these bindings. I’ve got this. No reason to panic.
She could hear Ms.Mary pacing nervously several feet away. The man was closer to her, but it sounded like he was facing away from her as well, “Why are you so nervous? Just relax-”
“Relax?!?!” Ms.Mary’s voice was frantic and panicked, “Do you REALIZE what is going on right now??”
The man on the other hand sounded quite relaxed, “So what? We’ve got the mazoku that Hong favors right? Now we just wait for them to notice she’s missing and request a ransom. No problem.”
“No problem?!!?” Ms.Mary paced nervously for a moment, “She’s Hong’s favorite! You think they will just happily pay a ransom??? They’re going to send the top agents here to save her!!”
“We will just threaten her life. It’s fine. Stop worrying-”
“Teddy!” Ms.Mary shouted, “If you wouldn’t have gotten involved in this crazy drug cartel in the first place we wouldn’t even be here!!!” she sounded close to tears, “Do you realize how serious this is??? We could die-”
Arisa listened carefully as she began to slowly shift one hand. She needed to get out of the bindings without physically moving her body. So she shifted the cells that made up her hand down into her forearm. The process was painful, but it allowed the binding to simply fall. Once it was off, she shifted her hand back and repeated the process for her other hand and then moved on to her feet. She tried to remain calm with all this information bring brought up. Teddy! Masahiko mentioned Teddy. Ms.Mary’s been supplying this Teddy guy with MS?
“Where are you going?!” Ms.Mary’s shriek suddenly pulled Arisa away from her thoughts.
Arisa heard Teddy’s footsteps come closer, “I’m checking on our hostage Mary! Or should I just let her asphyxiate right here on the floor?!”
Here he comes….OK I got this. I’ve got the element of surprise. The moment he gets close I’ll use it to my advantage. I can do this. I got this.
From the outside of the building, rank 1 were leaned against the wall on either side of the entrance. “What are we waiting for?!?” Kenji whisper-yelled at Kyou. The two had surveyed the warehouse and had listened in on the past conversation, “They sound involved with the mazoku drug and they have a mazoku you said yourself could be useful!!! Come on!! We should be in there already!”
Kyou sighed trying to build the resolve to actually do his job. He knew he had to. He had to go in there and contain the mazoku in there- the shapeshifter included. He wasn’t even sure if she was Arisa….
“Kyou!” Kenji pulled him from his thoughts.
Kyou huffed and pushed past Kenji to the door to the warehouse. He pulled out his weapon from the dog tag and took a deep breath. It’s not her. It’s not her.
He shoved the door open and activated the light without warning. When it cleared he saw something interesting. The shapeshifter was holding the blonde man who had kidnapped her on the ground. Her arm was shifted to a blade and held to his neck. The short haired woman held her hands up from across the floor. Apparently she had been able to flip the situation.
“Cuff them,” Kyou’s voice felt wimpy as Kenji pushed past him.
“I’ve sent word to the forensic team already...” Kenji cuffed the shapeshifter and then pulled her off of the man beneath her and took her place. He reached for the man's other arm but the man suddenly moved and slammed his fist into Kenji’s face. Kenji fell back in surprise, slamming his head on the ground, knocking him out.
The blonde man ran at Kyou in a hurry.
“A human huh?” Kyou easily restrained the human and knocked him out, “Sorry about that but you took out my partner...” he looked over to Kenji and saw he was indeed knocked out cold on the ground. Kyou couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. For all his bluster and cocky attitude, he still found himself knocked by a shrimpy human of all things.
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His gaze caught the shapeshifter. Her face was frozen in place. Her mouth open as if about to yell. Her gaze fixed forward with a furrowed brow. She looked like a normal human...aside from the sharp blade her arm was shifted into. Curiosity getting the better of him he approached her. Without giving himself enough time to change his mind, Kyou touched the cold metal of his weapon to her neck.
Arisa fell forward with a gasp, unable to catch her balance with her arms restrained behind her body. Kyou moved to catch her, but hesitated. She fell to the ground with a thud, “Ow,ow,ow-”
Kyou stood in front of her for a moment before kneeling down to her eye level, “Agent 00 is it?”
Arisa’s eyes met Kyou’s and she felt her throat swell shut in fear.
Sector 1: Thrice Inc. [20:03]
Aku was sitting on an examination table with all kinds of wires and needles attached to her. There was a doctor beside her staring at output levels and adjusting the current. Aku’s gaze was fixed on Chihiyo.
