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Chapter Thirty Six
Chary
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“What’s wrong with these people?”
Tone landed in the dark subway tunnel. The ruined train was not yet in sight, the debris from the massive impact caused by Rook having been cleared in record time. Pipes had been rebuilt, the area in question had been sectioned off, and the military had been dispatched to cover the incident from public view.
Yet despite the massive tarpaulin obstructions hurriedly constructed to keep prying eyes away from the ruined hotel, it was simple work for Tone to distract those on duty, one by one, and disrupt both comms and security systems with his mask in order to gain access to the giant hole leading to the underground railway.
“Tone, I know you don’t like my exit strategy, but it’s going to be the best option for us.”
Tone continued walking in silence. Ren had spent several minutes complaining about the Japanese government’s insistence that trains continue to run through the damaged subway line, all while Tone slowly climbed down the many layers of piping that had been replaced over the course of the night. It was good enough to temporarily resume operations, according to them, yet hardly good enough to stop dangerous madmen from dropping onto the tracks and derailing entire trains.
“At the rear. Brace for noise.” Tone finally replied, flexing the power of his mask against the burner phone he spoke into. It produced an awful squeal as the systems inside the device fried themselves, spitting out puffs of smoke and toxic fumes with the delicious odor of overcooked circuit board. Radiowaves were under strict surveillance, requiring a slightly more creative method for getting around the authorities.
Approaching the rear of the train, Tone carefully crept under the shadow of the vehicle, passing by several cars before entering the shattered window of one of them. The most destruction was the first car at the front, which had crumpled against the train engine and killed most of the people inside. Tone had no intention of traversing through that car, but as he approached the front of the train, he went prone to avoid the searching light of one of the officers on patrol. He would need to find a creative way around.
Pulling himself through another window, Tone crawled against the side of the train, getting as close as possible to the front as he could without being seen. A massive crowd had assembled around the edge of the railway, trying to see past the police barrier which despite the large presence of officers and military personnel did an abominable job at hiding the damage and what was the obvious cause of it.
The front of the train had flipped onto its side, the underside facing the station and proudly displaying the corpse harshly mashed against the front wheel. A groove had been run through the body aligning with the direction of the wheel, evidently caused by the rail itself gnawing away at his torso as the train desperately held to the rail as long as it could.
Standing up, Tone placed his foot against the wall and pushed himself upwards, sliding across the nose of the train as his outstretched hand barely brushed against the body of Hawk. His head remained the same as Ren had observed it the night before, except where once was the glowing demon eye now rested a morbid crater, his face falling inwards to form a cavity which ran nearly to the back of his skull, all reduced to grey, lifeless flesh.
A glance was sent towards the rail station. With an inaudible sigh, Tone pressed two fingers into the back of Hawk’s head, flexing the powers of his mask against the figure. After a couple of minutes, the brutal Pangolin crumpled in on himself, spilling down on the ground in a torrent of dust.
The reaction from the crowd gathered was immediate and far beyond what Ren had predicted, several screams preceding a loud roar of noise and an equally loud military response. As a number of soldiers began approaching the front of the train, Tone slipped back down onto the ground, gripping the forehead of his mask with both hands as he prepared for the outcome of Ren’s escape plan.
“BAKUDAN GA ARU!!”
The cry turned the crowd from panicked to absolutely frenzied, nearly everyone turning and running in different directions. The officers, both military and police, immediately tried to restore order to little success, conveniently ignoring the peculiar distortion of air that moved from the railway up through the terminal and into the restroom.
Ren emerged from the subway out onto the streets of Sendai, navigating his way through the panicking crowd as he tried to spot Tone’s emergence. It took every fiber of his being not to jump out of his skin when Wild’s face appeared in the shadow of the station.
“Like it?” The face asked, not moving as it spoke. “Just in case my knocking out the security cameras at the station wasn’t thorough enough. Changing the lightwave frequencies when they contact my mask-”
“Get rid of it right now.” Ren shut his eyes and veered away from Tone in repulsion. “Please never do that again as long as you live. Your face is bad enough without defacing the dead to hide it.”
“That’s no way to talk to a man who just John McClane’d his way through an entire subway line.” Tone smirked, but Ren could tell his matching the level of banter in the conversation was more forced than ever before. It would be unwise to continue it.
“What did it look like down there?” Ren pulled his sweater tighter around his body as he walked. “I thought I killed him thoroughly enough. Do they have the eye?”
“Well he certainly didn’t have it.” Tone grunted, abruptly pulling Ren behind a building as a police car came speeding down the road. “I think we’re in trouble no matter what, but perhaps it’s for the best if the government has the eye. That way the psycho won’t be able to get his hands on it.”
“What psycho?” Ren flattened his pinched sweater and signaled to an approaching taxi.
