Witch Hunter Robin - Episode Three: Dancing in Darkness Version: 1.0 Date: December 24, 2002 Air Date: July 16, 2002 Summary by: Kala Mekiv (orbo@vauss.com) Website: http://vauss.com/usuyami Distribution of this summary is FORBIDDEN without permission from either Kala Mekiv or Shinji (csdiaz@edisto.cofc.edu). --------------------------------------------------------- A man runs down a street tunnel, trying to get away from some mysterious pursurer. He stops to catch his breath, and hears the noise of bugs flying towards him. He looks, notices the cloud of bugs, and runs some more. The swarm overtakes the man, and "devours" him. The man raises his hand, and with a flash of light it's all over. Robin's phone rings while she's in bed. She answers it, and Michael tells her that she is needed in the office by 5:00AM to investigate a strange corpse. She disconnects and lies back down in bed to catch a few more Zs. [OP] Two policemen stand outside a blocked entryway of the tunnel. One is upset since they are not allowed to investigate, while the other informs him that the case is "officially" under STN-J's jurisdiction, since the body was found in a mummified state. The other asks what STN-J could be doing in the tunnel... Inside, Haruto, Amon, and Robin investigate the tunnel and the body. Haruto comments that Factory is late and that they won't be able to learn much from the body by looking at it. He turns to Robin, telling her not to disturb the scene as she studies a wall. Robin turns around and walks away. Karasuma walks in, holding a license from the victim that she gathered from the police that identifies him as 22-year-old Katayama Haruo. Haruto replies that the body they are looking at seems much, MUCH older than 22, and Karasuma wonders if they are the same person. Amon takes the license from Karasuma and says they must wait on the report from Factory. Robin studies the body, and Haruto tells once more not to touch things without permission. She replies that she found something on the body--a small bug. The group returns to STN-J headquarters, wondering if Doujima is skipping work again. As they walk in, Haruto notices that is there, but sitting around doing nothing as she watches Michael do all the work. Robin walks over to Michael and asks what is going on. Doujima explains that someone is trying to hack into STN-J's computer system, and Michael adds that his security system is invincible to all. Doujima says that if the person manages to bypass the system, he'll "have a collar around his neck real fast... like someone else [she knows]". Michael stops and Robin has a surprised look on her face. Michael mumbles something, and Kosaka wonders what happened to a certain document. Amon comes in and tells Michael that it's time for a meeting. At the meeting, they discover Katayama's body is not the first to be found completely mummified. Two other bodies have been found in separate locations within that particular city-state (a "to"). Karasuma mentions in that DNA tests proved that the body and the man on the license found were the same person. Amon adds in that both of the previous victims were decendants of witches registered with STN-J, though neither realized the power they had. Michael pulls up files about similar mummification incidents from STN-J's older file archive--each incident being roughly 40 year apart in Europe, Japan, and America, adding in that all victims were either witches or decendants of witches. One of the cases mentions the name of a suspected witch--Kazuma Kurata, who was lost in a storm and his body was never found. Haruto wonders why a witch would want to mummify another witch. Amon says that they must find this witch or one of his decendants. Robin and Doujima go to a nursing home and meet with a old woman who used to be Kazuma's beloved. Doujima bows before the older woman, and makes Robin do the same. The old woman says that Kazuma isn't dead, mentioning that he still looked the same as when she met him all those years ago while she became an old woman. She picks up a picture of them in her younger days, standing by a like and mentions that he will never change, like the photograph. Robin and Doujima leave, with Doujima complaining about what a waste of it it was for them to go to the nursing home since the woman was affected by Alzheimer's Syndrome. Doujima receives a phone call, and tells Robin that another mummy has been found. Amon walks into a hotel room and sees Haruto and Karasuma studying the corpse, then asks Haruto to check the security cameras in the building. Karasuma picks up another insect from the victim's body. Doujima walks into the STN-J office just as Karasuma walks by the door to go to the meeting. Karasuma mentions that Kazuma was caught by the hotel's security system, and Doujima is shocked that the man on the tape doesn't look as though he is over 110 years old. Robin tells Doujima that the old lady's story could be correct. Amon asks about what the old lady said, and Robin replies that she said Kurata never ages. The rest of STN-J is surprised at