Witch Hunter Robin

Fire and Rain

Chapter V - The Rain

Rated : PG-13 for Mild Violence, Mild Profanity, and Mature Content

Summary : After the bout with Nobunaga, the STN-J is under review from Solomon Agent Saunders and his deputy, David Rica, but is there more to Rica than meets the eye? And what about Robin and Michael's continuing romance?

Disclaimer : I do not own Witch Hunter Robin® or any characters. They are registered Trade Mark™ of Sunrise® and now apparently Sci-Fi™. If I owned WHR it wouldn't have just been 26 episodes.

Nor do I own the song Fire and Rain ; I just borrowed its title.

Storyline, Plot, Joe Saunders©, and David Rica© are all my property.

EVIL Author Notes : *Sniffle*

Well you all have SanoGirl to thank for me updating now instead of later. >< Now that someone has left ME at an evil cliffhanger in a story I want to read, I know how you all feel so I'll update.

*Cough* I'm still gonna kill someone off, though. *Cough*

-------------------

Robin's chest felt as though a painful knot had been loosened.

She and Amon were now flying down the road in the old black car. The meeting with Michael was still a few hours off, but Robin had pestered him into getting there early. She thought that maybe if she showed up early she'd see him sooner. The intelligent, practical young woman that Robin had matured into knew that this was a very childish thought, but for once she wanted to be childish today.

Michael was alive and she would see him soon. Of course, there was still the painstaking processes of telling Michael how she felt about him, and of course any romance would have to wait until David Rica was stopped, but after that . . . just thinking of what could, should and would happen once Rica was gone was enough to make her feel light headed.

She knew that the STN-Japan, like most businesses, had rules against employees dating, but she wondered if they applied for Michael. He couldn't leave work, so of course he would have to date an employee, that or Zaizen expected a young man like Michael Lee to give up any thoughts of love and romance.

Robin hesitated, yes; Zaizen very well may expect that out of Michael. She hoped not. She truly hoped that the office would not give them trouble. These were the worries on Robin Sena's mind. Not the worry that Michael wouldn't feel the same way (She knew perfectly well he did) and not the worry that David Rica would, in fact, kill them all (Amon was more than happy to stop Rica).

Still, she should have been more cautious.

----

“No.”

”Yes.”

”Jeri, it's dangerous.”

”That's why I'm coming to keep an eye on you.”

”It's Government business!”

”You just want to be alone with your girlfriend.”

Michael let out a swear and slammed his left fist into the table. He hated using his left hand for everything, but since a bullet had pierced his right shoulder he didn't have any real choice in the matter. He stared into the eyes of his cousin and he sighed. She wanted to come with him, partially to protect him, and partially to see who this “Robin that he loved” was.

He swore that Jeri was Doujima's long lost sister sometimes. Thought Jeri was responsible, and never a slacker, she was also annoying and full of gossip and fashion tips.

Michael sighed. He didn't want to get his cousin involved in this, he knew once he told the others the secret of David Rica and his cold, dead eyes, that Rica would try to kill them. He had to keep Jeri out of the STN world.

“Mike?”

”Look Jeri, no matter what you say you're not coming.” He said flatly. “It's much too dangerous.”

Jeri smiled a grim smile that made Michael's stomach churn. She was coming; she had some unseen trump card Michael had not planned on.

“How will you drive the car with one arm in a sling?”

Michael sighed and swore. He should have seen that coming, but he did not. For all his wisdom Michael could overlook those little things and when he did that is when things became complicated. He searched his mind for a reason, for any reason, why she could not come.

But he had no reason.

”You drive me to the park and then you leave, got it?”

”Sure.” Jeri said, giving her cousin a peck on the cheek. “As soon as I decide if this ‘Robin' is good enough for you.”

“Jeri!”

But she was already out the door and on her way to the car.

----

- Two And a Half Hours Later -

Sakaki was uncomfortable.

Not only did he have to wear the ugliest suit he'd ever laid his eyes on (a combination of maroon with an olive tie), but his stomach still hurt from before. He knew the nurse had said he was fine to leave the hospital, but she had been under the impression that he would go home and rest like a good boy, not go on an undercover Witch Hunt.

Yoko Juribari, twenty-seven, white female, blue eyes, black hair, and the ability to cut things with her mind. She had already slashed the wrists and throat of her husband and one of his business partners, and now she was after the other business partner.

