Crime Never Sleeps
Never in her life had Auris Gaiz expected to find herself in this position.
“As Lieutenant-General Yagami stated, this case is clearly in the jurisdiction of the Naval Special Intelligence Service. The Gallant Case has only become a military matter due to the murder of an NSIS agent—the inquisition should come from us.”
She would never have thought that Hayate Yagami would be willingly advocating Auris’ side of a dispute. Even after rising through the ranks rapidly to lieutenant-general, Hayate was still the same girl she had been during the Scaglietti Incident: idealistic, earnest and righteous. Hayate had to know that if Auris managed to gain the rights of this case from the High Council, Raven Gallant’s future would not be looking very bright. Yet she was clearly swaying the Council Auris’ way with her newly-promoted status and influence.
Why?
“Raven Gallant tracked down and shot her family’s murderers in cold blood,” Hayate said to the silent panel of High Council members, her shoulders square and her voice solid. “One of them was an undercover NSIS agent, Keen Touring. For Touring’s family, we owe them closure and justice for the crime that was done.”
While they waited outside for the High Council’s decision, Auris watched the muttering Ground Forces Intelligence director confer with his aides and give Auris and Hayate dark looks periodically as he tried to appear confident. Aspen Narang was new to his post, and he was determined to keep the Gallant case for the GFI simply for the media publicity storm that would surely hit over this case.
No doubt he had expected Hayate, a lieutenant-general of the Ground Forces newly promoted to chief representative of the Capital City Defence Forces, to stand by her own military branch. Instead, Hayate had surprised both Aspen and Auris by supporting the Navy intelligence’s claim. Even though Auris knew that Hayate was one of the Shadows’ overseers she had anticipated more obstructive actions from the younger woman.
What was she up to?
“Lieutenant-general Yagami, thank you for your support,” Auris said heartedly, pitching her voice to ensure that Aspen would overhear.
Hayate nodded at her. “I trust that in their zeal to find justice for their fallen comrade, the Naval Special Intelligence Service will conduct a thorough investigation for the court proceedings. I have faith that the case will be tight with the evidence collected.”
Ah, that’s what she was after…Auris inclined her head, acknowledging that by announcing that in front of Auris’ opponents, Hayate had bound the Shadows into keeping their investigation above-ground. Pity, Auris had some plans…but no matter. The Shadows would have their justice in the end, even if they had to stay within the letter of the law.
The doors opened and they filed in again, standing before the panel.
“The Gallant case will go to the Naval Special Intelligence Service, under the direction of Lieutenant-General Yagami and Director Gaiz.”
Startled at being partnered up, Auris turned to stare at Hayate, who only wore an unsurprised, solemn smile on her down-turned face.
What is she trying to accomplish?
**O**
Walking out past the stunned and furious GFI officers, Hayate didn’t waste any time in issuing her first orders, although she waited until they were out of earshot before saying, “I want you to send agents to all the major media networks in Cranagan—I want to know what their station’s bias is towards this case, as well as the opinions of the reporters covering the case.”
“You want to control even the nuances of the news reports,” Auris said aloud, incredibly impressed but hiding it well.
“The details of the case haven’t hit the networks yet,” Hayate said, her brisk walk never faltering. Auris had to stretch to keep up with the younger woman, fighting to keep her casual appearance while she matched Hayate’s pace. Hayate continued, “But when they do, we need to know what exclusive information to feed which station at which times, to sway public opinion the way we need.”
“I’ll send them out today.”
“Good. I’m going to handle the prisoner’s transfer to Long Arch.”
“I can—”
“Ah, I wouldn’t want to give you all the work and be idle—what a bad example of an officer I would be,” Hayate replied blithely. “Most of the Shadows will be busy with their work, it’s not a problem for some of Long Arch’s officers to step in and help out.”
Auris seethed inside, taking a moment to wipe her glasses while keeping her face hidden as she got her expression under control. If Hayate thought that she could cut the Shadows out from the guard routine, then Auris would implement a few tricks of her own. “Of course. I’ll leave that to you.”
“We’ll meet at 16:00 to go over our preliminary case details in my office.”
“That’s fine.”
Smiling, Hayate gave her a nod and left, leaving Auris to make her way alone to her office. The hallways of the NSIS were filled with shadows, lower-case letter ones. Auris wasn’t sure if one of her predecessors had a sense of humour, of theatrics or of compassion. Maybe it was all of the above. She knew that Chrono Harlaown would have left the dim lights out of compassion.
Some secrets burned in the light.
