28-years-old and single. That was Yomikawa Aiho. A woman with a body fit for a model, long flowing black hair tied in a messy but sensual ponytail, a nice rack and a personality that threw all sense of femininity out the window with her standard choice of dress. She was decidedly, an old maid. Honestly, the woman could easily catch a man and stuff him in a bag the poor sod would willingly jump into. But for all that convenience, Yomikawa was just a tad reluctant to put on a proper dress or at least a tight pair of jeans and shirt that would show off her figure. Instead she normally wore a green PE jersey that was standard for her day job as a teacher at a certain high school. Currently however, Aiho was not at her day job, no. Rather she was working on her secondary job, the one she was actually good at.
Yomikawa sat dejectedly at the wheel of a black armored truck which was built especially to carry anti-skill personnel and prisoners. Yes, Yomikawa Aiho is a part of the security force of Academy City known as anti-skill, recognized as one of the best but currently relegated to driving around her colleagues for the night. This however was not the reason she looked so depressed. Her back was hunched over the steering wheel, pressing it with her generous bust. The thick padding of her standard issue anti-skill stab proof armor rendered the sensation negligible. In a small act of defiance against procedure, she was not wearing the helmet that came with the set, leaving her ponytail spilling wildly over her shoulders as she buried her face into her arms. Anyone looking at her would be able to tell she was tired. She breathed in deeply before releasing a sigh that contained the day's stresses.
"I don't really mind my parents calling, but its always the same thing when they do.", Aiho grumbled to herself. "When will they get a clue that I'm not interested in any marriage interviews?".
That was the source of this young woman's worries. Though it can be said that 28 is still young, in the culture of Japan that's not so. Rather 28 was already too old. In older times the age when a woman was considered marriageable lasted only till the eve of her 26th birthday. Our 28-year-old had shot past that point long ago. By how the phone call from the afternoon went, it sounded as if Mrs. Yomikawa's daughter had suddenly gone barren. Or on another note, decide to enter a nunnery and never marry. As if either case would ever happen. Aiho was a healthy young woman, and whether she exercised herself in romance or more was her business. As for the life of serving human spirituality, she was far too involved in the city of science to speak of faith and her habits of cigarettes with liquor would not be ebbed so easily with an oath. In Short, yes, Yomikawa still had plans of settling down. No, now was not the time. Especially not while she was working 18 hours a day with one of two jobs assuring her a 20% mortality rate on a good day.
"Yomikawa."
A hand banged roughly against the black truck. Aiho quickly sat at attention, her spine cricking a bit at the suddenness of the motion. The female anti-skill looking to her colleague with a pained look on her face, a look mirrored by the man who was decked out in full anti-skill wear including helmet.
"You alright?", the man had the decency to ask after that sick sounding click.
Aiho waved it off quickly with no intent to cause trouble for her friends, "I'm fine.". She loosened up her shoulder before stretching out a bit. The urge to yawn accompanied the act and she could not swallow it down before it came at a much higher decibel than she would have preferred.
Despite Yomikawa's worries of looking unseemly, the man just shook his head with an empathizing light to his eyes. "Must've been a rough day. Heard the old couple called.", he lightly spoke up.
"Ahck!", Yomikawa groaned like a child before the fellow anti-skill.
It was common knowledge to all in the office about Yomikawa and her plight. Source of such information was mainly from rumors but it was the woman herself that condemned her fate on one muggy day. Despite the summer heat, Yomikawa then had still opted to keep her jersey on. The teacher's staff room had its AC undergoing maintenance so the enclosed space acted more like an oven than anything else. It was then that Aiho's parents had called and the contents of their conversation had such been another omiai, ending with a vehemently embarrassed scream of protest upon the other end declaring that they would show pictures of the unwilling spinster in a swimsuit during her teenage years. Needless to say that was an incident that would never be spoken of but ubiquitously known within the confines of the office.
"You have no idea.", Yomikawa began with a drawl.
Suddenly the sounds of clacking and shifting metal sounded from behind. The telltale screech of the rear door opening sounded before footsteps and a lurch of the suspension told Yomikawa someone was boarding.
