Disclaimer: *sigh* I don’t own Witch Hunter Robin.
Puff: *sulking*
Amon: I’ve never seen anyone so depressed over having a knife pulled out of her.
Kitsune: She’s weird.
Puff: *glares* You’re the one who stabbed me with it the first place. That knife was mine!
Kitsune: *shakes head*
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Cryptic Letter
Amon stormed into the office, startling the computer hacker who sat alone in the semi-darkness. Michael looked up at Amon; letting his amber glasses slip down his nose a bit to get a better look at the seething man.
“What do you need me to do now?” Michael asked quickly, not noticing the thin piece of paper and the envelope clutched tightly in Amon’s fingers.
“Call Sakaki, Doujima and Karasuma in now. Wake them up if you have to,” Amon ordered forebodingly, “I’m not sure if I should take this threat literally but we have to be on alert. If they mean what they wrote, we’d best keep the whole team together for safety.”
“Who and what threat?” Michael questioned confusedly, dialing the numbers as he signaled the trio to come in to the office. The dark hunter waved the letter and its envelope in front of the hacker’s face.
“The witches. They managed to get as far as the parking garage and left this pinned to a cement support beam with a dagger,” Amon explained angrily, setting the paper down so he didn’t destroy the fragile message it bore. Michael delicately picked it up, reading over the archaically fashioned English calligraphy.
“I’ll scan this into the databanks so we can’t lose it,” Michael said nervously, placing the translucent letter down on a scanner, “It’s a little scary that it’s addressed to you. Anybody in the STN-J could have gotten to the parking garage before you and found the envelope.” Amon sat down in his chair, leaning his head against the palm of his left hand.
“They obviously were tailing me,” Amon stated bitterly, curling his free hand into a tight fist, “There’s no other explanation. It seems the witches can follow our every move with reasonable precision.” Michael nodded, turning back to his computer to monitor all of the tracking programs he had running. The pair sat in silence until the rest of the team, minus Robin of course, showed up in varying degrees of panic.
“What happened?” Karasuma asked calmly, though tints of strain were shining through her tone, “Michael was rather vague with the messages he left on our cell phones.” Amon pulled the sheet of paper out of the scanner and handed it over to the woman, gesturing for the other two to read over her shoulder.
“That sounds like we’re all going to die in the near future,” Sakaki muttered, unconsciously checking for his Orbo gun, “This isn’t some kind of sick joke that you two dreamed up, is it?”
“No. It was pinned to a cement column in the parking garage with this,” Amon said coolly, drawing the slender dagger out of his pocket, “You can go look for the hole if you’d like to.” He set the blade down next to a computer tower, pushing it into the shadows so it would stop glinting dangerously in the light. Karasuma handed Amon back the letter, which he promptly folded and put back into its envelope.
“It couldn’t have been the witches. The security systems would have gone off the second they came on to the property,” Doujima protested, obviously distraught. Karasuma lightly hugged the girl, gently setting her down in her chair.
“No one besides the witches could have driven a dagger straight into cement. Besides, even if someone was just messing around, they couldn’t have been so accurate in what they said,” Karasuma reasoned out, smoothing down Doujima’s blonde hair, “I know the message is a bit enigmatic but it’s definitely from the witches.” Doujima nodded sadly, fiddling with a button on her coat.
“Where are Robin and Javan?” Sakaki asked suddenly, “Shouldn’t they be here, where it’s safer?”
“No where is safe anymore,” Amon growled, his near black eyes glinting with a murderous glow, “We’re only safe at the moment because there’s a group of us. Alone, we’d be as good as dead.” At his words, an icy chill seemed to settle over the people in the room.
“But,” Doujima began weakly, staring down at her hands, “Robin is all alone. She’s unconscious and ill. Javan is just a little girl. She can’t take care of herself.” Amon shook his head, his wet black hair swaying heavily.
“The witches don’t want either of them dead. That’s explained in that letter. Besides, Morganna healed Robin during the battle,” Amon explained calmly, happily back in control of his emotions, “Dr. Takahashi will call me when I can go get Robin and Javan from the hospital.”
“What do we do now?” Michael asked quietly, checking his security net for any flaws.
“We wait,” Amon responded instantly, his dark eyes void, “We wait to get Robin and Javan and we wait for the witches to come out of hiding. There’s nothing else to do.” Everyone nodded and those who weren’t already seated quickly arranged themselves in their chairs. The hunters tried to look calm as they stared around the strangely silent office.
All the computers clicking back into life cut the thick quiet, the screens glowing a harsh white. Lines of letters and numbers whizzed across the glass, pieces breaking off to form a particular file. Michael was frantically trying to clear at least his own monitor but failed when his keyboard and mouse stopped working.
They were all reduced to helplessly watching the file construct itself on their screens. Pieces were falling quickly into place like a puzzle, building a simple image as each found its spot. In just a few seconds, it was complete and opened immediately.
