Silence In Numbers: File One (35 page)

And here Hitomi sat, unable to help, unable to do anything but wait. It was frustrating and it drove her crazy, but what could she do? She hoped and prayed that they would all make it back alive. She was broken out of her thoughts as M appeared in her doorway. “Miss Saizen, you seem upset.”

Hitomi jumped at his sudden appearance and didn’t bother hiding her emotion. “Of course I am! I’m just sitting here while they’re all out trying not to die, fighting to keep the city alive! Why wouldn’t I be upset?!”

M tilted his head. “I understand the feelings. That is actually why I’m here; they need your help. Would you like to come with me?”

She blinked. “What? Really? Are you… I mean, what can I do?”

“First Lieutenant Lionel asked for you himself. All of us must play our part, and it is time to play yours,” he said with a sly smile.

“Of course! I mean, yes! I’ll go!” Hitomi grinned, excited to be able to do something. She was supposed to be part of the team, wasn’t she? It was dangerous out there, but if they were all risking the danger, she wouldn’t shy away. “Lead the way!”

He nodded, folding his arms behind his back as he led her down the hallway and out of the building. Beneath the advanced disguise, Sigma smiled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“This is seriously not what I planned for,” Sano said as he fired his assault rifle at the oncoming hordes of demonic abominations. He, Rufus, Law, and the dozen or so remaining soldiers had all taken up positions near the entrance to the building, trying to contain the demon attack. It wasn’t working. Sano cursed and leapt backwards as a massive, twisted claw tore through the stone beside him. They had been overrun quickly and were outnumbered by at least three to one already.

They just weren’t able to cut them down quickly enough, and in here they were being slaughtered. He called for a retreat and all the survivors moved out into the streets. The sounds of gunfire, eerie howls and screams filled the air. Law brought his empty hand up, clasping it around a demon’s head. The seven-foot man slammed it into a wall, crushing its head with a satisfied grin. Another demon lunged at him and he swung his large gun like a club, smacking it out of the air. He set a foot on its back and unloaded into its body, spraying blood and limbs in all directions.

Rufus ducked, dodged and flipped around claws and teeth that sought to tear at him. He held a submachine gun in each hand, spraying their special imbued bullets into everything around. A particularly large demon attempted to grab him and he hopped up onto its arm, then onto its back, sticking one barrel against the back of its head and pulling the trigger, splattering whatever it had for brains onto the floor.

Sano, meanwhile, had taken a shotgun from one of the soldiers. He was less acrobatic than Rufus but he managed to evade their strikes all the same. An odd creature with three arms – one
coming from its chest – managed to grab him and he jerked himself upwards, kicking up and striking its disturbingly human-like head under the chin. Setting his feet on its chest he shoved the shotgun under its chin and blasted its head away, freeing himself from the arms.

The fact that ordinary demons were once humans that had been sent to Hell made it difficult, sometimes, to kill them like that, especially when they still retained a face. Fortunately, the pure mutated horror of their twisted forms made it easier, almost a reflex even.

The battle spilled out across the streets and demons began going after civilians, as well, breaking into nearby buildings and running down cars. The screams coming from these unfortunate victims were the hardest to hear, but honestly there was nothing to be done. M informed him he was working on something to help, but Sano had no idea what that could be.

This was a nightmare. Hundreds of demons unleashed, soldiers dropping by the minute, innocents being slaughtered by each abomination they let past, and to top it off, they hadn’t heard from Katsumi at all. Whatever she was doing, the three SIN members hoped that neither she nor Ayane had been a casualty of this hellish night.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joseph brought his saber up to deflect Ayane’s katana and slapped Katsumi’s hand away at the same time. His eyes followed neither of them as he spun, slicing at his older daughter while his empty left hand curled into a fist and struck at his younger one. Katsumi ducked the blade and connected with a punch to his side; Ayane leaned to the side and curled her arm around her father’s, tossing her blade behind his back as his right arm swung his saber rapidly at Katsumi.