Apparently she had been cheating on her husband with not one, but both of his best friends and partners in business. They found out about each other and both planned on going to her husband. A divorce would come and she'd get none of the money in the divorce when it came to that.

It was a motive many criminals had used before for murder, of course most of those criminals didn't have the power to cut things with thought, something she could do. Yet it wasn't the idea of fighting a witch who could slice him with her brain that worried Sakaki.

It was Rica.

The only experience he had with David Rica was that day in the hospital when the Reviewer made Doujima so angry she slapped him. He knew that Doujima had a temper, but to make her lose it like that was something rare.

The hunt was on a boat, in the middle of the bay. The Yacht Club the Witch's husband belonged to had a personal Yacht Party. The huge boat's deck was covered in tables full of finger foods and a tall chandelier hung overhead. It was a beautiful, gold engraved chandelier.

The yacht had a small roof over half the deck, which was where the chandelier and the food tables were, and the other half was roofless and pointed like a triangle.

The Yacht itself was a pearly white and shined like . . . well, like something white. Sakaki was really too tired and too worried about other things to concentrate that much about a stupid boat.

His eyes flicked around the deck. There were several high class society types on board, but none of them matched the picture of the witch. He was beginning to think she was just a hoax Rica created to pull them away from the hunt for Michael. Michael was still missing, and while Sakaki hadn't been there to see the hacker's blood spattered all over the broken computer, the horrified look in the eyes of Karasuma and Doujima was enough to tell him that their hacker was in serious danger.

If only he knew that he was in more danger than Michael.

----

Robin was fidgeting.

She sat on an old park bench that had once been a majestic chestnut brown, but now it was faded and weather stained. She looked around the park, in the distance she could see the church she attended every morning. I didn't go today. She reminded herself. Then again, how could she be expected to go to church today when the man she loved was in danger?

The man I love.

Robin reflected on these words and had at last made up her mind. She did love Michael. She loved him and she needed him. It had taken two months, and the combination of her getting shot by Sakaki and his getting shot by Rica, but she had finally realized her love for him.

Here, sitting on a weather stained bench on an old dirt path in the midst of a lush green wood, the same wood she had battled the painting witch in, as a light rain fell around her, dampening her hair, she had finally decided she loved him. Now all that was left to do was tell him. And stop Rica of course.

She cast a half glance at Amon. He stood about twenty yards away, one gloved hand reached deep into his jacket, no doubt holding the handle of his gun ready to draw and fire at a moments notice, the other hand was at his side. Robin wondered for a second what he would say. He was their boss, well, her boss. Really Amon and Zaizen. Would they allow an office romance? Would Amon stop her? Would Zaizen stop Michael?

She prayed they wouldn't.

“ Robin !”

The reddish-blonde haired young woman spun around to her right so quickly that she creaked her neck. The next few seconds between standing up, running over to him and embracing Michael in a tight hug were surreal.

----

Jeri drove in a hurry, but with care. Michael insisted that they leave at least two hours early and just drive around in circles the time before the meeting, in case they were being followed. She merely glanced at her cousin, who sat in the back seat leaning up against the window. The rain had stopped for a while, but it had started up once again.

As Michael got out of the car he turned to his cousin and looked her in the eyes. “Stay here.”

She nodded, but he wondered if she really would. With no time to ponder this any more, he turned around and began walking towards the woods. He had no clue where Robin would be waiting, but he had to find her.

The light rains fell over his hair and caused it to lie flat on his head, his sunglasses were fogged with the tears of the sky but he didn't care. The only thing he really cared about now was seeing a familiar face. The bandages that strapped his right arm to his chest were now damp and he hoped they'd hold long enough for him to find Robin and Amon.

And Amon .

While he did have to speak to Amon, and he knew that stopping David Rica, or Peter Pummel as he was likely to be called in reality, was more important than his love life, part of him still wished it was only Robin he was going to see.

While these thoughts were tempting he knew he was being selfish. It was then as he was thinking that he saw the bench. The old chestnut bench that had been stained by rain like the rain that fell now.

“ Robin !”

The next few seconds as she spotted him, ran over, and practically threw herself into his arms was like a blur. He wrapped his one working arm around her back and drew her in close, tucking her head under his chin. He could hear that she was crying the tears she had tried to bite back all day, and he knew that he himself was crying as well. He kissed her forehead and the unspoken vows of love were clear to each other.