“It drives me insane when you stare at me while I’m working,” Chihiyo was leaning against the wall with her nose buried in her display.
“Just wondering how long Mr.Black will keep you around.”
Chihiyo’s gaze lifted from her display, “Oh?”
Aku grinned and leaned forward, “I wonder when I’ll get the order to take you out for him.”
Chihiyo smiled and took her glasses off, “Oh I wish you could....” she stared right into Aku’s eyes, “...you’re nowhere near the level needed to kill me.”
Aku sat back against the wall with a huff, “What do you think I am being groomed for? It’s so obvious that one of us is to be your replacement.”
Chihiyo let out a laugh, “You seem to forget your place...” she set down her display and glasses and crossed her arms, “Should I let you know something?”
Aku rolled her eyes.
“Something about Kuma Arisa?”
Aku tried to hide her immediate concern, “Why would I care about her?”
Chihiyo grinned having seen right through her and shrugged, “Then I suppose you won’t care to know that Mary’s just gone to drastic measures to pay her brother's debt...I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
Aku jumped from the table and ripped the wires from her in messy hand fulls, “Where is she?!”
The doctor tried to tell Aku to stay still, but she ignored him.
“Oh?” Chihiyo’s voice was thick as she locked the door to the room, “I thought you didn’t care about her?”
Aku took heavy steps toward her, “Where is she?!”
“Don’t worry dear-” a black fog wrapped around Aku consuming her, “she is just some collateral after all. ”
Sector 25: The Warehouse [20:05]
“So why don’t we start with why you are here….we saw the human carry you here unconscious,” Kyou was seated in front of Arisa.
Arisa forced herself to take even, smooth breaths, “He kidnapped me.”
Kyou nodded, clearly waiting for her to continue.
“Those two,” she motioned to Teddy and Ms.Mary, “Are behind the supply of mazoku selling the mazoku suppressant to humans.”
Since unparalyzing the shapeshifter, Kyou handcuffed Ms. Mary and Teddy, and moved them both to the corner of the room. Kyou raised an eyebrow, “What does that have to do with you?”
She furrowed her brow, “We’ve been trying to stop them-”
“Stop them?? The mazoku are targeting humans! No doubt from the orders of your organization-”
“We don’t attack humans!” Her face was firm, “Our organization has been trying to stop the spread of the mazoku suppressant since we discovered it was being used against humans.”
Kyou thought about this. It was true they had run into agents everywhere they were sent to deal with the drug.
“The girl needs to be brought back to our organization. She has to be held accountable for her crimes-”
“Her crime of being a mazoku-” Kyou interrupted, “Will be handled at STAM.”
She glared at him, “Her crime of supplying a major drug cartel that killed people.”
Kyou shook his head.
“A trade then!” she stared deep into what felt like his soul, “I’m valuable aren’t I? STAM could use a shapeshifter right? I’ll be contained peacefully, but leave her here so that she can be picked up for processing.”
Kyou gawked at her, “You would give up your life for her? Someone you claimed to be a criminal?”
Her resolve didn’t waiver, “If I can protect a mazoku’s life by trading my own, I will. Take me instead.”
“You-” the more he stared at her, the more he saw Arisa. There was a passion in her eyes, a sadness- but a kindness, “Are you-”
Suddenly Kyou’s dog tags flashed, “Fuck!” he jumped up and started pacing.
“What’s going on?” Arisa leaned forward.
The officers will be here soon. They’re going to take her. She’s going to be captured. I can’t let that happen. She’s a mazoku! “Ahhh!!!” he turned and his gaze caught the shapeshifter once more. She’s Arisa.
He took the cuffs off of her and pointed to Ms.Mary, “Go!”
Arisa looked at him shocked, “What do you-”
“GO! Take the girl! GO NOW!!” he tried not to look at her. His thoughts were in a panic.
Arisa pulled Ms.Mary on to her back and went to the back exit of the warehouse. She turned once more to look at him, “Thank you….Kyoushirou.”
Kyou was pacing more nervously than before. He looked over and saw Kenji still unconscious. He took a deep breath as he got on his hands and knees and stared at the hard concrete floor beneath him. “This is gonna fucking hurt.” He reeled back and slammed his face into the floor. He heard his nose crack before his world faded.