Auris liked the dim lights. They reminded everyone who walked down her hallway that there were things in the dark to be nervous of. Plus, the darkness made it easier for agents to slip in and out without being noticed.
She unlocked her door and dropped her files on the empty desk. Sitting down, Auris called up her holoscreen, keying in her password for her secure network.
Gaiz: Roberts, my office.
Her message was tagged with a flag that she knew Roberts would recognize.
Yes, it’s a good thing that the hallways were full of shadows.
While she waited for Holden Roberts to slip away and appear, Auris took the time to survey all the ongoing operations, noting which ones needed additional support and what the main reports were. The work was so routine she allowed herself to simultaneously go over the events of the day, re-playing her conversations with a care for the emotions and body language displayed by Hayate during their interaction.
So Hayate is scared of my influence. There was no other reason why the heroic general would have even supported Auris’ case if she hadn’t feared what Auris would do outside of legal channels. That pleased Auris greatly, even if it also meant that she had to watch her steps as Hayate was watching her closely. Oh, to have one of the Aces afraid of her!
This was going to be a tricky fight. She and Hayate are supposed to be on the same side, and as this was the first major case Auris will handle as NSIS Director, she had to show Hayate that she was someone to be contended with. Auris smiled grimly.
What a nice welcome to the NSIS.
**O**
“Can you do it?”
“From the message flag, I’m assuming that I will be…
undercover?”
“Of sorts. Can you do it?”
“Yes.”
“Then go.”
**O**
One thing Auris found amusing about Shadow work was the odd things they re-taught you from your childhood. Listening at doors was one of the first. What they also taught you was how to do it without appearing like you were a childish eavesdropper.
This was once her father’s door.
“…I’m sorry Nanoha, I can’t talk about it.”
Captain Takamachi’s voice was fuzzier, through a screen, but her annoyance was clearly audible. “Hayate-chan, I can’t believe that you’re actually considering! Shouldn’t it be obvious?”
“Nanoha, I said I can’t talk about it.” Hayate paused. “Go let Director Gaiz in, Rein. Nanoha, we’ll talk later.”
The metal door hissed open, and Auris stared calmly back at the small silver-haired Unison Device. “Director, the chief will see you now.”
“Yes,” Auris said, raising an eyebrow. “I was invited.”
Hayate looked up from where she was scribbling something in a paper file. “Director Gaiz, please have a seat.”
“Please, we’ll be working together.” Auris sat down and laid her documents on the table, neat in a pile compared to Hayate’s organized sprawl of papers across her wide desk. “Call me Auris.”
“Only if you call me Hayate,” Hayate replied courteously, although she boasted a pleasantly surprised expression. About to write her off as naïve, Auris caught a hint of wariness in Hayate’s deep blue eyes as she shuffled some of her sheets into a stack. Accepting the folder, Auris smiled. Not so naïve after all.
“Can you summarize what information the NSIS has gathered thus far?” Hayate requested as she sat back in her chair.
“This is a report from Touring, dated 10:00 four days ago,” Auris said, calling up a holoscreen with the original timestamp. “There was no mention of the Gallants, however he did say that he “suspects an assassination mission for 14:00”.”
“Did you make an attempt to stop the mission?”
“That wasn’t why our agent was undercover in the Hellhound gang,” Auris said defensively.
“It wasn’t a criticism,” Hayate responded evenly. “Only a question.”
Auris doubted that, but she carried on regardless. “Our last official report from Touring was at 15:20 that same day, saying that they had killed a family at their home and were now leaving for celebrations.”
Hayate rose, walking over to the window. She tapped her fingers silently against the glass, considering something. “Did he participate in the killing?”
“He
said ‘no’ in his last incomplete message, written at 20:35 that day.”
“Do we know that for sure?” Pausing, Hayate took a breath, closing her eyes so that Auris couldn’t meet her gaze in the glass reflection. She rephrased, “Can Raven claim that he had taken part in her family’s murder?”
Shifting, Auris resisted the urge to fiddle with her glasses, allowing herself to only lace her fingers together under the desk to express her tenseness. “We removed all traces of his undercover persona from the evidence collection. She wouldn’t be able to recognize his real face.”
“I see.” Hayate came back to the desk, sitting and spinning her chair to the side. Auris watched her like a hawk, wondering what was going through her head. Looking up, Hayate smiled and waved at her. “Continue, please.”
“You know the rest—it’s in the open file.”
“Is it accurate?”