She caught her younger sister’s blade as it passed, whirling to block the strike that would have cut into her shoulder. Katsumi went into a defensive form to deflect his attacks as Ayane tightened her grip on his other arm, keeping him hindered and waiting. After several seconds of sparring with Katsumi he slid back, getting a footing and flinging Ayane at her sister. Both had anticipated this, however, and Katsumi threw the katana a few feet into the air, bracing her own feet and lifting her hands. Ayane turned in the air, aiming her feet for Katsumi. Her feet hit Katsumi’s hands and she caught her blade as it fell, shoving with her legs at the same time as Katsumi did with her arms. She flew back at Joseph and he turned to deflect her attack as she passed.

Katsumi slammed into him and took his legs out from under him as he was distracted but he spun rapidly and set his free hand on the ground, shooting both legs out to catch her around the waist. He yanked her from the ground and spun again, slamming her into the ground and stabbing down with his saber, managing to pierce her thigh and elicit a hiss of pain. As he stood he pulled his blade from her leg and kicked her, sending her bouncing across the roof. That angered Ayane beyond reason and she came at him with a vengeance, her blade darting in from every direction.

Joseph backed up as he fended off her attacks, still showing no emotion. He dodged a stab and grabbed her wrist, flinging her past him as Katsumi somehow came back already, throwing a punch at his face. He ducked it and slammed his own into her stomach, just as he had days before. The shock and pain it caused Katsumi was obvious, but he didn’t trust it to put her down again so as she fell past him he slammed his elbow into her back. The impact made her hit the roof so hard her body bounced off, flying a few more feet before landing again. Katsumi couldn’t breathe at all, couldn’t move; all she could do was struggle to achieve both, her fingers trying to grip the wet stone.

Joseph turned back to intercept the thrusting blade of his younger daughter, who appeared to be enraged at his treatment of her older sister. Her blade was fast and skilled, even managing to cut a few bits out of his longcoat and draw blood on his hand. She was getting better with each passing second which forced him to make a move. In a blur he was beside her, setting his hand over hers like a gentle father might in an ordinary family. He jerked his hand and broke her thumb, causing the sword to fall from Ayane’s hand as she gave a cry of pain.

He used her wrist to yank her body towards him as he drove a knee up into her stomach, lifting her bodily from the ground. She flew a few feet to land on her back, coughing. Joseph wasn’t finished, though; still eerily lacking any emotion he walked over, setting a heel on her hand. He slowly pressed down, breaking her fingers one by one as she screamed.

Katsumi shuddered, tears mixing with the rainwater on her face as she struggled to stand. Her body refused her demands, ignoring her emotions. She watched as Joseph calmly moved his foot to Ayane’s chest, putting pressure down to crack her ribs one after another. Her screams were piercing, full of agony and fear. Joseph was clearly torturing her for some unknown reason and Katsumi felt it clawing inside her, her emotions a roiling storm of terror and hatred.

Hate, fear, Ayane was going to die, Ayane’s screams pounded at her ears like the waves of an ocean, tormenting her soul along with her. She couldn’t take it, not the torture, not the pain, and not the loss of her sister at that monster’s hands.
Ayane’s going to die… Ayane is… going to die… Ayane is… not… not going to die… She’s not going to die… SHE’S NOT!

Katsumi lost it.

The eruption of violet flame drew a small look of surprise from Joseph. Katsumi rose to her feet as an inky blackness flowed over her, turning her hair and eyes black. She exploded from the spot and her fist connected with his cheek before he could react. The impact knocked him off Ayane and spun him around but his saber flashed out as he spun. Katsumi ducked, losing an inch of violet hair, but came up with a flurry of blows.

Joseph’s saber went spinning away off of the roof. He found his footing as his eldest daughter came after him and they traded blows, but Katsumi didn’t stop this time. The emotion in her eyes was the perfect opposite of his blank ones. His fist lashed out and connected with her chin, hers responded and hit his chest. He gave her the same punch to the stomach that had dropped her before but she kept coming, working her hands and feet in a frenzy to force him back.

