Tokyo Demons Book 2: Chapter 2

Jo ran wherever the mob took him. The halls leading from the loading dock branched off within the building, but someone at the front clearly remembered the schematics. The mob rushed with strange precision, smashing through locked doors and the occasional Core operative who shot into the masses.

Jo didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. With the shouts of Byakko and the blare of the alarm ringing in his ears, his survival instinct swallowed his hesitation.

By the time Jo reached the main building lobby, the excitement of the horde had reached a fever pitch. They spread in all directions, screaming and smashing everything they could find.

Jo, shaking, lifted one shoe. Blood stained the plastic sole.

He still felt the sickening bump of a body under his feet.

“Eat lead, you little shits!”

Jo ducked as several gunshots exploded through the air. He saw a handful of Byakko members chase two armed Core operatives into a hallway. One more shot rang out before it was replaced with cries.

From what Jo could tell about the lobby, most of the Core thugs had retreated elsewhere, leaving Byakko to trash the tables and chairs scattered around the public space. Although the lack of windows on the ground floor had spared it the brunt of the fires, plumes of black still wisped out from several hallways. Jo coughed, his fingers pulling the bandanna higher up his nose.

Sixth floor, he reminded himself. Shouri’s on the sixth floor.

The ear-splitting alarm finally snapped off. Under the excited screams and breaking wood, the new quiet in the air felt like a bad omen. Jo ran in the direction of a stairwell.

A crushed noise emitted over the intercom. A moment later, a cracking voice yelled through the speakers.

“This is your second notice, Prick! Subdue the mob on the ground floor!”

Byakko members laughed as Jo raced through the lobby. There was already a crowd by the stairwell…he could see them pulling back from the gunshots that rang inside. As Jo looked for cover to drag over, a flashing light caught his eye.

It was an elevator. Jo screeched to a halt. Despite the smashed lights and scattered bombs, despite the hazy smoke that spread through the burning building, a red number still lit up above a single elevator doorway. Jo stared in shock as the number counted down.

Someone was coming. And he was using the fucking elevator.

Dread surged through Jo’s throat. He threw up his arms and yelled to everyone within earshot.

“GET DOWN!” he cried.

Someone stopped running to turn. Two boys hit the floor without question.

ding

Jo dropped to the marble floor. As if the world had slowed around him, he watched the doors drag back to reveal a black-clad woman wearing sunglasses. She smiled and raised a pair of long-barreled pistols.

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM

A spray of bullets fanned across the room, downing Byakko members across the lobby. Teenagers yelled and dove for cover as somebody screamed.

The woman stepped out of the elevator and dropped the empty bottoms out of her weapons. As she clacked something and rammed the guns over two new towers of bullets strapped to her belt, she ran her tongue along her fanged teeth.

“Good morning,” the not-vampire drawled. “And good-bye, bloodbags.”

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM

Jo’s vision swam as screams echoed behind him. Somebody yelled something about rushing her. The woman calmly snapped a barrel toward the voice and fired, cutting him off.

The horror from the night of Kiyoshi’s kidnapping returned. Something was wrong with this woman. She was either supernatural or crazy. Although she stood only a few meters from Jo, he was too terrified to move from his place on the floor. What the hell could he do? She would kill him the second he tried to get to his feet.

In a heart-stopping moment, her gaze dropped to him. She smiled and raised a gun.

BOOM

A piece of the wall exploded by her side, causing the woman to jerk toward it. She whipped her gun and returned several shots.

There was a pause. Then she recoiled and scowled as another blast splintered a nearby chair.

“Oda!” Wei shouted behind him. “Ruka’s after me, you’re after Ruka!”

Jo suddenly remembered Wei claiming that abandoned shotgun.

The not-vampire fired in Wei’s direction as she took a shot at a running boy with her second weapon. The runner barely avoided it before escaping into a hallway.

“Meat,” she hissed as she fired three more times. “I’m gonna drink you fuckers dry.”

Jo, his hammering heart flushing adrenaline through his veins, clutched his bat with both hands. Ruka, he repeated in his head. The kogal with a slingshot.