“Yes,” Auris confirmed, summarizing. “Raven Gallant survived her family’s murder by hiding in the bathroom cupboard. When she came out, her whole family was dead.”
Softly, Hayate whispered, “She’s only eleven years old.”
Terse and trembling with anger, Auris worked out coldly, “That eleven-year old found her father’s old Earth machine-gun and shot a dozen people to death, including a Shadow agent.”
Hayate laced her fingers together over her stomach, leaning back in her chair. “Director Auris.”
“Huh?” Auris quickly composed and corrected herself. “I mean, yes?”
“I want you to go to both crime scenes yourself. I want to know any details about Raven’s method and mental state when she left both crime scenes, and what kind of person she is.” Tapping on her computer, Hayate sealed the form with her code and sent it. “I’ve just sent a request for the nearest naval ship to provide you and an assistant a transfer station.”
“I could have done that,” Auris said dryly. “Being in the Navy myself. Less paperwork.”
“Ah, I forgot,” Hayate said, rubbing her head sheepishly. “Either way, it all works out the same.”
“What about our case?” Auris asked.
“What about it? We’re working on it.”
“I mean, our position, our arguments…”
Her tone light, Hayate replied with a laugh, “How can we form a position when we haven’t even gotten all the facts yet? It would be devastating if our opponents drew upon information that we weren’t aware of, hm?”
You’re stalling. What are you waiting for? What are you trying to accomplish? Auris bowed her head. “I’ll leave immediately.” Too late, she realized what Hayate had done. By asking Auris to report, she had taken control of the meeting…and had established herself as the leader in the investigation, the one who issued the orders.
Ah well. If it all fell to pieces, it wouldn’t be Auris’ head the masses would be after. She wouldn’t want to be roasted on the coals for this case so fresh into her new job as NSIS Director. Being the second-in-command had its benefits.
Her device beeped with a new message, prompting Auris to step into a doorway and pull up her inbox. The message was short, but Auris smiled when she read it, satisfaction spreading through her at the news.
Roberts: Assigned to Gallant’s guard. Part 2 of assignment will be ready in a few more days.
**O**
“Director, if I may?”
Auris turned to her assistant as they waited to teleport back to Midchilda. After an evening of travel and of looking at blood-covered crime scenes, all she wanted was to go home and sleep. A good night’s sleep before she implemented the plans she had conceived while standing over the spot where Keen Touring had been gunned down like he was nothing more than a common criminal. The interruption to her thoughts startled her. “Jian?”
Jian Valiant’s distinctive black eyes turned her way, her slim face covered with dry humour. “The Lieutenant-general sent us on a wild goose chase.”
Auris had worked that out hours ago. Still, she was intrigued by Valiant’s comment. “Why do you think so?”
Jian tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder, a beautiful, unconscious flourish from her usual cases as a Shadow. Under her marble skin and model body was a cruelly cunning mind that was often overlooked, which was to her advantage. “While all Shadows have some profiling knowledge, this has already been done by the SIB experts—which the Lieutenant-general already knows. They’ve transferred all their information to us—through the Lieutenant-general herself, no less. So since she already has Gallant’s personality profile, there was no reason to send us here again.”
Auris smiled wryly. “Did you get anything new from the scenes?”
Her companion shook her head. “Nothing that wasn’t already covered. Hence the wild-goose chase.”
“It wasn’t a useless exercise.”
“What?” Jian exclaimed, her voice a contained whisper.
The transporter glowed, ready for their teleport. Auris stepped in, Jian hopping in hastily after her, still looking at her curiously. “I learned quite a few things.”
“Like what?”
“Like when she thought no one’s watching, how she would relax her vigilance enough for us to hide bugs in a high-security office.” Smirking, Auris couldn’t keep the satisfied tone out of her voice. “And that she wanted time to figure out where she’s going to go, stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
**O**
Rein glanced twice down the hall before darting across, using her special access to enter the office without knocking.
“Rein?” Fate looked up from her work, smiling before looking concerned at Rein’s twitchy demeanour. “Something wrong?”
Flying closer, Rein perched on the edge of Fate’s folders. Fate pulled her briefcase up and laid it on her desk, offering Rein a more comfortable seat. Flitting over, Rein fidgeted, running her hands along her new seat.
“Do you want something to dri—”
Rein exhaled, “Hayate’s-having-some-trouble.”
Fate blinked, then tapped a few keys on her computer. Rein recognized the code for office security, and she saw spell-lights appear along Fate’s office walls. Some of them weren’t ones she recognized—Enforcer-grade ones, Rein guessed. Fate closed all of her monitors and turned to give Rein her full attention. “What kind of trouble is Hayate in?”