“It’s the letter,” Karasuma whispered in horror, staring at the perfectly curled black lines that were displayed.
“Yes, it’s the same,” Amon growled, his eyes scanning over the screen to see if anything had changed, “The bit about the wolves who stalk the helpless; the wolves getting slaughtered for killing too many. It looks like someone is trying to make us notice something.”
“Amon, scroll down,” Sakaki said weakly, trying to turn off his computer, “There’s a little piece at the end that was just added. It says that there are two of the wolves that are almost in their traps. The small one and the promised child bride.”
“The small one and child bride?” Doujima said questioningly, her eyes flashing with confusion, “They couldn’t be talking about Javan and Robin. They just couldn’t.” Wordlessly, Amon stood up and began walking towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Karasuma asked, standing up as well.
“The time to wait is over. At least for now, we have to do something,” Amon said simply, gesturing for the woman to join him, “Doujima, Sakaki, stay here with Michael to protect the office. Michael, I want to be informed if another intrusion into our computers happens again.” The hacker nodded and began trying to repair the computer system.
“I assume we’re going to go get Robin and Javan from the hospital,” Karasuma said, hurrying to keep up with Amon’s long strides, “This would mean taking them with or without Dr. Takahashi’s consent, right?”
“Of course,” Amon replied sharply, starting his car as he climbed in, “He’ll understand in time, even if he doesn’t understand now.” Karasuma had just a split second to get in before Amon was speeding out into the streets. The dark man was having a difficult time controlling the car on the water-slicked roads, weaving across the deserted lanes.
“I’m glad we aren’t on the main roads,” Karasuma whispered to herself, checking to make sure her seat belt was properly fastened.
“It’s faster this way, even when it isn’t raining,” Amon said calmly, his coal colored eyes pinned straight ahead, “If it were faster to go on the main roads, that’s where we’d be.” Karasuma’s eyes widened at the thought of weaving through traffic before she slumped back and tried to relax. She tightly shut her eyelids and began to think of the perfect vacation, all the while hoping that Amon wouldn’t decide to relax as well.
“Let’s go,” Amon snapped, opening her door and dragging her out into the pouring rain, “We have to hurry. The witches have a good amount of time on us.” Within a few minutes of running through the falling icy water, both hunters were soaked to the bone. Needless to say, the members of hospital staff they passed on the way in were too stunned to try and stop them from going in any further.
“Amon, I didn’t expect you back so soon,” Dr. Takahashi said brightly, grimacing slightly at the pools of water around the hunters’ feet, “Does this mean you have business here? Is your friend sick?” He gestured vaguely at Karasuma, looking over her before returning his attention to the dark man in front of him.
“No, she’s not. We’re here to retrieve Robin and Javan,” Amon explained quickly, pushing his sopping wet bangs out of his eyes, “I’m sure you’ll need to sign a few forms to release them to us.” Dr. Takahashi laughed lightly before he realized that Amon was serious.
“I can’t release them yet. You’ll just have to wait till they’re awake. Hopefully you’ll wait until after the rain has stopped,” Dr. Takahashi said, shaking his head.
“We must get them now,” Amon said tensely, pulling the doctor off into a quiet corner, “We’ve received a threatening message from the witches, implying that they were about to get Robin and Javan. Even if they aren’t ready to leave, they’d be safer in the confines of the office.” Dr. Takahashi nodded quickly and hurriedly found the forms he needed. He had Amon sign on a few lines and took the pair to retrieve the other two.
“Here, wrap them up in these blankets so they don’t catch a chill out in that rain,” Dr. Takahashi said worriedly, pulling thick stacks of heavy blankets out of a closet, “I know you can carry Javan out easily, but will you be needing a wheelchair or something to get Robin out to your car?” Karasuma was quickly bundling a sleeping Javan up in layers before she picked her up.
“No, I can carry Robin out. It’ll be faster,” Amon said, not noticing the way his companions looked at him when he spoke. He plucked the thin girl from her bed and draped a few blankets over her, adjusting a bit so the cloth was wrapped completely around Robin.
“Take care of them,” Dr. Takahashi said, following the hunters as far as the front doors. Amon and Karasuma practically were sprinting through the rain so that their burdens wouldn’t get very wet.
“They can sleep really well,” Karasuma said breathlessly as she buckled Javan into her car seat. Amon didn’t bother to set Robin comfortably, but simply pinned her to the seat with the belt.
“They’re drugged and it hasn’t worn off,” Amon said flatly as he drove out back on to the streets, “It shouldn’t be much longer before they regain consciousness.” Karasuma nodded, dejectedly trying to wring water out of her clothes.
“I wonder how everything is going back at the office,” Karasuma said, staring out the window when she gave up on her outfit.