I Cannot Offer You Freedom
Chapter 13
~*~
Grunting, Amon tried to sit up in his bed, and managed to get halfway up before his shattered ribcage stopped him. Face twisting in pain, he fell back to the bed and lay there with his eyes closed, watching the fireworks on the insides of his eyelids.
This wasn’t going well. His head felt as if it were being repeatedly hit with a ten-pound weight, and he couldn’t even feel his right arm. At this rate, it seemed as if it would be years before he ever got back on the job.
Muttering curses to himself, he forced his broken body up, using his good arm for leverage and blocking his mind against the pain in his head. Groaning, he propped himself up against the many pillows and headboard of the hospital bed, panting from an open mouth.
"Damn…"
Still breathing heavily, he snatched up his phone from where it rested on the bedside table and dialed the familiar number. A familiar voice answered when the ringing stopped and a little of the weight and worry on the dark hunter’s soul lifted.
“I wouldn’t try that too often if I were you,” Michael said, having seen the entire thing from his video surveillance cameras.
“Michael,” Amon answered, ignoring the younger boy’s matter of fact tone. “What happened with Miro?”
There was no answer from the hacker, just the sound of his breathing. “Michael, what happened? Robin said you took down Miro.”
A choked sound then floated over the phone line into the older man’s ear and he waited mutely, understanding a little of what must have been running through Michael’s head. “I went after him and I shot him.” His voice was flat and unemotional.
“I see,” was the only answer the hospitalized man gave; he did not ask for any explanations or justifications, he just accepted the facts.
Harsh breathing that almost matched his own continued to sound in his ear until finally it was replaced by Michael’s voice once more. “I left the STN-J building to shoot Miro because he murdered my mother. My mother died several years ago, I just never knew how. The cops found her on the street and told me she had either been mugged or hit by a car. But he killed her! For no reason! I had to go after him! I had to!”
Amon nodded to himself and continued to say nothing, waiting to see if the boy was done venting yet.
“Damn, Amon…I shot him…I shot him. And now if I ever leave the building again Zaizen swears he’s going to have me killed.”
Michael sighed loudly and the slow clicking of keys could be heard in the background. Amon wondered at this, but said nothing.
“Look, Amon, I’m sorry but I’m gonna have to hang up now. The others are out on a hunt and I need to be able to contact them.”
“All right. I’ll be back to work as soon as I can.” The injured man hung up the phone and set it back in its place, slumping back into the pillows exhaustedly. The pale morning sun shone in through his window and flowed over his battered form like water, coloring the yards of bandages gold and the blood stains a putrid orange.
***
“Miss Karasuma, where are you now?” The headset on Sakaki’s head crackled a little bit and he listened closely for the older woman’s response.
“I’m pretty deep into the walled city…see anything out there? Anybody?”
“Nothing,” the rookie answered in a bored tone, glancing down at his bandaged arm with a scowl. “Damn thing…” he muttered to himself. A dry chuckle sounded in his ear.
“At least you get to be out there,” Michael told him, obviously having heard his frustration. “In the sun…and the air…” He trailed off and the other teen wasn’t quite sure of how to answer, so he merely resumed his observation of the road into and out of the walled city, sharp eyes alert and sparkling in the dim sunlight.
Michael stared out the window at the STN-J building; he touched his shattered right arm and sighed. It had been so long since he had been outside, and that brief taste, even though it had been of rain and wind, had made him long for the outside world more then ever.
There was only one thing that was keeping him from leaving the building once again despite Zaizen’s orders, and that was Robin. He had made her promise to come back alive, and it was only fair that he do the same for her and be here when she returned. He let the weak sunlight imprint itself on his eyelids, then turned back to the computer screen.
Files and pictures floated in their respective windows and he frowned at them, studying the words and images intently; there was something…something not right here. The base of his neck tingled and his entire body seemed to tremble with an almost imperceptible foreshadowing. What was it?!
Hefting his plaster cast up to the desktop, Michael stretched out his right fingers and ignored the pain lancing up his arm as his fingers flew over the keys like they once had. His headphones lying forgotten beside him, Michael was able to hear the rhythmic sound of his typing, and he only wished it were faster.
It was not often that he got a premonition like this, but when he did, it always meant something. And this time, it was a big something.
***
Bored almost to the point of tears, Sakaki glanced in both directions down the street one final time and then proceeded to slump up against the wall and slide to the ground. Nothing was going to happen out here, all the action was inside the walled city, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Slamming his fist against the ground, the rookie cursed everything in existence, and, feeling slightly better, glanced up again to see a stocky figure walking down the street towards him. On the alert now, he jumped up and slid one hand inside his jacket to rest comfortably against the Orbo gun.