The not-vampire dropped the empty bullet case out of one gun. Before she could reload, Jo heard the thwak of rubber from behind him.

A small black ball cracked the woman’s sunglasses with enough force to send her reeling. She cursed and stumbled as the ball hissed out a cloud of smoke.

The woman disappeared in the blooming gray. Jo held his breath, jumped to his feet, and ran into the smoke. The thick, hot cloud swallowed the world outside his goggles.

…

BLAM

A gunshot rang in his ears, but nothing whizzed by him. He ran with his bat outstretched, swinging it back and forth in the cloud. His lungs ached for release, but he wouldn’t breathe. He just swung. He swung like a blind man as blood throbbed behind his eyeballs.

The bat glanced off a body. He heard female coughs, saw dark clothes peek out of the swirling smoke. Jo wound his arms back into a batter’s stance and swung as hard as he could.

WHAM

Jo felt the sickening impact of wood crushing against muscle and bone. The weight of the woman went slack as a dull thump resonated under the hissing smoke.

Jo opened his mouth. “Down!” he gasped out before sucking in air. Hot smoke leaked through his bandanna and filled his lungs; he coughed it out violently.

Footsteps pounded nearby. Jo dropped his bat and fell to his knees, struggling to breathe as his hands smacked against the floor. He scrambled to crawl closer to the woman, his desperation overriding his fear.

Pin her down, his mind reeled. Pin her down or she’ll kill you!

His right hand bumped into something metallic. Jo slid his palm over it.

The loaded gun. Jo could barely make out an inverted cross carved into the barrel.

A shudder ran through him. He turned and slid the weapon as far into the lobby as he could.

The force of a battering ram slammed into Jo from behind. Jo choked as a bone-thin body crammed him against the floor, digging knees so hard into his sides that he thought they’d pierce his lungs. He lashed out in a panic as skeletal fingers clutched his neck and crammed his cheek against the marble.

Lips tickled his ear. “You’re mine, little boy,” the woman hissed. “And I’m hungry.” She wrenched his head to the side, exposing the curve of his neck.

Jo’s blood ran cold. “F-fuck!” He grabbed desperately at her hair, but she ignored it and bared her fangs.

Shouting erupted around them; hands grabbed her from behind. She snarled and twisted backward to grapple with her attackers. It gave Jo just enough freedom to heave her to the side.

A boot crammed against her shoulder and shoved her the rest of the way. Jo scrambled clear as several teenagers tackled her to the ground.

Jo coughed against the floor, gasping in breaths. He adjusted his crooked goggles and pulled his bandanna back up his nose.

A muffled, resonating laugh screeched from above him. Jo tensed and looked up.

A Byakko member with a gas mask stood over him. Based on the bleached spikes, Jo realized it was Takeshi.

“Did we interrupt?” he drawled, his voice echoing in the mask. He held out the woman’s loaded gun, handle first. “I think the bitch likes you, puppy dog.”

Jo coughed and stared at the gun. He hesitated.

“Don’t be shy,” Takeshi purred. “This thing’s at least a semi. Just pull the trigger and it loads the next shot for ya.”

“I-I’m sorry I shot those guys.”

Jo remembered tears streaking down Kiyoshi’s face. He remembered the girl with her forehead blown off and the rising stench of her spilled blood.

Jo’s stomach churned. He felt doom settle on his shoulders as he slowly wrapped his hand around the weapon.

As Takeshi helped him to his feet, the woman snarled from nearby. A teenager screamed.

“AAGH!” someone yelled. “She fucking bit me!”

Jo whipped around, but Takeshi pushed him back. He flipped a crowbar to slap against his palm.

“Find Shouri,” Takeshi ordered. “The Timebomb said they’re dragging her to the parking garage.”

“Parking garage?” Jo stopped. “Not the sixth floor?”

“Nope! And the only way down to the garage is from this level.” He chuckled and stepped into the smoke. “Have fun, kiddo!”

Jo didn’t argue. He ran out into the lobby, coughing as he sucked in breaths. He almost tripped over an abandoned baseball bat. After a second of deliberation, he grabbed it to take with him.