Amon said nothing and he didn't move from his spot as the replacement and the hacker held one another. Still, he would soon have to break them up soon. Michael had to share the information about Rica and then he and Robin could do whatever they wanted, Amon didn't care. But the Job came first.

“Michael.”

Robin and Michael broke apart at Amon's voice and both of them were flushed. The elder, dark hunter crossed over and stood beside them. His eyes peered past Robin and into Michael's foggy sunglasses.

“Oh, right.” Michael looked as if he forgotten why he was here, and in truth he had done just that. “Amon, where is Rica now?”

”On a hunt.”

Michael groaned. “Alone?”

”With Doujima, Sakaki and Karasuma.”

Michael chained together a few swear words and seamed to forget Amon was his boss as he spat them at him. “What the hell were you thinking!?”

”I was thinking.” Amon said his cold voice no different than normal. “That we don't need to cause suspicion.”

Michael sighed and shook his head as he spoke. “Amon, Rica isn't who he seams to be. I can't prove anything and I was shot before I could learn much about it, but when I was going over his list of killed witches, I came across the name Adolf Norris.”

Amon's eyes narrowed in the same way Michael's had done when he first heard that information. Amon knew that name, he just didn't know from where.

”Remember when you started the Nobunaga case?” Michael said. “You took down Jerald Fletcher, and with him was an Adolf Norris, his partner.”

Amon's eyes widened in realization. David Rica hadn't killed Adolf Norris; Amon had sent Norris to the factory.

”Someone has been faking Rica's records. I checked some more names; every name on that list since 1997 has been faked.” Michael's face became grim. “Amon, I think it's Calypso.”

Robin didn't know the importance of this ‘Calypso' but as the name was spoken she gasp, not at what was said, but at Amon's eyes. She could see fear inside his eyes. No, not even fear, it was genuine terror. It was horrible to see someone as fearless as Amon in such fright.

“Who is Calypso--“

Robin question however was cut off. Amon's keen sense of hearing picked up the clicking of footsteps. He grabbed out his gun and whirled around.

Jeri screamed.

” Damn it!”

Michael pushed the gun aloft as Amon's fired it, which was really the only reason Jeri Lee didn't find herself dead. Amon looked at Michael and he sighed.

“My cousin. She helped me out.”

Amon looked in a murderous mood but he lowered the gun. Jeri was still standing in shock as if she hadn't believed Michael about the “STN” before now. It was clear that she was scared.

Michael was ready to introduce Jeri to the others (though he didn't want to) when Amon spun around once again and fired before Michael could react. Jeri screamed but the bullet sailed harmlessly beside her and into the bushes behind her slim figure.

“Get back!”

Jeri didn't need telling twice, she ran back behind Michael, who was now being pushed back by Robin. Michael shot her a look of ‘I can help' but she looked at him with big eyes and he merely nodded and stepped behind her to safety.

A man burst from the bushes, he wore a black jump suit and carried in his hand an AK-47, the deadliest thing ever to come out of Russia since bad Vodka. His forehead was pale white, but was now adjured with a bullet hole, the bullet Amon had fired. Still, despite a bullet square in the middle of his head the man was still aiming the gun.

“BACK!”

The fear had returned to Amon's eyes and he now attempted to move the others, Robin ducked under his arms, which were now pushing Michael and Jeri to safety. She didn't have her glasses and even if she did in the rain they'd be useless, but still she peered out at the man who was aiming the deadly machine gun.

There was a blast of light as the man caught fire, his entire body burning.

”ROBIN, NO!”

The man was slowed down but not stopped by the fire. Robin's eyes widened in horror as the man clicked the machine gun and began to fire. Amon's swift legs shot out from behind his safety of a tree and tripped Robin, sending her tumbling to the ground and away from the bullets.

The next few moments were a haze in Michael's mind, for once he saw Robin fall he feared the worse and he stopped paying attention to reality. He didn't know how Amon was able to get a confused Robin, a disoriented Michael and a screaming Jeri away form the gunman, nor did he knew how they all wound up in Amon's car, speeding away from the park.

Michael was in the back seat, the unconscious Robin leaning against his shoulder. Jeri was in the front passenger seat and her eyes were watered with silent tears.

Robin stirred at his shoulder and opened her eyes. Miraculously she had not been hit by any of the stray bullets, and she smiled up at him. He smile back down at her and kissed her forehead once more. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him gently.

“I love you.”