“Ren, the only reason the military showed up at the collapse of the hotel tower was to throw up barricades in a hurry.” Tone stepped back into the shadow to avoid the potential gaze of the taxi driver. “Think it through yourself. Someone got to Hawk, got him past everyone there and down onto the tracks of the same train line that he and Rook fought on last night.”
“I know you, Ren. When you killed Hawk you killed him dead. This isn’t some postmortem phantasm haunting us.” He stepped out of the shadow, the face of Wild nestled inside his hoodie as he marched towards the waiting cab. “It’s the real deal.”
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“And that’s all we know.”
Kohaku didn’t bother looking up to express how unsatisfied she was with the explanation. An annoyed groan made its way out from between her forearms, her head having collapsed on them at the beginning of Ren’s speech. Tone stood with his back leaning against the door, his arms folded across his chest, silently watching the expressions of everyone present.
Rook floated at the other end of the room, wavering ever so slightly as different points were brought up. Bekko, who had been quite attentive at the beginning, now fidgeted in place and kept feeling about his attire in the hopes he still had a candy hidden somewhere. “So,” Ren exhaled, repeatedly wishing Race could have been present. “Any thoughts?”
“Thmmfmf thlfft yffthfl thmg rvr.”
“…Uh?” Ren craned his neck forward, blinking several times at Kohaku before pressing his inquiry. “Run that by me again please?”
“This is the least useful thing EVER.” Kohaku drew her head out of her forearms as dramatically as possible. “Look, even shorty agrees with me! I- OOP.” She clapped her hands over her mouth and stared at Ren, only looking back down at Bekko after he sent her a grin in reply.
“This is a tall order, but your speech came up short, son.” Bekko gave up trying to find a candy and slowly paced about the room, pocketing his hands and sticking his thumbs out, which anxiously felt around the pocket buttons. “From what you’ve said, we’re dealing with someone whose only defining characteristic, outside of being rather clever, is his ability to drag a body to a hole in the ground. That would apply to most of the current room.”
“We also know he can evade some of the best security tech in the world, at least in the public sector.” Tone breathed, not willing to change his angle against the door and by proxy make things easier on his respiratory system. “If he’s working with the Pangolins — or if he’s some kind of leftover of Rikuto’s — he took his sweet time getting involved and there doesn’t seem to be any reason for it.”
“Maybe he took the eye.” Ren touched his chin instinctively as he spoke. “Maybe he’s the last line of defense. To keep the eyes safe if the Pangolins couldn’t handle them.”
“What if he’s someone new?” Kohaku leaned forwards on the countertop, sitting cross-legged in the computer chair. “You guys aren’t the only freaks running around; maybe somebody got his hands on another mask of some kind.”
Ren sighed and massaged his forehead. It was obvious — perhaps most with Kohaku — that everyone was forcing their more sociable sides to appear in light of what happened. “I’m going to bring Race up to speed after Tone takes over for her. If it’s okay with Oisim, I want you to stay with Kohaku from now on. Until Corey is more stable I can’t afford to have-”
All the eyes in the room turned to stare at Rook, who finished his audible snort by snickering under his breath. “Come on, Ren. The kid’s neck is broken; you really think he’s going to get better from that?”
“I meant-”
“No you didn’t.” Rook’s manner grew more and more blatantly condescending as he raised himself up just enough that Ren had to look up to meet him. “You’re too busy living in your pretend world where there are no consequences for your actions to see that Corey’s never getting better. He’s going to be spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair, and it’s all because of us.”
“I don’t think that-”
“You don’t think, period.” Rook snarled. “You couldn’t find the exit of a one-door hallway. You’ve never come up with a good plan in all the time you’ve lead the Wild Masks. It’s cost my neck and Corey’s; how many of our necks have to break before you stop pretending that you’re the leader and-”
The room filled with a low-level squeal which made all its occupants flinch, and Ren’s angry expression melted into shock as Rook abruptly descended, the haniwa he rode upon coming down too sharply and splitting up the middle.
Tone gently rose from his position against the door, the same ear-itching noise reverberating through the room as the individual fragments of Rook’s mask threatened to come apart at their seams. Stopping directly in front of Rook’s mask, he slipped his hands into his pockets.
“Ren is in charge.”
He bent his knees, bringing his face down until his mask was almost touching Rook’s, the cold fire in his eyes barely visible through the top of its eyeholes.
“Not you.”
Standing back up, the buzzing abruptly ceased, and Tone slowly walked back over to the door, only Bekko daring any sort of movement. Ren’s head twitched for a brief moment; that infernal buzzing Tone had produced seemed like it was lingering in the room… As if it was coming from-
“Oh.” He slipped his hand into his pocket and withdrew his phone, missing the button to answer the call a couple times before finally placing his finger on it. “Hello?”
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