Disclaimer: I don’t own Witch Hunter Robin.
Amon: *staring blankly*
Kitsune: Puff, will you stop laughing so hard? Every time you laugh, blood splashes up on the television screen.
Puff: I’m sorry. I’ll try. *laughs*
Kitsune: *sigh* This is the tenth time I’ve had to clean the screen in the past half hour. *carefully edges around blood pool*
Amon: Why don’t you just move her?
Kitsune: And get my new outfit dirty? No way!
Chapter Thirty-Six: Security Risks
Morganna’s bloodcurdling scream resounded around the hospital room as the flames wound themselves around her energy shield. Robin collapsed onto the floor when her puppet master pulled all of her energy back out of the girl.
The dark hunter stepped back carefully, his near-black eyes fixed on the growing fire. The inferno seemed to grow with every drop of power that Morganna used to repel it, the white tips of the flames licking at the ceiling. Noxious smoke, from the burning furniture, filled the room and caused screeching alarms to join the nurse’s shrieks of terror.
For what seemed to be an eternity, Amon’s eyes were fixed on Morganna’s dim outline in the midst of the bonfire. Her shadowy form twisted and writhed in pain, the flames burning at her skin since they had quickly destroyed her barrier.
Then, just as suddenly as the fire had arisen and bloomed, it died out with a final scream from Morganna. The entire room was draped in darkness, the lights having been fried and the smoke blotting out any of the dim light from the night sky. Amon stood dazed for a brief moment before he dropped to his knees and began to feel around for Robin.
The sounds of the charred ceiling panels crumbling onto to the floor and Amon’s choked breathing were all that could be heard as he silently crawled over the still-hot tiles. His fingers quickly found the soft velvet that comprised Robin’s dress and he searched blindly for her wrist so he could take her pulse.
“Thank God,” Amon muttered as he slumped against the wall, happily assured that Robin was alive for the moment. Faint orange safety lights, which had been protected in the chair rail that ran along the walls, began to glow into life. As the poor illumination pierced the dense smoke, the true extent of the damage became readily apparent.
Most everything that had been in a five foot radius of Morganna had been burnt to crispness. Shards of glass from the shattered mirrors were dangerously scattered across the floor, even embedded into some of the surviving furniture. Machines were melted and twisted, unrecognizable chunks of plastic and metal.
But, by far, the worst destruction was that of Morganna herself. All of her flesh had been incinerated and even the bones had begun to burn. What was left of her was blackened, though a few spots of lightness remained.
Amon found his cell phone in his pocket and quickly made sure it hadn’t been damaged in any way. He quickly dialed the office, his chiseled features bathed in the pale neon blue light radiating from the buttons.
“Yes?” Michael asked sleepily, his grip on his phone slightly lax.
“I need you to contact the Factory. Tell them to send a clean-up crew and security measures,” Amon ordered, his cold voice even more mechanical than normal. He pushed his dark hair out his eyes, letting his gaze slip over to where Robin lay curled up.
“I’ll do it right now,” Michael hurriedly said, sounding much more alert. Sounds of rushed movement could be clearly heard over the line as he dashed to his computer and cleared some of the trash away.
Amon sat silently as the computer genius typed furiously and performed his task flawlessly. In the poor light, Amon stared at his comatose hunting partner. His charcoal eyes flitted over Robin’s body, a faint blush painting his cheeks when he noticed the skirt of her short dress had slid up her thigh. He swiftly pulled the black velvet back into place and turned his head the other way.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened there?” Michael questioned carefully, not wanting to upset Amon.
“We had a little problem. I took care of it,” Amon snapped sharply, squeezing his eyes shut tightly, “Everything’s under my control.” He let his eyelids flutter open, grimacing when he was forced to look upon the destruction again.
“Of course, Amon, the guys from the Factory should be there in a few minutes,” Michael said hurriedly, pushing his amber glasses further up his nose, “I’ll let everyone know that there’s been an attack so they can be on higher alert. Take care of Robin for us all.” He hung up and began to dial another number, randomly selecting one of the others to call first.