"Well good thing I don't.", the man smiled. "This means I can tack this job onto you without feeling guilty.", he jabbed a thumb towards the back of the truck where a crackdown on a skill-out gang was currently in progress. "We need you to transfer some suspects towards the 5th precinct. Captain says that some stragglers might be left running around so most of the team will be stuck out here keeping the search going. Netsuki and Harada will be on security detail with you so you don't have to worry about any break outs.".
The depressed woman audibly smacked her head against the dividing wall that separated the front of the truck from the back. She sensed a sudden stillness probably from the back where some form of argument or another was being stifled by the dividing wall. Listening carefully, she could make out the voice of the young woman Netsuki. She was more or less berating in a fed up manner which gave Yomikawa a reason to give a wry smile. That woman was always the short fuse amongst them. The other one sounded male, younger, probably one of the skill-outs. She didn't bother to continue listening before turning to the male anti-skill at the window to confirm her job. He gave her a nod once confirming that the total load would be six suspects along with the two other anti-skills, she reached down to the ignition and turned the key. The truck's suspension creaked in protest again and Yomikawa assumed it was her compatriots alighting to grab another prisoner.
Normally she wanted to be out on the field, helping the children get back on the right path and protecting innocent bystanders. But now there really wasn't much energy left for Aiho to process. In addition to the physically and emotionally draining call from this afternoon, the female anti-skill had participated in the continuous week long raid operations on a chain of inter-related research facilities that subjected children to inhumane experiments. The last one had to be done in a span of four hours, shutting down seven laboratories straight before each one could alert the other and cleanly make their getaway.
BANG!
Aiho ducked on reflex at the sound. It was a sound she was most acquainted with in her line of work, even though most of who she apprehended were children with special powers, the one thing that never separated from her work were the sounds of-
"Gunfire?"
The anti-skill shifted quickly from depressed to deathly serious. Her face becoming the mask of a hardened combatant in less than a heartbeat. Her body swung out the window, hanging in the vehicle only by her seatbelt. She quickly withdrew into the seat again as a wave of 9mm bullets splashed against the armored hide of the door. She swore aloud and quickly undid her seatbelt, one hand simultaneously reaching for her iconic riotshield.
She was quick to alight but before she could a weight slammed the door shut.
"What are you doing Yomikawa?", it was the man from before. Unlike then he was practically screaming now over the rattling gunfire in the air.
"Someone's shooting at us. I'm going to help.", she replied before trying to shove the car door open.
The man shook his head as he continued to keep the vehicle door shut with his body. "I gave you a job didn't I? You are to transport prisoners to precinct 5. Those guys are probably skill-out reinforcements to take back the prisoners. Our squad will manage against them somehow."
"But-!"
"If you feel guilty then just don't mind that you aren't getting that security detail. Now get!"
Aiho wanted to say more but the male anti-skill had already plowed back into the fray behind the truck. She heard the rear doors of the wagon lock and the clang of limbs against the armor, telling her to hurry up. In the face of all this expectation and trust, Yomikawa found it hard to step down from the driver's seat. She tightened her grip on the shield, biting her lip before harshly tossing the object to the passenger side. Putting on her seat belt, she muttered, "None of you better die.".
A booted foot slammed down on the accelerator. The anti-skill vehicle known as the wagon quickly sped up from 0 to 95 kph in less than five seconds. Its current master taking hold of the wheel with a grip resembling the steel it was made of. Yomikawa replaced the radio she'd just used to call for back-up when bullets screamed through the air and attempted to pierce the outer plating. They did nothing other than annoy the driver.
"What the? Are they following me?". Aiho looked towards her side mirror and noticed the two vans chasing her. One of them was open with a young man hanging on for dear life with one hand while the other was spraying bullets with less of an aim than a prayer.
"You idiot, that's dangerous!", The female anti-skill hissed before suddenly decelerating. She pressed a button to pull up the bulletproof glass of her door just in time as pistol shots cracked out. They slammed into the polycrystalline material specially developed by the city 20-30 years ahead of the world, leaving not a scratch. Aiho looked to the side with a devilish grin that made the young man shooting at her pale. It was hard to see who was the villain now when Yomikawa intentionally plowed the wagon into the offensive van. The young man was blown back by the impact, alive only because he managed to slide the door shut to prevent the worst of it.