Fine, he thought darkly. So I don’t have to use the gun, right?

It didn’t make him feel much better. He gripped his weapons as his mind raced over the schematics of the building.

There were two short stairwells to the parking garage–separate from the regular stairwells. One was on the opposite side of the building, but the other was near the loading dock…maybe in one of the hallways? Had he passed it on his way in? Jo squinted and looked around.

Scattered Byakko members still rushed in from the loading dock, roaring as they joined the fight. The crowd by the stairwell had disappeared, assumedly because they’d broken through to higher floors. But that one wouldn’t bring him down. He needed to go back–

A thought suddenly struck him. Jo turned.

The smoke slowly dissipated in front of the elevator.

Wait, he thought. They are only two stairs leading to the garage. The plan had assumed the building would be in lock-down, but the alarm had vanished minutes before. Jo ran to the elevator and crammed his palm against the button.

Sure enough, the doors opened with a calm ding. Jo craned his head inside to see a low button, below the tower of numbers, distinctly marked for “parking.”

He swallowed. “Damn,” he muttered as he stepped inside. He pressed the button, let out a breath, and prayed as the doors closed.

 ***************

The mob worked faster than Ayase had expected. By the time she ran the stairs to the third floor, Byakko was already clearing the level above. She pulled back from the railing as a Core operative plummeted down the gap between the stairs. His screams echoed through the stairwell before ending with a loud thump.

Ayase’s stomach twisted. She maneuvered around the fallen Core thugs who littered the stairs, ignoring the stench of blood that hung heavy in the air. The rancid scent of burning carpet was already overpowering it as smoke swirled in from various floors.

Don’t deliberate, she ordered herself. You have to stay focused, Ayase!

Ayase turned to the boys as they caught up. Sachi was white as a ghost…she saw his ankles brushing the fallen men around them. Kadoyuki panted and jerked his head toward the fourth-floor hallway. Scattered members of Byakko shoved past them to run through the door or fly up the next staircase.

Kadoyuki clenched his jaw. “If he lives here,” he wheezed, “there should be apartments. And they didn’t announce an evacuation order.”

Ayase found it hard to believe that anyone would be sitting in his room during this attack, but it was a place to start. The three of them ran down the hallway, ignoring the offices that Byakko ransacked. Two girls in front of them broke down another door, then reeled back as flames roared into the hall.

“Son of a bitch!” one of them blurted.  They scrambled to close the door again.

Ayase coughed and waved the smoke from her face as she rushed through. She turned a corner, but the next hallway wasn’t any better–black tendrils bloomed from under doorways as teenagers tested doorknobs for heat.

Sachi coughed and wiped sweat from his chin. “These still look like offices!” he called over the yells. “Where did they keep Kiyoshi and Shouri? Were they in rooms that looked different?!”

Ayase’s mind raced through her memories. But she’d only seen the hallways through her bugs–the lower resolution of her insect eyes missed details.

“N-nothing obvious,” she said at last. “Same color doors, same lights in the hallway…” Did they have numbers on the doors? But plenty of offices had numbers, too. And almost every door was locked–

Ayase froze.

The locks!

She snapped her head to a nearby door. Some teenager cursed as he tried to jimmy a lockpick into the keyhole.

“The rooms used keycards!” she blurted at Sachi. “I don’t know if that’s just for hostages, but the rest of these doors use keys!”

Sachi blinked. “Maybe if the psychic isn’t here willingly…” He glanced meaningfully at Kadoyuki.

Kadoyuki shook his head. “I don’t know,” he murmured.

Ayase didn’t see any keycard pads in their hallway. She made sure no Byakko member was watching her, then released two bugs in her hand. She sent them zooming down the two sides of the hall.

“Give me a second.” Ayase closed her eyes.

Ayase followed her split, blurry gaze through the thickening smoke, confirming the lack of card swipers in their hallway. Once the insects hit a two-way split, she sent them in opposite directions to explore abandoned halls.

The hall on the left had fewer doors and no keypads–it seemed to end in the stairwell that Byakko couldn’t breach. But the hallway on the right had a single figure in it. A teenage girl in a dark hoodie who fiddled with something beside the door.