“So, this is the full extent of your powers,” Amon muttered, staring blankly at Robin’s limp body, “I didn’t know you were this dangerous.” He brushed a small piece of the ceiling off of her, glaring at the charred mess around her.
Listening carefully to make sure that no one would walk in, Amon cautiously slid his arms around Robin and picked her off of the floor. He walked the short distance to her bed, stumbling a few times before he reached it. The hunter checked to see if he was going to lay her on any glass shards and delicately set her down, tugging at her dark dress so it covered as much as was humanly possible.
After Robin had been situated comfortably, Amon slid down to floor and slumped over. He rubbed at his eyes with dirty fingers, trying to get the sting from the heavy smoke out. Amon sat perfectly still while the crew from the Factory arrived and broke their way through the door.
The moment he had a way out, he instantly snatched up Robin and hurried out into the painfully bright corridor. All of the rooms in the general area had been evacuated and the hall sealed off with neon yellow tape until things could be repaired and cleaned.
“I leave you alone with her for a little bit and you nearly destroy my hospital, Amon,” Dr. Takahashi scolded playfully, eyeing each of the Factory workers with dislike, “Follow me. I need to make sure Robin is in the same condition I left her in and I’d also like to see how you’re doing.” He gestured down the spotless hall, walking off at rapid pace.
“I’m fine, doctor. Just take care of Robin,” Amon hissed, flashback of his last stay with the doctor flooding back. Dr. Takahashi smiled knowingly at him and patted him on his back. Amon hissed as pain from the twin wounds radiated outwards over his entire body.
“Just as I thought. I’ll be checking you over after I finish with Robin. Go set her on that table in that room now and then go across the hall to that examining room,” Dr. Takahashi ordered calmly, pointing to each room as he spoke about it, “Amon, you’d best change out of those clothes. They’re filthy. A clean set of clothes is in one of the drawers in your room.”
Amon, rather unwillingly, did as he was told, placing Robin gently onto the examining table before he lazily walked over to where he was supposed to be. He pulled open all of the small drawers and his eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw what Dr. Takahashi wanted him to wear. With a loud bang, Amon slammed the drawer shut and stiffly sat in one of the low chairs.
“I take it you didn’t find the clothes,” Dr. Takahashi said brightly, yanking the folded pile out and tossing it at his patient, “Now go into that bathroom and get changed. I won’t have anyone that dirty under my care.”
“These aren’t clothes. These are pajamas,” Amon protested, digging his fingernails into the soft material.
“Oh, I didn’t notice!” Dr. Takahashi exclaimed, feigning surprise as his hands flew to his face, “I guess they’ll just have to do until I can go fetch you something else.” He smiled cheerfully in response to Amon’s dark glare, pointing an already gloved finger towards the closed bathroom door.
“I am not going to wear something that has pink bunnies on it. I don’t even have Javan wear pink bunnies,” Amon stated, the words painted with sharpness. He violently shook the pile of folded cloth at the doctor before he flung it down onto the bed.
“Whatever you want to do. But I refuse to have you this filthy under my care. If you don’t want to wear the pajamas I’ve offered you, you’ll just have to wear nothing until after I finish,” Dr. Takahashi explained calmly, not daring to let his gaze slip away from Amon’s icy black eyes.
Surprisingly enough, Amon paused to think about his options before he angrily grabbed the pajamas and stalked into the bathroom. Dr. Takahashi was miraculously able to hold in his laughter until after the dark man had slammed and locked the thick door behind him.
“Sit, Amon, and let me have a look over your wounds,” Dr. Takahashi ordered politely, biting the inside of his cheek as he stared at Amon’s new outfit. The hunter was clothed in white from head to toe, with only pastel pink bunnies for color.
“This isn’t necessary, doctor. You should be taking care of Robin,” Amon said, his voice startling his companion with its placidness. The doctor nodded wordlessly, applying a cold ointment and clean bandages to Amon’s neck and hands with swift precision.