Yomikawa watched the van screech to a halt to regain control while the wagon still continued on its way without slowing down any more. A jolt from behind brought her back to reality and Aiho looked to her side mirror again. It was the other van. The woman anti-skill grit her teeth as she flattened the accelerator against the floor as best as she could. The wagon could most likely outrun them. It was specially modified with newer Academy City technology than most and could reach 200 kph easily. Things never went so easy though, at least not in this line of work. An explosion shook the whole of the wagon right down to the chassis. Prompting Yomikawa to look at her side mirror again, she paled when she saw that the van's side was open now. It was less the van was open than the similar sight of a young man with a weapon that got her anxious. The boy was toting a grenade launcher.
"Gah! As if recklessly shooting a pistol wasn't bad enough!", she pulled on the emergency brake and quickly skidded to a near stop. The van directly behind turned just in time to avoid her and slammed on the brakes as well. "So the same trick won't work twice.", seethed Aiho through her teeth. The law enforcer Fired the accelerator again before her vehicle could come to a complete stop. She bumped into the back of the truck before the young man could aim the grenade launcher properly in her direction. The impact knocked the young man off balance, giving Aiho enough time to gain some speed. She ran parallel with the other vehicle before attempting to plow into it like she did the last one. The van decelerated at the twitch of the wagon's nose and it was all Aiho could do to keep it in her control after that failed attack. "Tch!", she grasped the steering wheel tightly, trying to come up with a new plan to disable that van.
Her eyes were constantly flickering between the road and the van in her side mirror. Thankfully it was the dead of night so there was no traffic to speak of. This left Aiho with more leeway to pay attention to the trailing van, especially now that the young man with the grenade launcher was back at the door with a bazooka. Wait what?
There was no time to be shocked as the blast exploded right by the rear right tire of the wagon. Shrapnel bounced noisily against the plating but Yomikawa was less worried for the vehicle and more for any random passerby getting caught in the blast. After all, the wagon is the latest in academy city technology, even the reinforced tires wouldn't be blown out from just that kind of shock. Espers on the other hand were not always subject to the same level of security by their powers.
BANG!
A second explosion hit the wagon directly in the back. This time Yomikawa was worried. The wagon was built like a tank, but even tanks were susceptible to direct hits from such heavy weapons. She looked back to the mirror and her mouth could not help but gape. The first van she'd taken out had caught up. The young man at the side opening was different from the one with the pistol. Instead of a pistol however, this second youth was holding a bazooka similar to the one in the second van.
"Gah! That's really dangerous! Really really dangerous!".
And that danger presented itself very well as the two fired in tandem. Aiho used all the driving skills at her disposal to dodge the shots. She snaked around the patterned bombing. It almost looked like she was reading all their shots. But in truth the female anti-skill was sweating up a storm. All of those near misses had just been the result of luck. Because whatever skill she had in driving was almost never applicable to being the pursued as she was usually the pursuer. So lacking the proper skills, Yomikawa did what she did best, improvise.
"Come on! Come on! There has to be something!", Yomikawa grit her teeth as sweat dripped down her brow. She risked a peek at her surroundings and screamed when one bazooka shot shook the wagon again. She stared straight ahead, watching for any sign that she was going off course. Then she noticed, "This is..."
A factory!
On the outskirts of a factory complex, the space was wide but inside would just be big enough for machinery and employee parking. Those were not Aiho's targets though. The most ideal place to hide in this situation is-
"Here!", she practically screamed as she pulled the wagon into a ninety degree turn. Nearly flipping the vehicle in the process. Two bazookas fired at the moving vehicle, dead center to the broad side.
But by some miracle, or a stroke of fortune as one might say. One van which had a clean shot hit a bump. This bump was not that big. It couldn't even register as a speed hump. But at how fast these cars were going, it was enough to shake the whole thing including the perfectly aligned shot. So when the shots were fired, one slammed quite close to the wagon, clipping the corner wall of the building which the target had fled to. The other shot which was skewed would have cleared that wall from its angle completely destroying the wagon but instead the shot flew up and slammed into the building opposite of the one with the clipped wall. Debris fell, blocking the narrow road, that could unmistakenly be called an alleyway.