Rein hesitated slightly, the old urge to obey her master at any cost ghosting into her mind for a moment before she shook her head, banishing it impatiently. She knew that Hayate wouldn’t want to worry her friends, but Rein couldn’t keep silent. Her other ancient compulsion (one that she still enthusiastically followed of her own will) was to protect her master from all danger. Even the dangers Hayate refused to see.
“Fate-san…” Rein rubbed her face. “Do you know Director Aspen Narang?”
“The new Ground Forces Intelligence director?” Fate frowned. “Is he putting pressure on Hayate for siding with the Navy intelligence?”
“You know why she did that, right?” Rein asked nervously.
Fate grimaced, scratching her head. “Um…yeah. I, uh, had to explain to Nanoha my guesses why Hayate chose to support Director Gaiz. Even if I didn’t like it when Chrono was head of the NSIS, at least Hayate could trust that he’ll do what’s best overall. And that he won’t, uh…”
“Possibly stab her in the back?” Rein piped up.
“Director Gaiz might have her own agenda which Hayate might want to watch out for,” Fate said, ironically diplomatic. “And therefore it would be to Hayate’s benefit to cooperate with Director Gaiz as much as possible during this first year. So is Hayate getting heat from the Ground Forces superiors because she decided to work the case as
overseer of the NSIS instead of as
Chief of City Defence?”
Rein sighed in relief. “I knew you’d know without me having to say.”
“I guessed.” Sighing, Fate rocked back in her chair, putting a hand to her forehead. “That’s not all, right? There’s more.”
Chewing her lip, Rein rose, pacing back and forth across Fate’s desk nervously. “There’s nothing openly said…but Hayate got a message from Mayor Magnus hinting that…that she should follow her heart and show leniency for Raven. And you know, the mayor was elected after the Scaglietti incident, and so his policy is one of rehabilitation and clemency…”
Fate winced. “So he doesn’t want an eleven-year old girl to be imprisoned for killing her parents’ murderers. Is he bringing my name into it?”
Sorrowfully, Rein had to nod, tearing up. “I’m sorry, Fate-san.”
“No, it’s alright…it’s to be expected.” Fate took a breath. “What else?”
“None of this is official, but Hayate got word that a lot of Council members are split over what to do about the Gallant case…” Rein sighed, and Fate offered her a hand in comfort. “Some of them think that it’s important to show people that killing TSAB officers will result in severe punishments to keep the rest of us safe…but other people want to show mercy to the girl. And even if most of them can’t actually do anything to Hayate, their opinions matter to her…”
“Oh,” Fate said softly, her red eyes incredibly sad. “I think that most of the ones who are asking for mercy are our friends?”
“Yes,” Rein mourned, crying. “But I’m afraid that Hayate will have to do things she doesn’t want in order to make everything work out.”
**O**
The next morning at 06:00 sharp, Auris marched into Hayate’s office, by-passing the startled secretary and shutting the door on her when she tried to speak. “Chief Hayate.” She wasn’t surprised to see Hayate already there—indeed, she had expected it. Hayate would want to be ahead of the game, and so far Auris was content to let her have the leading spot.
“…from the spreadsheet, I agree that those proposed cutbacks, allowing the city to have a contingency fund for the Lowran Proposal, would be in our best interest. That, in addition to the other factors we discussed earlier, could support…”
“Ah, excuse me, Advisor Fils,” Hayate interrupted the speaker on her holoscreen, giving him an apologetic look. “I have a visitor. I’ll look over the documents you sent me, and can we continue this at 08:00?”
Hayate was meeting with one of the three legendary Admirals? Auris nearly blushed and apologized for her intrusion, but she managed to stay silent. If she was going to get the high ground, she couldn’t appear to have made any mistakes in front of Hayate. Doubtless, Hayate would be doing the same.
Was their discussion relating to the Gallant Case, or was it just a part of Hayate’s duties as Capital City Defence Forces representative? Auris made a mental note to look into that. She hated getting blindsided by higher authorities.
After a few more pleasantries, Advisor Fils signed off and Hayate shut down her screens. “Director Auris,” Hayate said pleasantly, glancing at the door. “Is there an emergency?”
“I have an appointment,” drawled Auris, seating herself across from Hayate. “
You were the one running late.” She saw Hayate wave at her window, but didn’t turn around to see what the secretary did in response to that. “And I believe we have a case to put together? The first court proceeding will be in two days.” She paused, then tilted her head towards the secretary. “She seems new to the job.”