“Normally I would agree with you. But Robin’s fine. She better than when I left her with you,” Dr. Takahashi said offhandedly, pulling the back of Amon’s shirt up so he could clean the stab wounds.
“What?” Amon questioned incredulously, nearly whirling around to face the doctor before he remembered to sit still. He cautiously looked over his shoulder, making sure that he didn’t move his lower back at all.
“I said Robin’s better off than when I left her,” Dr. Takahashi repeated, glancing up to meet Amon’s steady gaze, “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened in that room? All I know is that Robin didn’t have that kind of energy earlier and an entire room in my hospital was nearly consumed by fire.” Amon opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped when a cream that burned was slathered over his skin and covered with an airtight bandage.
“I’m not quite sure what happened. I just know that one of your nurses took control of Robin’s body and was using her to try and kill me,” Amon said bluntly, pulling his shirt back into place when Dr. Takahashi slid his chair around to face the hunter.
“One of my nurses?” Dr. Takahashi questioned, his voice tinged with disbelief, “Amon, I don’t hire witches. I don’t even hire anybody who has a chance of carrying a witch gene. It couldn’t have been one of my nurses. You must be mistaken.”
“She was in the pediatric wing and she showed me where Javan’s room was. She even got me information about how Robin’s surgery was progressing,” Amon said with annoyance, “Her name was Morganna. She had short brown hair.”
“The nurse on duty in pediatrics was a blonde girl. Just out of medical school,” Dr. Takahashi muttered, wringing his hands together worriedly, “I’ll have to contact security. My nurse could be hurt or dead. Wait here.” He rushed out of the room, his white lab coat flaring slightly as he jogged down the brilliantly lit hallway. Amon quietly shut the door and picked up his coat, rummaging around in the pockets till he found his cell phone again.
“Michael, do you have access to the security cameras in this hospital?” Amon asked, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand.
“No, they’re on a closed channel,” Michael explained, leaning the phone up against his shoulder as he shuffled through the multitude of things strewn around his desk, “I might be able to get access if I can find this program that Bryton sent me. He and his sister are programming geniuses. In fact, a lot of the new things I’ve implemented have been sent by them.”
“That doesn’t matter to me. I just need to know if you can hack into the database and pull up some clips,” Amon said, his voice clearly defining that the conversation wouldn’t wander away from that point.
“Give me a few minutes to get the program to run properly and I’ll be able to give you a definite answer,” Michael responded curtly, shoving the disk into the slot where it belonged before he began to insert the information needed.
“You’ve only got a few minutes. If you can’t find what I need, we’ll have to pull the entire team into action,” Amon explained, his dark eyes flicking into every shadowed corner of the room, “The hospital may have infiltrated by other witches besides the one that attacked us, since she managed to slip through security without a problem.”
“I’ve got the database open. What do you need?” Michael asked, his voice laced with pride.
“I want you to look over the footage from pediatrics. Anything before Robin was brought in and after the shift change,” Amon said calmly, half considering offering his thanks to the brilliant hacker, “ What does the nurse look like at first?”
“Blonde, young, rather pretty,” Michael said, speeding up the video so he could get through faster, “Everything looks normal, just people going back and forth to the rooms. Hold on. That’s not normal. Three people are at the counter. Two women and a teenage boy, all wearing dark hoods over their faces. They started to advance on the nurse but then the boy pushed a button on something he was holding and the recording cut out. When it came back on, the nurse had short brown hair.”
“Morganna. She was the one that attacked me,” Amon said coldly, running his fingers through his thick black hair, “Can you get the faces of the other two that were with her?”
“No, the hoods cover up anything that could identify them. We can just assume they left the hospital because they, probably, would have come to a fellow witch’s aid when she was fighting you,” Michael said, replaying the footage as he tried to bring back the missing part.
“Yes,” Amon said simply, “I’ll be back at the office shortly, after I talk to Dr. Takahashi again. Try and restore that lost bit of recording. It could be the key that we need.”