"Shit! We had him!", the young man from the second van swung the bazooka against the car in a fit.
The bazooka wielder from the first van whistled looking at the damage he caused before appraising, "There ain't no way we're getting past that. Least not now."
"Well that's obvious.", pointed out the angry youth. "You basically pulled down half the ledging off that thing.", his finger raised at the destroyed portion of the upper floors.
"Ugh... my head.", the youth who had fired the pistol turned up from the first one. "Did we get him?".
"Pfft. I'd think so."
"What? Are you kidding? That thing took an RPG right down the middle of the back. And it was still running!"
"Tch! An RPG is different from two tons of rock smashing down on you."
"Either way we can't do this cause you messed up!"
"Well Merlin over here shouldn't have been dumb enough to get offed by the big titted anti-skill!"
"That woman was crazy!"
"Whatever!", the young man from the second van ended the argument. "Sawada, get us out of here!". The van's engine revved in response to the command. Soon the van was on its way, followed by the first.
Beneath the crumbling concrete, gravel and steel bars, dust swirled in an odd pattern. It was visible under the light of the scant streetlight scattered about. But if one looked close enough, on strand of light was oddly red, a brake light.
"Goh...", Yomikawa Aiho groaned from the driver's seat of the anti-skill wagon. Her body ached all over, the front of her person numb from the shock of a sudden stop. An airbag kept her head safe from impact but her sternum and rib cage felt constricted under the seat belt she wore. Sluggishly, the woman pushed a button to deflate the airbag while simultaneously undoing her seat belt. She remembered rushing into the narrow alleyway which would barely fit the wagon. Spark flying at her door then shaking, shocks and then darkness. She noted never to do that to herself again.
Groping around in the dim light, she noticed the familiar smell of construction. Or rather deconstruction. The windshield before her was caved with massive rocks, held back only by the sheer strength of the bullet proof mass of crystal. The door windows were much in the same state, coupled with the fact they were wedged between the walls with locks probably deformed. That meant the only viable way out would be the back. So she turned to the wall that separated the sections and undid the latch on a panel. A click and snap later, Aiho was now permitted access to the back of the wagon through a small door in the dividing wall. It was equally dark, the car light of the wagon was not working properly but little strands of light were spilling from the rear doors.
"No way.", she breathed. Running to the source of the lights, she was met with an expected sight. The doors were a mess of gnarled metals and burnt plastics. "The RPG from earlier.", she reminded herself of the one blast from the second shot. She dared to try forcing the door open but the thing would not budge. She took a peak outside and groaned at the sight of rocks blocking the door as well as its own misshapen size forcing it stuck.
Seeing as those were no good, Yomikawa decided that radioing in her location would probably be the best so reinforcements could pick her up.She quickly crossed the threshold to the front of the wagon and pulled on the radio receiver. But something was wrong. "No power?", Yomikawa mumbled. It was oddly dark when she woke-up...
The anti-skill woman quickly brought a hand up to flick the switch on the cabin light, but nothing. "Ugh.", Yomikawa groaned for the umpteenth time that day. Built like a tank indeed. The electrical systems were built with centralized wiring. The shock and deformation must've cut off one of the main lines. Translation: She was stuck and there was nothing she could do about it.
In her frustration Yomikawa actually roared and threw down the rounded receiver. She was tired, she was lacking sleep, she had just escaped from a high speed car chase that ended with her having heavy weaponry raining down all around, finally its topped with being buried alive under three tons of concrete. Lovelier still is she's only lived off rations for the past week with living conditions that required her to not change out of this anti-skill uniform for the week due to how hectic the clean-up operations were. A very good reason for her not to wear the helmet as it had been stinking up with sweat.
"Ugh!"
Those were the exact thoughts in Aiho's mind right now. She couldn't think. The frustration building up inside of her was starting to bubble up and overflow. Now that the danger had subsided, the depression from earlier over her parents' meddling in her life was returning full force. So what if she was 28? She was living her life happily! Her parents wanting to see grandchildren will still see grandchildren. They had her when they were just 21, they weren't even in their 50's yet! Now she wasn't dodging marriage because she didn't want to be tied down, she doubted any man could keep her under in a relationship and if push comes to shove she would never let him. She didn't have a problem with children either, in fact she loved them so much she became a teacher! Why couldn't they just understand that her work was important to her and that her work as an anti-skill was something she cherished second only to family? Why couldn't they understand that she couldn't date nor marry because week long operations that required her to shoot, hurt and kill people happened on a basis so often that she was afraid of touching her own child and smearing them with blood!? Had her circumstances been different, maybe she would be tucking her children in and sleeping in a warm bed with the love of her life right now.