His strikes grew harder as time passed, jarring her frame with each impact. She wouldn’t last long even like this, but at the last second she saw it; his hand shot out to grip her throat. She avoided it with the narrowest of margins by bending her knee as she jerked to the side, and came up with an uppercut that sent him back a few steps; that was all she needed. He was on the very edge of the 80-story building’s roof and off-balance, and thanks to the rain-slicked stone, he couldn’t recover. As he fell, the tiniest flicker of irritation flashed in his eyes.

The response was a victory. Katsumi’s hair returned to violet and her eyes to lavender, and almost immediately she felt the effects of the fight that she’d been ignoring. It didn’t matter to her, though, as she wasted no time in moving to Ayane’s side. The younger Samakura was in bad shape, bleeding from numerous wounds. Katsumi knelt beside her, leaning over to shield her face from the rain. “Ayane…? Ayane?!”

Ayane forced her eyes open, feeling the tears landing on her face that weren’t hers.
I’m here… Don’t want to try to talk out loud, though. Everything… hurts.

“I know,” Katsumi said softly. “I’m sorry. I tried…” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Couldn’t protect you, again. I keep failing, but I…” She looked at the door into the building. “Father’s not
dead, only stalled… He might be coming back up as we speak, and at the very least, all of those soldiers will…” She looked down at Ayane, unwilling to move her but unable to leave her here.

Ayane closed her eyes again. She couldn’t just tell Katsumi to leave on her own; she wouldn’t do it and it would just hurt her to ask. She tried to think of ideas but she was so tired, and pain was making it hard to think of anything else.

They both looked over as sounds came from behind the door. Katsumi stood slowly, placing herself between Ayane and the door as it burst open and soldiers spilled out, over twenty of them, far too many of them to do anything about it. She sat on her knees, looking back to Ayane as she took her hand. “No ideas either, huh…?” she said with a small smile.

Ayane returned it weakly.
Nope. At least… neither of us will be without the other.

That’s the most important part,
Katsumi responded, facing the soldiers. Before they could speak further the soldiers all raised their weapons, and a hail of gunfire filled the air.

But those were two different events. Not one soldier was able to fire as thousands of rounds tore through their ranks, sending them to the ground. Katsumi’s eyes widened in surprise and she looked up to see three military helicopters dropping from the sky. One of them landed on the roof near them and Victoria Gray stepped out from it, walking quickly towards the sisters.

Katsumi couldn’t help but smile and couldn’t summon the will to stand and salute. “General…”

The dark-haired woman knelt beside her, looking between her and Ayane. “This is…” She leaned down and laid a hand on Ayane’s forehead. “I’m late… Ayane, are you…”

Ayane smiled weakly and Katsumi shook her head. “She’s… alive, but bad… I need to get her help, now.”

Victoria nodded, standing up as two soldiers brought an emergency stretcher from the helicopter and ran over. The
y held it as Katsumi and Victoria gently moved Ayane onto it. Katsumi looked at her old commanding officer. “I can’t… We can’t find someone to help here, can we? There are probably still soldiers in the building.”

Victoria nodded. “You’re right. I’ll put her in my chopper to be taken to the nearest safe hospital.” She set a hand on Katsumi. “What about you? You look injured, as well,” she said with a frown.

“Compared to Aya, I’m fine,” Katsumi stated solidly. “I… I want to go with Aya, but I’m needed elsewhere.”

“Yes, I sent most of my forces to your team. I will leave one chopper here to await the others coming, they’ll clean hostiles out and secure survivors. You and I can take the remaining chopper to meet with your team in the battle zone.”

Katsumi nodded. She leaned down to Ayane, clasping one of her hands in both of her own.
Aya… I’m going to try to take care of this situation. There’s a large-scale attack going on and I… have to run it. I want to go with you, though…

Ayane smiled.
I know you do. I want to go with you. Don’t worry, though, I’ll be fine. You can see me afterwards, right?

Katsumi caught the meaning in her last statement. She nodded, brushing Ayane’s hair from her face.
I will see you, I promise. Keep talking to me while you can, okay? I’ll let you know what I’m doing.