Mitsuko. And it looked like she was cracking open a keycard pad.

Ayase recalled her bugs as she snapped open her eyes. “On the right!” she called, bolting toward the split. She reabsorbed the insects as they reached her, the action more fluid than it had ever been. As Ayase neared, Mitsuko jerked toward her defensively before giving a start.

“Ayase?” Mitsuko’s eyes flicked to Sachi and Kadoyuki as they ran up. “Whoa. Have you guys found your hacker yet?”

“No. And we’re looking for someone else now.” Sachi gestured to the card swiper. “Are you trying to break in?”

Mitsuko licked her lips and returned to the keycard pad. “‘Trying’ is right,” she muttered, swiping at tiny wires inside the open pad. “But I was never good at electronic security. This is more Takeshi’s thing.”

Kadoyuki pressed his ear against the door. “Is someone in there?” he asked.

“It doesn’t sound like it. But if this needs keycard access, there must be something good inside.”

Kadoyuki stood there a moment, the creases deepening between his eyebrows. Then he pushed up and shook his head.

“He’s not in there. We have to keep looking.”

Ayase let out a frustrated breath. “It’s the only keycard pad on this floor. Maybe he’s just keeping his mouth shut–”

“No. He’s not in there.” Kadoyuki ran down the hall, toward an unbroken window on the far end. A few of the doors on the way leaked smoke, causing him to cough as he rushed past. He finally stopped by the window and closed his eyes.

Ayase watched him stand there, his brow furrowed, his hands curled into fists. Is he…doing something? she wondered. Was he using his power?

Mitsuko suddenly clicked her tongue. Something beeped near the door handle.

“Got it.” Mitsuko excitedly pushed Ayase and Sachi to one side of the doorway. She stood on the opposite side, put a finger to her lips, and reached down to the doorknob. She twisted it and threw the door in.

They waited. When no bullets or sound erupted from the doorway, Mitsuko craned her head around. She waved Ayase and Sachi in.

It was an apartment. Mitsuko went straight for the dresser while Sachi ran for the attached bathroom. Ayase checked the closet, her hope dwindling as she pushed aside hanging clothes.

Kadoyuki had been right–no one was in that room. Ayase cursed and ran her hands through her hair.

Mitsuko suddenly whistled from the dresser. She pocketed a small wad of yen.

“Not much money,” she conceded as she rustled through the drawer. “But damn…this guy’s on a lot of medications.” She pulled a handful of bottles free. “Sleeping pills, I don’t know what this one is…and something for panic attacks?”

Sachi popped out of the bathroom. “Look at this,” he called, jingling a ring of keys in the air.

Several cards were attached to the ring. All of them had swipe bars.

Mitsuko gleefully snatched the keyring. “This might get us in other doors!” she exclaimed. She flipped through the keycards. “No picture I.D. on anything.”

“Core barely uses names, let alone photos.” Ayase stared at the keycards, her mind a jumble of thoughts. Did the cards mean the occupant of the room had access to a lot of areas? Was he important? And if so, why did he store his keys in the bathroom?

Realization seemed to dawn on Sachi at the same moment it did her. They stared at each other.

“He forgot his keys,” Sachi breathed.

“He locked himself out of here.”

No sooner had she said the words than Kadoyuki coughed from the doorway. He stood there, panting, new smudges of ash on his face.

“He locked himself out,” he repeated as his eyes fell to the floor. “But if he came up here without realizing that…if he w-wanted to hide but couldn’t get in…” He coughed again, the sound drier and harder than before.

Sachi frowned. “Are you okay?” he asked as he glanced out the doorway. He reeled back.

“The fires are getting really bad out there!”

“…don’t get yourselves killed looking for the psychic.”

Ayase ground her teeth together. She closed her eyes for a second, returning to the bug with Shouri…but she still only heard movement, arguing, something about a car. She didn’t have anything else to report to Nick. And if they couldn’t find the psychic on the one lead they had…

She had to end this mission.

“Kado!”

Ayase opened her eyes to see Kadoyuki bolt. He ran for the stairwell, Sachi in pursuit.