"UUUGGGGHH!"
Yomikawa looked up. Tears she did not remember crying were running down her face. She quickly wiped them away before the groan repeated itself with twice as much gusto.
Who was that?
Yomikawa tried to wrack her mind for some form of hint. The wagon was mainly deployed to carry anti-skill to operation points and carriage of prisoners. Wasn't she tasked with transporting prisoners? But the attack happened before anyone could get on.
THONK!
The dull sound reminded her. Netsuki had gone in with someone and argued with him. Hadn't she assumed then that it was a prisoner? More memories and the vibrations from the explosions crawling over her skin, the image of the gnarled door showcasing the severity of the damage. "Crap!", was all she said as she rushed into the rear of the truck.
Her eyes quickly wandered about, scanning for any sign of the people who were boarded but it was just too dark. "Dammit.", she quickly reached for the walls and began to feel around for some sort of shape or bulk that would resemble a human being.
"UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"
THONK!
Hearing those sounds, Aiho looked behind her and noticed within the inky blackness a tinge of white. White cloth to be exact. It was part of a shirt, probably a uniform from the way it looked like a button-up. She rushed over to the white blot and leaned over to see the figure that was practically on its side. She pulled the boy up and she nearly sneezed when soft spikes of hair brushed up against her nose.
"UUUUUGGGGHHH!", the groan came from the boy. And he slammed his head back making that dull sound against metal. "Arm...", that was all he could manage out as he grit his teeth.
Yomikawa furrowed her brows in worry before going straight for them. They were both there , the arms were still on his shoulders and very much whole. However they were handcuffed by the wrist to a safety rail on the side benches. It was easy to guess that it must've hurt his arms when he fell on his side like that.
"You okay?", were the first words she uttered to the prisoner she was transporting.
"Ow... I'm still a little woozy and I think I won't be seeing straight for the next few minutes. Other than that I'm fine."
Yomikawa heard him say so but didn't quite believe him. His tone carried something similar to most delinquent she'd dealt with before. It was a tough guy voice. "Hold still.", she ordered before starting to grab, prod and poke him all over.
The groggy boy suddenly got a boost as he protested to this act. "O-oi! Ack!", he flinched as a stinging pain came from his face, particularly the cheekbone area.
Yomikawa sighed, she was right in guessing the boy's part in the scuffle which had anti-skill mobilized. The bruise on his face, arms and abdomen were anything to go by it was likely a big street fight. One big enough to have authorities alerted. "Your hurt all over.", Aiho voiced her observations.
"Well...", the young man sounded unsure. "You did arrest me for a brawl. Then there were those explosions that were throwing me around. Though my wrists took most of the damage there.". He jangled the cuffs a bit then hissed painfully at the movements.
Aiho reached for the cuffs and was surprised to feel a warm sticky liquid soak into her gloves. She lifted her hand up and smelled familiar copper. Blood. "You're bleeding.", she informed. Getting up, she went back to the front of the car and came back with a medical kit in her hands in less than a minute. "We've got enough supplies here to deal with a gunshot wound so I think we're safe with your wrists."
"Tch! They still hurt though.", the young man cried.
"Oh buck up.", the anti-skill rolled her eyes at the waterworks being displayed to her. "You go out and start a fight, get beat up, then in the end all it takes to get you crying is torn skin?".
"I have no idea what your priorities are but that's messed up. When I rank injuries at the very least I put those where I see blood coming out as more life threatening than those without blood. Like bruising for example."
"Bruising means internal bleeding. Just because you can't see the blood outside the body doesn't mean its dangerous. Internal hemmorhage is more dangerous than an open wood precisely because its unseen.", the PE teacher suddenly went into her lecture mode. But the young man wasn't having any of it.
"Fine fine. I give. But please, just get these cuffs off. They're really hurting."