“She’s on a school internship. Did you find anything at the crime scenes?” Hayate asked mildly, sliding the Gallant file towards herself. So, Auris noted, she
had been working on the case. The folder was thicker than yesterday, so Hayate had either gotten more information or she had pulled up more research. From the snippets of information her bugs had picked up by the secretary’s desk, quite a few dignitaries have visited the Lieutenant-general in the past day, and their remarks upon entering and leaving were not on the kind side. Likely Hayate had to dig deeper in order to give everyone the answers they were demanding.
“Nothing. What did
you find?”
“Quite a bit,” Hayate replied, passing over a sheaf of papers. “Here’s a transcript of the interviews I had with Raven yesterday. I also sent you the video recordings in your email.”
“You interviewed her?” Auris exclaimed, staring at Hayate. “Why wasn’t I told? I should have been the one to do it!”
“Ah, I just felt that we could save some time, if I did it while you personally surveyed the crime scenes,” Hayate sounded surprised, but her voice was too smooth to be genuine. “You’re welcome to interview her again if you like, to see if there’s anything I might have missed in my questioning.”
Tightly, Auris ground out, “I thought we were working this case together.”
“We are—which is why I thought you wouldn’t mind.” Damn, there was nothing Auris could say to that. Leaning forward, Hayate smiled, propping her elbows on her desk. “Besides, both you and I are high-profile officers, would you say?” Hayate asked, going on a tangent.
Suspiciously, Auris answered, “Yes…”
“So we have a bit of a reputation following us, correct?”
“Your point, Lieutenant-general.”
“I thought we were on a first-name basis, Director Auris…and my point is that I have a reputation for being kind, while you’re known for your efficiency.” Spreading her hands in a helpless gesture, Hayate said earnestly, “I reasoned that I would likely be able to establish a better rapport with a grieving, frightened girl than you would for a successful interview.”
Auris breathed deeply before shrugging, picking up the transcript and skimming through it rapidly. “So what are we deciding on? Are we prosecutors or defenders?” That wasn’t really a question, they both knew.
She didn’t have to watch Hayate’s face to know what kind of conflict the other woman would be going through—Auris was just as certain that she knew what Hayate’s answer was going to be in the end. As expected, Hayate made one last cautious appeal.
“There is some merit in taking the case as defenders…the majority of public opinion appears to be—”
“We’re not looking for public approval.” Auris stared hard at Hayate, keeping her voice even but she didn’t bother trying to disguise the cold rage in her gaze. “We’re looking for justice for one of our own. The Shadows will not watch a murderer get off with a slap on the wrist because people feel sorry that she’s a minor and a vigilante.”
She watched Hayate take a breath, a slow draining of hope from her face and an impassive mask build over her features as she stared at a picture of Raven Gallant on her desk, the girl smiling and winking at the camera, wearing a school uniform. Auris waited, wanting Hayate to say it herself, to say the outcome she dreaded but Auris desired out loud.
“So we want Raven Gallant charged as an adult for the murder of NSIS Agent Keen Touring,” Hayate stated.
“That’s it?” Auris tested.
Hayate also slipped out of character from the game they were playing, her ice-blue eyes sharp as she said lowly, “I don’t think any
accidents will be happening to Raven Gallant, do you? Not with such good officers from Long Arch watching her cell.”
“Of course not,” Auris replied, rising from her chair and collecting her documents. This meeting was over. “Long Arch officers are some of the best.”
But my Shadows are better.
**O**
The large briefing room in the NSIS hall was hardly ever used for actual briefings. Most missions were given in smaller rooms, filled with only the agents involved, comprising of mostly singles, pairs or the rare group for larger operations. The only time Auris had ever seen all the Shadows in-office gathered together in a single room was when Admiral Harlaown had ceded to her directorship of the NSIS in a brief, unremarkable ceremony a handful of months ago. They had been silent then, only applauding mechanically at the end, although Auris didn’t take that as a lack of support from them, merely a lack of energy from the job that sucked the life out of them.
Today, a low buzz of whispers greeted her as she entered the room, the murmurs quickly quieting into silence as she stood at the head of the long table.