Ayase’s heart leapt to her throat. “Don’t!” she shouted as she scrambled to follow. “Core still controls those stairs!”

Kadoyuki suddenly stopped mid-hallway. He stood rigid, his eyes wide, his gaze snapping around. He looked like a bloodhound catching a scent.

CRACK

Ayase jumped at the sound of splintering wood. She turned to see one of the offices near the apartment belch flames through a destroyed doorway. A coughing Mitsuko finally fled the apartment while tying a handkerchief around her face.

“This place is coming down!” she called as she waved ahead of her. “We have to get out!”

Kadoyuki ran to a random door and spread his hands across it. He wheezed through his teeth, his wide eyes running up and down the wood.

“Kado,” Sachi begged desperately. “We have to go! I don’t wanna drag you out, but I will!”

“H-here.” Kadoyuki grabbed the doorknob, but it wouldn’t turn. Kadoyuki started to panic as he crazily rattled the door. “Someone’s in here!”

The sprinklers burst to life in the hallway, spraying warm water into Ayase’s eyes. She coughed and covered her head as steam and smoke rolled through the hall. She formed an insect in her hand to feed under the door.

But she didn’t need it. Mitsuko ran to Kadoyuki’s door, shoved him aside, and crammed a knife into the knob keyhole. She wrenched a few times until the mechanism tore loose.

Somebody screamed from inside.

Mitsuko blinked. “What the hell?” she blurted.

Ayase swallowed hard, her nerves burning along her body. As Kadoyuki and Sachi pulled out their knives, Ayase gripped Mitsuko’s arm and caught her wide eyes.

“Senpai?” she asked quickly. “Can you step back for a second?”

Mitsuko furrowed her eyebrows, then broke into a fit of coughing. She lifted her bandanna to spit on the carpet.

“Just make it quick!”

Ayase grabbed the doorknob. She exchanged glances with Sachi and Kadoyuki, steeled herself, and threw open the door.

It was a supply closet. And on the floor, curled into a recoiling ball, was the most wild-eyed man Ayase had ever seen.

“G-GO AWAY!” he screamed. “OR I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!”

Ayase pulled back cautiously, but she didn’t see a weapon. The rail-thin man was dressed like the other Core operatives, but his shirt was wrinkled and dirty beneath his overgrown hair. He hugged his knees to his chest like a frightened toddler.

Ayase’s eyes fell on his arm. One sleeve was rolled up, exposing black veins…and an empty angiocatheter taped to his forearm.

Kadoyuki scowled. “Are you Wipe?” he asked darkly.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!” The man lashed out with a long-nailed hand. “GET AWAY FROM ME!”

So Kadoyuki didn’t know the guy. Ayase buried that theory.

Sachi tentatively reached out, but the man lashed out again. Sachi tightened his jaw and grabbed the man’s flailing wrist. The man screamed and recoiled; Sachi released him.

“He’s definitely supernatural,” Sachi said, wiping wet spikes from his forehead. “And he feels like…Kiyoshi did. When he was getting really sick.”

Ayase leaned into the closet. “Are you in withdrawal?” she asked flatly.

The man, trembling, stared at her with wide eyes. Then he burst into tears.

Based on the angiocatheter, Ayase guessed he’d been prepping for a Pitch treatment during the attack. “We can help you,” she called over the sound of spraying sprinklers. “But you have to come with us!”

The man covered his head with his hands. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” he sobbed before breaking down into hacking coughs.

Ayase opened her mouth to argue, but water and smoke swirled inside her. She doubled over and coughed up dark flecks.

Mitsuko suddenly reached into the closet and grabbed a fistful of the man’s shirt. The man screeched as she dragged him into the hallway.

“You want this guy as a hostage?!” Mitsuko yelled over the sprinklers.

Ayase hacked and nodded, blinking her burning eyes.

Mitsuko punched the man in the jaw hard enough to crack his head to the side. She grabbed him with both fists and shook him furiously.

“You’re coming with us, you sniveling piece of shit! Try anything funny and I’ll personally throw you into the fire just to watch you burn!”