the news. Karasuma mentions that one of the hotel employees claimed to see a tattoo of insect on the back of Kurata's hand. Michael says that Kurata and the man appearing on the hotel's security cameras both had a scarab tattoo on the back of one hand. Robin explains that the witch attacks other witches to gain their vitality, and he does so every 40 years in order to life, like a vampire. Michael tells Amon that the attacks on STN-J's computer system occurred two days ago and Amon mentions that the database contains a huge list of known witches and their descendants, suggesting that Kurata could be using the list to find possible victims. He then tells Michael to let Kurata hack into the system next time, since he plans on using that to trace him. Later, Robin walks into the STN-J office, offering Michael a box of doughnuts and coffee. Robin asks about the tattoo, and Michael mentions that it's a scarab, an insect considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians, though Kurata currently uses it to take the life from fellow witches. Robin gets up, then asks Michael about the collar Doujima mentioned earlier. Michael gets ready to explain, when the hacker starts his attack on STN-J's computer files. Robin gets on the machine and types away. MICHAEL: Even though this is an amateurish attack, I'll let you in - but only because of the plan. [EYECATCH] Haruto observes Kurata as he walks around an abandoned building. Lights turn on, then Kurata runs into another room, where he meets with Amon, Karasuma, and Haruto. Kurata starts laughing, and his swarm of scarabs break through windows to knock all three STN-J members down. Amon notices a water line, fires at it, and tells Karasuma to do the same. The water causes the swarm to dissipate, but Kurata manages to escape outside, managing to run into Robin. She uses her Craft to attack Kurata, but her aim is off. Kurata uses the spotaneous explosions as a diversion to get away. Back in the office, Doujima is in disbelief that the group let the witch get away, and snaps at Robin. Haruto snaps that she has no room to talk, seeing that she wasn't even present during the hunt. Doujima asks Robin why her Craft didn't hit him, but Robin ignores her. Amon and Karasuma discuss Robin's ability in the garage. Amon wonders if Robin can't control it, and Karasuma replies that it's strange for Amon to worry about someone else. Michael calls Amon, informing him that Kurata called the hacker. STN-J is back where they started. Robin sits in Harry's, where Harry brings her something. She says that she didn't order anything, but Harry tells her that miso soup is good for her and there's no charge for the soup. (So nice!) Robin thanks him, tries some of the soup, then gets a call from Doujima. The old woman the two spoke with earlier has died, and Robin goes to her funeral. Back at the woman's bedroom, Robin takes a picture frame apart to look at the back of a picture. She hands it to Doujima, who reads off the information written on the back--July 10th, at Kohan. Robin asks what the lake was called, but Doujima isn't sure. She says that Michael can find out for them. Kurata is hiding on a small cabin next to the lake in the old woman's picture. He pours himself a drink, then drops his glass. He is quickly losing his power, and his body begins to age. Two black cars pull up to the cabin, then Amon, Karasuma, Robin, and Doujima rush in. Amon mumbles something unintelligible, and walks off. Robin looks at the shattered glass on the floor. Haruto rides down a strip of road on his motorcycle, when he suddenly meets up with a swarm of scarabs that knock him down. Haruto waits until the swarm goes by, gets up, and faces Kurata. He notices that Kurata's face is sunken in. Kurata sends another swarm directly at Haruto to get some of his life force, when he is shot by Amon. Kurata summons an even larger swarm, and launches it at the group. Robin sets the swarm on fire using her Craft. A large section of burning scarabs land on Kurata and set him on fire. Amon and Robin check to see if Haruto is injured; Haruto says he is fine. Karasuma calls Amon over to look at Kurata's body--they find that his body has mummified. In headquarters that night, Michael looks outside a window. Robin appears and thanks him for identifying the lake, bringing him another box of doughnuts and a cup of coffee. Michael explains that he once was a hacker who used to go through advanced security systems to access protected data, and left a small calling card without doing any serious damage to the system's integrity. He made the mistake of hacking into STN's security system once, and couldn't leave the system. They traced the connection to him, STN people immediately came to pick him up. Michael was afraid that he would be killed, but then he made a deal with Zaizen that he would work for him. The collar he wears around his neck is proof that he cannot go anywhere without Zaizen's permission. Michael receive a call, and tells Robin that Kurata died at the Factory, becoming nothing more than sand... [ED]