The figure kept on advancing towards him, head down, and hands in pockets. There almost seemed to be an aura about him, a ripple in the air that shimmered around him like heat in the desert. Curious rather then scared, Sakaki whispered into his headset. “There’s someone here Miss Karasuma…”
“Well, we’re coming out anyway,” the woman answered.
“There’s nobody in here!” Doujima’s high-pitched whine joined Karasuma’s voice and Sakaki smiled to himself; she sounded exactly as he had only moments ago.
But the smile was wiped clean off his face as a dark, shimmering bubble formed around his left arm, encompassing the entire limb up to the shoulder. With a cry of outrage and excruciating pain, he sprawled on the ground, his arm flung out wide from the rest of his body.
“…Puncture it…”
Michael’s voice exploded in his mind like fireworks against a dark sky, and the teen brought out his Orbo gun, aiming a bullet at the void around his arm. He fired, and the void immediately dissipated with a hissing sound, reliving the pressure on Sakaki’s already injured arm.
Gasping, he brought the gun up and aimed it at the man that could only be Avi Yusanada and fired the rest of his bullets, pain clouding his mind and skewing his aim.
Avi laughed and another void encompassed the rookie, this time around his entire body. Suddenly breathless, Sakaki tried to inhale, and felt his lungs collapse in on themselves. His head felt as if it was being crushed beneath an entire building, and his eyes bulged, about to burst from their sockets.
Flames exploded around him and blocked Avi from view, licking at the void as if it were dry wood. Air instantly flowed washed over Sakaki’s limp form and swelled his lungs. Heaving with the sudden desire for oxygen, he tried to get up, then felt his world go black, and fell back to the pavement.
Robin watched him faint and turned back to the witch before her. But he was gone.
A determined look on her face, the young girl charged off down the street, her skirts billowing out behind her.
“Sakaki!” came Doujima’s cry from behind her, and soon the sound of footsteps joined hers. Robin glanced over to see Karasuma running beside her, gun clutched tightly in her hand.
Doujima watched them go, the fainted hunter’s head resting in her lap. A light stirring and a quiet moan brought her attention back to her injured friend and she yanked out her phone, casting worried looks at Sakaki’s crushed arm as she did so.
Blood seeped from it like water from a sponge, and as she frantically relayed what had happened to Michael, Doujima ripped his shirt and jacket to pieces, binding the limb up as best she could.
Moaning louder now, Sakaki’s eyes flew open and his eyes rolled back into his head until only the whites showed. Frightened, Doujima took his head in her hands and held him still as he tried to thrash about, so agonizing was the pain in his arm.
Meanwhile, Robin and Doujima turned down a smaller alleyway, only to run into a solid brick wall. Whirling around to continue their search, they found themselves face-to-face with Avi, who laughed and pointed. A large airless pocket suddenly surrounded the two women and both felt much like Sakaki had, their bodies pounding and their chests contracting painfully.
Two shots rang out from behind the laughing witch and his voids burst, releasing the trapped hunters. Doujima stood at the entrance to the alley, her gun held at the ready and her face grimly set.
Looking back and forth from woman to woman, Avi’s laughter only increased and one of his voids sprang up around Doujima’s hand, encompassing her gun and wrist also.
“This is not the last you’ll see of me, I promise you.” His voice was low and harsh as he walked by the gasping Doujima. “I will take my revenge for my brother’s death, trade a life for a life.”
“Why yes!” he exclaimed, seeing the shocked look on Doujima’s face. “You killed my brother.” He laughed again and strode past her, stout form moving quickly. “You will regret your actions.”
Growling, Doujima snatched up a broken bottle lying by the entrance to the alley and pierced the void about her hand, sighing with satisfaction when it dissipated. Sirens sounded in the distance, and she decided to give in to the darkness and let the paramedics and the police take care of the rest.
And so she joined the rest of her team in the land of unconsciousness, Avi’s laughter still ringing loudly in her ears.
***
Well, I got my poster off of E-bay. ^.^ Wow, I’m just loving Saiyuki more and more as time goes on. I did not, however, manage to get the Witch Hunter Robin T-shirt…oh well, my dad got me an Inuyasha one for my birthday. Which was wonderful by the way; thank you all for the messages and reviews! ^_~ R&R!!
~Dreamwalker
Chapter 14