The man sobbed, gripping his bruising chin. He tried to pull free.

Mitsuko threw him on the floor. She tore the wet bandanna off her face and tied his wrists behind his back as he wailed and struggled beneath her.

“Sachi!” she ordered. “Your hoodie’s a pullover, isn’t it? Give it to me!”

Sachi pulled his sopping hoodie over his head without a word. Mitsuko jammed it over the man, trapping his bound hands behind him. She pulled the hood over his head and dragged him to his feet.

“Now move it!” she coughed. “Or I’ll fucking cut you!”

Guilt squeezed Ayase’s chest, but she pushed it down and grabbed the man’s arm. He dug his heels into the floor and shook his head.

“I’ll die!” he cried. “I can’t leave!”

“This building is burning down!” Ayase gripped his arm tighter. “You’ll die if you stay!”

Mitsuko pulled one leg back and rammed her sneaker into the man’s ass. He stumbled forward a few steps; Ayase and Sachi caught him before he could fall.

“I’ll kill you if you stay, you toilet-hopping turd! MOVE!”

The man started coughing uncontrollably, but he finally complied. Ayase shielded her face from the sprinklers and looked over her shoulder.

Wood cracked loudly from behind them, but she saw more smoke and steam than fire. Kadoyuki jogged behind Mitsuko, coughing into one hand.

Ayase wanted to know. She wanted to know what they were doing, how they were doing it, why they were doing it. There was no time to ask but…Kadoyuki could tell her later, right? How he knew about the psychic, how he tracked him to that random closet?

Ayase swallowed. As she helped shove the sobbing man toward the Byakko-controlled stairwell, she knew, deep down, that she could never count on Kadoyuki to explain anything.

***************

Jo spent five agonizing seconds in that elevator. As it descended into the basement, leaving the screams of the lobby behind, he stared at the gun in his sweaty hand.

It looked like something out of a goth movie. It was more silver than gray, and English letters were scrawled beside the cross on the elongated barrel. Jo couldn’t translate any of the words. He clutched the handle and slowly slid his finger over the trigger.

ding

Jo flattened against the side of the elevator, his heart in his throat. The doors slid open.

BOOM

Jo ducked as something exploded at the far end of the garage.  A burst of hot air that stunk of gasoline blew past him. He stared out at the flames, his feet frozen to the floor.

There was a line of burning cars. Puddles of gas let flames dance along the floor, hungrily swallowing up bits of metal or car interior. It was like something had burst on the far end, then spread a chain of explosions in its wake.

Jo remembered the car bomb that had signaled Byakko’s attack. “Son of a bitch,” he breathed. He didn’t know if the twins had planned for this.

The elevator dinged and tried to shut its doors. Jo jammed his bat between them and stumbled out into the sweltering garage.

A new, screeching alarm suddenly cut through the air. Jo tried to cover his aching ears, but it only lasted a few seconds. An announcement crackled in to replace it.

“Code Omega,” a scratchy voice called over the loudspeaker. “Abandon the building and everything inside. Repeat, abandon the building for protocol Omega!”

Jo stopped. Code Omega?

It didn’t sound like a fire warning. And a fire alarm would’ve gone off a long time ago.

“Forget him–we have to go!”

Jo heard footsteps around a turn. He flattened against the wall, his bat down and his gun up. Sweat slipped his goggles down his nose as he listened to the voices under the crackling flames.

“Should we even bother with this shit now? They called an Omega!”

“We just need to get to a car–AAGH!”

One of the two men cursed loudly; Jo heard the sounds of a struggle. Something hit the ground as a woman gasped.

Jo carefully peeked an eye around the corner, blinking in his fogging goggles. Two men dressed like Core ops, one with a gun in his hand, pinned a struggling woman to the ground. The unarmed man gripped one of his elbows as his bloody forearm dangled unnaturally from it.

“You stupid bitch!” the injured man hissed. “You fucking…AGH!”

“What’d she do?!”

“She twisted my broken arm! Shit, she made it worse!” The injured man stepped on the woman’s back and ground downward. She choked and fought to breathe.