“As most of you know, we have been successful in gaining the rights to pursue the Gallant case, who murdered Agent Keen Touring while he was undercover with the Hellhounds last Wednesday.” Auris watched their reactions: Valiant looked too expressionless; Stormhawk looked unsurprised while his on-and-off partner Alphine looked mildly concerned, revealing the true worry she was hiding; Alvar Lonsdale shuffled his ever-present deck of cards, his eyes troubled; Clara Tagus, sitting in the corner, gave Auris a stare and a look that demanded private explanation. Auris didn’t have time to note any other immediate reactions before she continued with her briefing.
“During this time, Gallant is under guard by Long Arch officers.”
“It’s our case,” Tagus said, causing heads to turn back her way. She had an utterly normal appearance and demeanour, although she was displaying a dangerous aura at the moment. She didn’t have near the success rate or the kill count of Alphine, but Tagus didn’t kill with magic or distant weapons—indeed, she never used anything but her two hands and a thin wire. Her end scenes were neater to clean up after. Clara Tagus’ hands twitched as she repeated, “It’s our case. Why is Yagami butting in?”
“Yagami is working on this case as well,” Lonsdale pointed out, rapping his deck of cards against the table and punctuating his words with wooden cracks. “She is entirely authorized to do so—and most higher-ups would say that she’s more authorized than the NSIS. It’s not what we do.”
“It’s one of us who was murdered. One of us!”
Stormhawk interjected then, his voice a languid drawl. “Are we all assisting in this case or what? Is that why you’ve called us, ma’am?”
“We can’t help out directly,” Lonsdale spoke before Auris could. “Although the NSIS has jurisdiction over the Gallant case, only specific circumstances could justify relieving us of our normal cases to assist with a simple prosecution case. The red tape and fuss could cause Director Gaiz to have her justification questioned by a review panel for the superfluous action. A review panel which includes Lieutenant-general Yagami, no less.”
“And she knows it,” Jian scowled. “So that’s why she’s not worried about it. Why she’s not taking us seriously.”
“It’s not a matter of whether the Lieutenant-general takes the NSIS seriously or not,” Auris said, interrupting the tangent debate at where she felt was the right time. “The politics don’t matter. What matters is that Raven Gallant killed one of us and might walk away from it lightly. I may have to call upon some elements of your profiles in order to help put this murderer away, and I wished to ask your consent.”
“You don’t need to ask us,” Lonsdale said, riffling a perfect bridge before squaring his cards on the table. He grinned at her. “But of course you can, I’m speaking for all of us.”
No one dissented, but Auris noted that Lutecia Alphine twitched, her red eyes narrowing before her expression went impassive again.
“You want to make Touring sympathetic,” Stormhawk said astutely. “He’s the human one, not Gallant.”
“Good luck with that,” Charlie smirked, and although he was insulting the dead he had a certain wryly honest tone in his voice that made people agree with him rather than become infuriated. Besides, he was a veteran among a profession occupied and retired from by youngsters. “There was a reason why Touring was chosen to go undercover in a violent gang. Some things even the Shadows can’t teach.”
“It’s easy,” Jian said seriously, “to cover up anything with the right mask.”
“Not surprising.” Tagus smiled, baring her teeth grimly. “After all, an eleven-year old girl’s mask managed to conceal the heart of a killer.”
“We never know what people are concealing,” Auris agreed.
“I know little girls,” Lutecia spoke up then, her chair screeching backwards as she stood up in contained anger. “And I know what a killer’s heart is, Valiant. That girl is concealing nothing but the anguish and terror of losing everyone she had ever cared about and the pain of making a mistake that destroyed her forever.” She turned and walked out, letting the door close automatically behind her silently.
The discussion continued, but Auris only gave it half her attention. She was surprised that Alphine had taken so long before walking out, but Auris expected Hayate to know by tomorrow that Auris was stirring resentment within the Shadows over Raven Gallant. Really, soft-hearted women like Alphine were too easy to manipulate, despite all their self-perceived wisdom.
**O**
“They’re going to use the fact that
I used to be considered a criminal against us,” Hayate said matter-of-factly, pacing in front of the whiteboard with scribbled evidence labels and argument suggestions. “So you’ll have to be the one to present that part of the case, to prevent the defence from trying to undermine our arguments by turning it into a personal attack on me.”
“It would be a strong argument for the jury,” Auris warned, tapping her pen against the table. Strictly speaking, she didn’t have to take notes as Hayate’s Unison Device was transcribing their discussion and working plan, but Auris wrote a few key notes for herself. “Once they form an opinion of your actions, they won’t hear the rest of what we say.”