Aiho gave him a look. She wasn't sure what kind of face she was making right now, but maybe it was one of pity. Or perhaps apology. She partially blamed herself for him getting caught up in the blast. Maybe if she had driven better. Yomikawa's lips frew into a thin line as she began her work. She peeled off her gloves systematically and unded the latches on the medikit. Instantly pushing up the upper bottom to expose the gauze, stitches and surgical tools that might be needed, she confirmed all of their locations by touch alone. Using physical memory from the countless hours of training, Aiho nabbed a painkiller from the compartment built into the kit cover. She handed the pill over to Touma, "here. Drink this.".
The young man peered down at her hand curiously through the dark. Coupled with the spikes, Aiho thought he looked kind of like a furry critter, a hedgehog maybe which was kind of cute. Maybe. She sighed to herself for having such suddenly stupid thoughts. Measuring a glance, she could tell that the boy was clueless. "It's a painkiller. You'll need to dry swallow though, I don't have any water on hand.".
"Oh", was the simple response. They kind of stared at each other for awhile before someone had to break the awkward silence with more awkward. "You know, I can't exactly pop it in my mouth.", the young man informed the anti-skill woman.
Realizing what he was getting at, Aiho moved her hand closer to the boy's mouth. He leaned down and she felt his breath tickle her palm. There was a slightly wet sensation and some ticklishness tried to ellicit a giggle from her. Once it processed these sensations, Aiho's brain concluded that the last thing she felt had been the boy's lips and tongue. It sent a chill running down her spine. An unpleasant chill.
Retrieving her hand, Yomikawa decided that it was time to breach a rather delicate subject. "Okay, I'm going to have to uncuff you to see your wounds.".
The boy looked around in confusion. It seemed he was unsure of where the woman was going with this. It was quite obvious after all. "Okay?". Yomikawa stepped right in front of him and reached behind his back. "Wha-? Oof!", the boy's face smacked right into Aiho's anti-skill armor. The plating inside solid enough to be felt despite the cushioning provided by the multiple layers of textile armor. He tried to pull back but the woman's arms were wrapped around his shoulders, resulting in him pulling her along. His efforts were rewarded by another smack in the face with anti-skill armor.
Aiho looked down on the young man and hissed, "Will you stop moving?". It was dark so the professional didn't bother to look, instead she was concentrating on undoing the cuffs through touch and touch alone. It was mostly inefficient fumbling, but she could undo the cuffs still.
"Illegal tampering of anti-skill equipment detected. Target in proximity found. Now initiating capture sequence."
CLICK!
...
"Well that's not good."
"GAH!", the young man screamed. "Wh- What do you mean by that's not good!?", he demanded of the anti-skill who for some reason still had her arms around him.
Yomikawa's face right now was kind of flat. There was no real emotion there but blank couldn't really describe it. Tense but unmoving, flat. She seemed to be confirming something in her brain. She gave a few tugs and found her theory to be true. Then she snapped. "Netsuki you idiot! How many times have we told you not to use the smart cuffs!?".
"Smart cuffs?", the young man pondered the term. It sounded familiar for some reason. From what he could vaguely remember, he was told by a friend named Tsuchimikado that smart cuffs were handcuffs with integrated AI and processing computers. These cuffs would clamp down and hold a person of any size regardless of wrist diameter. It used a bevy of infrared and contact sensors to calculate the ideal fit to restrain the suspect. It also had a self-defense function of cuffing anyone who tried to tamper with it improperly.
...
"Please don't tell me."
"Shut up."
"You're cuffed too aren't you?"
"I told you to shut up didn't I?", Yomikawa shot back dryly. Netsuki really was the one with the shortest fuse amongst the anti-skill squad. But that was less of her nature and more the fact she was the newest member. She lacked a vital thing called experience which made her easy to rile up and easy to fascinate. There had been many an occasion where her squadmates ended up in the worse end of a firefight because her preference for stupid smart cuffs that had people joined together by the wrists in pairs. It was a miracle that no one had died so far due to that.
"Ah! Such misfortune!", cried the young man and Yomikawa could not agree more.
2013-07-25, 20:30
I've read every chapter so far 
" ~ Chaos2Frozen.