“Fuck this!” he screamed. “She’s never gonna do what we need! I can’t fucking take her anymore!” He grabbed the other man’s gun. Before the man could stop him, he aimed the gun down.

Jo didn’t think. He just pulled down his fogged goggles, turned the corner, and fired his gun. The recoil was so strong that he nearly dropped it from his sweaty grip.

The men froze. The injured one tilted his head up at Jo as a red stain spread across his chest. Then he dropped his gun, choked blood down his chin, and collapsed to the floor.

Another car engine exploded into flames nearby, sending a rush of hot air through the garage.  It snapped the remaining man out of his daze.

“Sh-shit!” he cried as he scrambled for the dropped gun. The woman grabbed him around the shins and knocked his legs out from under him. He fell hard on his shoulder; the gun skidded across the concrete.

Jo’s heart thundered in his chest. He ran to the man, swinging his bat in his free hand. “Get back!” he shouted, although his gun hand shook too badly to raise it again.

The man scrambled free of the woman’s grappling and stumbled to his feet. “Fuck this!” he cried. “You can have her!” He bolted for the stairwell without so much as looking back.

The woman rolled over onto her stomach and coughed. A few droplets of blood splattered on the concrete.

The strength rushed out of Jo’s body like a burst dam. He collapsed to his knees, his bat clattering by his side.

Jo stared at the man he’d shot. He’d stopped twitching. Blood pooled around his still form, glistening dark in the harsh light of the flames.

“God almighty.”

Jo tore his gaze away to turn to the woman. She gripped her temple and shakily got to her knees.

Jo gathered every shred of hope that remained in his body. “Sh-Shouri?” he asked, his voice cracking on the word.

She tilted her head up, revealing dark eyes and a splash of freckles across her nose. She stared at him.

And…something happened.

Jo stopped breathing. Something opened inside him. As he lost himself in those eyes, something old, something familiar bloomed in his chest and tingled down to the tips of his fingers and toes.

Like Touya.

It was like the first time he’d met Touya.

The woman stared at him dumbly, her bruised lips parting. She reached out and dragged the bandanna down Jo’s face.

“Who…who the hell are you?” she breathed.

Jo swallowed hard. “The church sent me,” he croaked.

She whispered something he couldn’t hear. “But you’re…evil,” she mumbled as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

Jo barely caught her as she fainted against him.

BOOM

Another explosion ripped through the air, much closer this time. Jo coughed at the rush of smoke that rolled over them. He pulled his goggles back down in a panic, although they trapped some smoke to burn in his eyes.

What did she call me?! his mind reeled.  What the hell did she say?! He tried to shake her awake, but she didn’t stir. He frantically checked to make sure she was still breathing.

It was more like a wheeze, but he could hear it under the roar of the flames. He pulled his bandanna back up his face and tried to slide her onto his back.

He stumbled. His legs shook under him as he tried to squat, his muscles giving in to the strains of the day. Shouri was probably Jo’s height and at least ten kilos heavier; he tried to pull her limp arms around his shoulders, but they slid off when he reached back to grip her under the thighs. He ground his teeth and tried to stand.

His sneaker slipped in a puddle of blood. He collapsed hard to the concrete, Shouri’s weight flopping over him.

Jo cursed and blinked sweat and ash from his eyes. He crawled out from under her and struggled to his feet, his legs quivering like jelly. He tried to grab her arm and pull her, but even his arms were giving out. He only dragged her a meter before his shaking fingers lost their grip.

“Fuck,” he hissed. “Fuck!”

After everything his body had pushed through, now it wanted to give up? When he’d found her? When he could end this?! His vision swam as he looked around, the burning cars blurring into a smear of black-tinted fire.

Footsteps pounded from nearby.

Jo nearly jumped out of his skin. He dove for the gothic gun he’d abandoned near Shouri, the last of his adrenaline reserves rushing through his system. He struggled to his feet, his muscles screaming with the effort.

“Get back!” Jo shouted. “Get back or I’ll shoot!” He whipped up the gun with trembling hands.

The footsteps pounded closer. Jo slid his finger over the trigger.

“Jo?!”