“I’ve already thought of that,” Hayate surprised her. “I have a full set of reports from the Book of Darkness incident, showing the non-lethal methods my Knights used to try and save my life. We’ll present this in the beginning as evidence of previous cases of leniency, emphasizing how no lives were taken in those cases, unlike this one. By bringing it up ourselves, that will take the power from our opponents.”
“That would work, as the jury is made up of TSAB ranking officers, they should all have some understanding of the details of that case,” Auris agreed, shuffling through the summaries of the cases Hayate had researched for that argument. “Wait, you should remove Lutecia Alphine’s case from here.”
“Why?”
“It’s unconfirmed whether she had killed anyone or not on her missions for Scaglietti…there’s evidence facing both ways, and while Alphine claims to have not killed anyone while under Jail’s employ—”
“If she said she didn’t,” Hayate said sharply, “then she didn’t.”
“Fine,” Auris answered brusquely, waving that aside. “Either way, she’s now a Shadow, and her kill count is the highest of all our agents—even including our veterans. It’s not common knowledge, but it would break our argument if someone managed to pull that up.”
“That’s true, there’s no need for that,” Hayate agreed easily, removing those sheets. “The less they look into Shadow business, the better it is all around.”
You just don’t want to ruin Alphine’s life by risking her Shadow life being dragged into the open. But Auris couldn’t complain—Alphine was one of her best assassins, and losing her would severely diminish the Shadows’ skill sets.
Then Auris noticed something strange in her package. “Why don’t we have school records of Gallant?”
“Well…she could have been home-schooled. But yes, I noticed that as well. See, that’s the odd thing,” Hayate said as she flipped to the same sheets in her folder. “I had the SIB and the GFI run records checks on Raven Gallant, and both separate systems kept getting errors. The records just aren’t there.”
“Did someone delete them?”
“No, which is the strange part. Oh, we had some medical records and citizenship forms, but after scrutiny we found that they were forged. But the only theory we could come up with as to why we can’t access Raven Gallant’s records is that they’re sealed.”
“Sealed? Why would a child have her records sealed?”
“Well, she could possibly be adopted…or somehow related to a Lost Logia event, which is unlikely given that there have been no major Lost Logia events in the last five years, which is as far back as the untampered data goes. My researchers are truly baffled, and what you’ve got there are the only real records they managed to pull from the mess.”
“Hm,” Auris thought as she tapped her pen on her chair arm. “How about her parents?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. They don’t seem to have as many public records as a normal middle-class family should, but there’s nothing that jumps out.” Hayate shrugged. “Unless they were simply very good at hiding their tracks, but we have nowhere to start looking for aliases or alternate accounts, so we’re stuck.”
“Alright then,” Auris said, looking back over the remaining sheets. “The rest of this looks good. I want to see Gallant today.”
Rap. Hayate squared all her sheets against her table-top. “You want to see her?”
“I feel that I should look her in the face,” Auris said, knowing that her words were true enough to come across as sincere. “If we’re going to do what we’re doing, I think that I owe her the courtesy of speaking to her. At least once.”
She watched Hayate start breathing heavily, her hands shaking on her desk. Auris hadn’t quite intended on making that a personal shot, but once she remembered some hidden details about the Book of Darkness incident, she kept her mouth shut on her apology, interested in seeing Hayate’s response.
The dark brunette laid her papers down, closing the file with one hand. She raised her head, looking at Auris with a mixed expression. The only emotion Auris was able to recognize was a sense of calm, of a love that came from forgiveness. It made Auris uneasy.
“I’ll give you a guide and let the guard on duty know.” Hayate put a hand to her face, turning in her chair to face her wall-high window. The sun was setting then, transforming the Lieutenant-general’s domain into a paradise, a golden city. But both of them knew better. That paradise was nothing but gilded buildings and appearances.
Her father saw the corruption in Cranagan and he risked his career to clean it up. Auris wasn’t naïve; she knew that her father had made a few deals with the devil himself in his attempt to achieve his goal. Hayate would like to believe that she can do the same while keeping the integrity of a hero.
There’s a reason why people rant and rail against the “higher ups”. They’re the ones who make the gray choices so that the heroes can stay snowy-white.
Auris rose, ignoring the glare she got from the floating Unison Device and saluted Hayate’s back. “I’ll see you tomorrow,
ma’am.”
**O**
Lucino Liile was like a carbon copy of all of Hayate’s Long Arch staff—cheerful, extremely competent at her job, and fiercely loyal to Hayate professionally and personally. Auris had tested her limited access by asking for different information on Gallant’s guard shifts and privileges, and despite Lucino’s slight jumpiness the young woman stood firm in her standard denial of Auris’ requests. The pale purple-haired woman also subtly deflected any probes Auris made about Hayate’s personal character by launching into stories about their experiences together during the Scaglietti incident at Riot Force 6, effectively answering the questions while remaining purely professional.