Michael closed his eyes and nodded his head for a moment as she spoke. He was too relived to really understand what she had said for a moment, and even then he was in a surrealistic world. She loved him. She loves me.

Any response to her confession he might have had was cut short, however, by the sound of a machine gun. The window shattered and Amon cursed very fluently. Michael sunk lower into the seat, taking Robin with him. The bullets sailed above their heads.

Jeri had left her car running, keys in the ignition when she had followed Michael, and the man from the bushes, the man with the machine gun, the man who had been shot and lit on fire, was driving the stolen car following them.

----

Back on the boat Doujima was truly tired. She didn't think there was a witch; she just thought Rica had made up this hunt to keep them from the search for Michael.

It was then that Doujima's headset, like the headsets of Karasuma, Sakaki and Rica began to fill with noise. It was Amon, he said that he, Michael, Robin and Michael's cousin were speeding down the road being chased by a man who can't die who has a machine gun, and that his message for them was to kill Rica.

A moment later they could hear gunshots clearly, and then the phone went dead.

“Well naw.” Rica said with a smile. He stood at the end of the deck, Sakaki next to him, while Karasuma and Doujima were back near the foot tables. “That sure was fascinating.”

Sakaki went for his gun but Rica was faster, his fist collided with the youth's face and disoriented him. While Sakaki's head spun, Rica kicked him. Rica had paid attention and his kick fell right into Sakaki's waste where bandages were still in place under his clothes from when Nobunaga stabbed him.

Doujima and Karasuma both held their fire, in fear that they'd hit Sakaki, but now with a second kick Rica sent him flying onto the deck. A second later Doujima let out a scream of anger and had fired off her entire clip into Rica's chest. Even at the distance every last one of her bullets connected with him.

Rica merely laughed.

Karasuma and Doujima's eyes both widened in horror as Rica reached into his pocket and pulled out his nine millimeter handgun. The two ladies jumped back, kicking the food tables back and using them as shields. The people who had been on the yacht had long since scream and hid, some even jumped overboard.

Rica laughed and fired, not at the table, but at the chandelier above. Three shots and one of them did enough to take the chandelier down, Doujima leapt aside, but Karasuma wasn't fast enough. The chandelier fell on her legs, pinning her down.

Before Doujima could reload her gun, or even move Rica was upon her. He punched her in the gut and then grabbed her shirt collar, lifting her up and pressing her into a wall.

”I never did like you.”

Rica smashed the butt of his gun into Doujima's face, causing her to scream as blood trickled down her forehead.

”What are you?” She asked timidly as he beat her a second time.

”Me?” Rica laughed. “I'm one dead son of a bitch.” A third pistol whip. “And you're about to be one too.”

He raised the pistol for a forth hit, but it never fell. Sakaki had fired and his bullet connected with Rica's hand, causing him to drop the pistol.

”Now that hurt.” He said, dropping Doujima and turning, walking slowly towards Sakaki. “I mean, you can't kill me, but pain is still pain.”

Then Rica smiled and flipped off his glasses. “Can you swim, boy?”

The cold, gazed over, dead orbs that had once been eyes set inside Jackson David Rica's head, the eyes that once belonged to Peter Pummel, suddenly shined bright with a eerie blue glow.

The boat rocked.

The waves were splashing the side of the boat painfully.

”Cause if you can't, this is really gonna piss you off.”

Sakaki looked on in mute horror as the waves around the boat became violent. The rain began to turn to hail as it fell.

And then the haul of the boat cracked in the mighty thrashing water.

David Rica was using his craft to make the Yacht sink.

----

Amon's car flew as fast as a car can fly down the highway, the stolen car of Jeri Lee still at their tail. The man chasing them had one arm hanging from the window, the arm that held the AK. The nozzle of the gun rested on the mirror, keeping it steady and allowing him to use such a fierce gun with one hand.

Bullets shot the windows, the trunk, the gas lines, the tires, the exhaust, every second the chase lasted Amon knew his car was coming closer to death. Then he finally lost control.

Robin closed her eyes tight and hugged Michael even tighter. He kissed her forehead once more.

Jeri screamed.

The car spun and collided with the railing of the highway. They were on the old bridge over the bay, and the car teetered on the edge of death. The front end of the car was hanging towards the waters of the bay, while the back held on to the highway.

The man in the stolen car laughed and droved forward, smashing his car into the rear of Amon's

Amon's car went flying into the bay.

Amon, Michael, Jeri and Robin all fell towards the murky, black waters . . .