Jo froze. His eyes widened as he lowered the gun.

***************

Ayase led the captured psychic out of the loading dock just as the alarm sounded. He twitched in her grip, his head craning back toward the building.

“Huh?” he blurted.

The alarm cut off. Ayase barely made out a gurgled announcement from the loudspeaker.

The man started to panic. He wrenched from Ayase’s grip and nearly shook off Sachi.

“No!” he cried. “I’ll die if I leave here!”

Sachi gritted his teeth and wrapped both arms around the man. The man thrashed until he fell to the ground, dragging Sachi with him.

“It’s okay!” Sachi kept yelling. “You won’t die! We can help you!”

The man suddenly vomited, his body arching in Sachi’s arms. Even in the scattered light of the flames, Ayase could see dark streaks in the man’s puke.

Mitsuko grabbed the wet hoodie trapping the man and dragged him to his feet. “Up you go,” she said, her voice suddenly more gentle. “You’re okay, right?”

The man spat before breaking down into sobs. Ayase helped Sachi to his feet as Kadoyuki knelt by a nearby body.

A car suddenly screeched by them, braking a few meters away. A teenager in a dark hoodie jumped out of the car and ran over to Kadoyuki.

“No,” the boy breathed, dropping to his knees. “Yukie!” He dragged a limp girl into his arms and hugged her against his chest.

Kadoyuki murmured something to the boy that Ayase couldn’t hear. The boy perked up and wiped an arm over his eyes; several more teenagers ran to his side to help him lift the girl. They carried her to the car. Kadoyuki tapped a cross over his chest before shakily getting to his feet.

Ayase shivered in the heat. Sachi, still holding her hand, squeezed it gently.

“Ayase!”

Ayase turned. Nick jumped out of a nearby van and ran to her side.

“What happened? Did you find her?!” Nick’s gaze snapped to the psychic, still wrapped in a hoodie. Ayase grabbed his arm before he could rush over.

“That’s the psychic,” she hissed so no one could overhear. “We think his name is Wipe…and he’s already in Pitch withdrawal.”

“Psychic?” Nick stopped at that. “The memory changer?”

Sachi nodded. “He’s pretty messed up, Nick-san. Can we tell him we have Pitch? He might be willing to cooperate.”

Nick muttered something in English. “Leave him to me,” he said darkly.

A faint, high wail danced over the roar of the burning building. It took Ayase a second to recognize it as sirens.

“Dammit!” Nick pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket. “Where’s Shouri? Is the bug still on her?”

Ayase swallowed. “I’m sorry,” she said gravely. “It got crushed at some point. There was a struggle…I couldn’t figure out what was happening.”

Nick grunted and jammed a button on his phone. “You’re not the only one who fucked up,” he said as he pressed the phone to his ear. “I tried to bring men to the parking garage, but we got rerouted. That goddamn goth was biting kids in the neck and I had to keep them from bleeding out.”

The sirens grew louder. “Shit! The fire department’s almost here!” Nick pulled the phone back and snarled at it. “Why the hell won’t Adam pick up?!”

Ayase felt dread fill her heart. As members of Byakko dragged bodies into cars and trucks, her mind wandered to the horrible scenarios she’d suppressed. How many people had died here? How many were still in the building? And if Shouri didn’t make it out…did that make the whole mission a failure?

Ayase swallowed acid that bubbled up her throat. She gripped her mouth.

Sachi suddenly blinked. “Hang on,” he said, pointing to the loading dock. “What’s that?”

Ayase jerked her head back to the destroyed exit.

A few figures picked their way over the jagged metal gate that covered the floor. One of the men stumbled; the taller one stopped so the straggler could grab him to stay standing.

Nick called something back to the van. It turned to face the loading dock, flashing its lights as the men finally cleared the burning building.

Adam lit up in the new glare. He was covered in a sheen of sweat and ash, an unconscious woman cradled protectively in his arms. Although she’d only seen her through her insect’s fuzzy eyes, Ayase recognized the woman as Shouri.

And falling to his knees behind them, coughing up a lung, was the boy Ayase always forgot about.

Jo Oda.