Auris could use a girl like her at the front desk of the NSIS—that would guarantee an instant patching up of any information leakages, she thought wryly as she listened to another Hayate Yagami legend.
“Here we are,” Lucino announced, handing her identification over to the guard on duty. “The Lieutenant-general should have sent her authorization over already.”
“You’re cleared,” the guard nodded, unlocking the door and ushering them in.
“If you don’t mind, I want to interview her myself,” Auris told Lucino as they checked in all their communication devices with the guards.
“Of course, you can lead—”
“I meant alone.”
A brief hesitation from Lucino before she nodded, clicking her heels and saluting. “Yes ma’am. Please call me if you need anything.”
“I will.” Auris watched her leave, then entered the small holding area, seating herself in the interview room. Long Arch wasn’t made for detaining prisoners for very long, so they only had a single interview room and the holding cells were small but more comfortable than most other locations.
The door on the opposite wall opened, and a single guard entered, leading a young girl by the elbow. The officer wasn’t heavily armed but neither was he over-confidant, just like any of Hayate’s staff. He pulled out the remaining chair for Raven Gallant, the girl whispering a thank you to him before she sat, staring down at the magic-locks on her wrists.
“Gallant, I am Director Auris Gaiz of the Naval Special Intelligence Service.” Auris didn’t expect the girl to even hear the titles and tags, and indeed Raven just nodded blankly in response. “I’m one of the officers investigating your case.”
“With Hayate-san,” Raven nodded, smiling briefly before she lost the smile and lowered her head again.
“Did Hayate-san come visit you often?”
Raven peeked up, her green eyes full of childlike candidness. “Yes, she comes every day. Even when I was at the other place, she would visit me whenever she had time.”
Auris clasped her hands together, leaning forward on the table. “I know that Hayate-san asked you some questions, but I was wondering if I could ask you some questions too, even if some of them turn out to be the same.”
Raven flinched, her shoulders curling in on herself. She sniffed, then seemed to calm down slightly. “Okay.”
“What were you doing that morning?”
“In the morning?” Raven glanced upwards briefly, then recounted, “I woke up late. Daddy came in and opened my curtains, telling me to get up, sleepyhead…and Mommy had made me Happy Face breakfast.” She whimpered, clearly losing memory of the peaceful morning. Auris knew that she wouldn’t be able to replace the image of her parents’ corpses whenever she looked back in her memory. None of them really ever did, that young.
“After that, what happened?”
A sob broke from Raven’s throat, and tears began sliding down her cheeks, faster and faster. “They killed them.” She couldn’t say more, just continued to cry. The door opened again and the guard came in, putting his hands on Raven’s shoulders with a father-like gentleness.
“Are you okay?” He asked her, crouching down and peering kindly at her face.
“Raven, do you know what you’ve done?” Auris said, ignoring the warning glare from the guard, who didn’t seem to care about ranks. But she wasn’t here for facts anyways. “You killed twelve people.”
Her sobs stopped, and Raven raised her head, staring at Auris with lost eyes. “I know. I did it.”
“You killed a TSAB officer that day. You shot him to death.”
“This interview is over,” the guard growled, rising and helping the lifeless seeming Raven up. “The Lieutenant-general is going to hear about this!”
Auris rose as well. It didn’t matter, she had gotten a measure of Raven’s reactions. “Aren’t you sorry at all?” She asked, frowning. She needed to know…
Raven turned, looking at Auris through one blank green eye, the other concealed by her dark hair. “If he killed my parents, I’m not sorry at all.”
“Then Hayate and I,” Auris said coldly, “won’t feel sorry for putting you away like you deserve.”
The girl’s eyes widened and a tremor shook her small body. “Hayate-san does?” Raven whispered, waves of hurt radiating through her trembling voice.
Auris glared back at her, a frigid smirk on her lips as she watched Raven be led away. “I promise you, we will find justice in this world.”
2010-05-10, 10:25
Author
. So to make sure that my new sections don't come out of the left field, I'm reposting the earlier Parts with new material so that the final plot is clear!
and I'm sure that those of the NanoFate crowd will be very pleased... Actually, probably not. Having Yuuno as a central character is enough to drive those zealots away from reading it in the first place, so I doubt we'll get any parties in the street 
