| A man in a fairly hideous jacket is trying to escape pursuers in some back alleys. He's getting desperate, and when he pauses for breath, he sees a creepy old woman in a wheelchair in the shadows at the end of the valley. She chants something, which makes him collapse. When his pursuers catch up, he's still kneeling and the old woman is gone. The man get to his feet, turns around, and smiles insanely. The lightbulbs in the alley start sparkling with electricity and exploding, and then electricity fills the air. Haruto arrives on the scene of this killing, amazed at the amount of FACTORY personnel swarming around. Now FACTORY is working with the police, so they get the dispatches much earlier than before. Amon is also talking to the personnel, and determines that this is "another" case of a Witch killing people through control of electromagnetism. Robin, for her part, is literally sniffing around, and sees the shattered lightbulbs. Back at HQ, Michael briefs them that the previous case like this was 22 years ago, and almost identical to this one. Karasuma suggests that they investigate the original perpetrator's family, since the ability is hereditary, but Michael says that this Witch couldn't have had a child, and they were Hunted differently in the past. Doujima notices that Robin took a lightbulb from the crime scene, and scolds her. Amon says that since the Witch probably hasn't left Walled City, they're going to have to look for him on foot - out of 150,000 people in that maze-like slum. Amon blithely claims that Witches can't disappear into a crowd the way that normal people can. Robin is sniffing around, and that old woman in a wheelchair says that she's not going to find the person she seeks that way. They chat for a while, and the old woman is cryptic and tells Robin that outsiders should probably leave as soon as possible. Robin says she'll be fine, but the old woman says that even if Robin won't be harmed, the inhabitants of the slum can't say the same thing. She gets paged by the rest of the group, and finds them at a crime scene. It looks like the same sort of killing occured, but the slum dwellers disposed of the bodies before STN-J could get there - that's how the slum works. They have to wait for backup, and Robin notices another exploded lightbulb that fell from the grid above the killings. Ugly-Jacket-Guy is now running about in garbage heaps and trying to head underground. He's having slow-motion flashbacks to how the electricity had surged and the thugs chasing him had died, and he seems both horrified and uncomprehending of his own powers. Even now, his terror makes a nearby lightbulb explode. The old woman in the wheelchair is watching him from the shadows. There's been a third victim. Haruto reports that nobody will answer his questions, and Doujima and Robin are off investigating a lightbulb. Amon runs off after them, and Karasuma and Miho shrug. Their specialist says that the Witch was able to light up the filament so suddenly that it shattered the bulb, and Amon says that this means the Witch probably couldn't control his powers properly. He orders Michael to look for any recent power surges in the electrical grid in Walled City. Ugly-Jacket-Man is like a zombie, heading down a hall with electricity sparking and bulbs shattering all around. Amon says that the third victim was a slum resident, so the Witch is probably attacking people indiscriminately. Michael calls telling Amon where the latest power surge is, so Haruto and Robin zoom off on his motorcycle. Ugly-Jacket-Man manages to injure and chase another attacking yakuza member after him with the greatest of ease. The man pleads for mercy, but UJM is too far gone to hear him. But Haruto fires a warning Orbo shot, and his pendant is only barely able to protect them from the electricity. Robin stops the electricity with her flames, but UJM dispels the flames. The old woman scratches a rune that looks like an X in the dirt with her cane, and the electricity abruptly goes out, to UJM's horror. Now he can't block Robin's flames, and Sakaki is able to bring him down. As FACTOR takes the Witch away, Robin sees the old woman wheeling past, and frowns. That night, Amon's looking up information on this latest Witch, and Robin wanders in. It's the middle of the night, so they chat a little. The Witch was Narumi, a distant relative of the original electrical Witch. They talk about how such a powerful Witch would have been under surveillance, but according to Amon, Narumi's power never manifested until recently. Robin thinks about the old woman in the wheelchair, who at this moment is still writing in the dust. "In the end, the power you inherited from the dead was too much for you to handle." "Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. Enchanting voice. Forgotten past. Time sunk into darkness. Deep down in murky water, I touch the soul that has wandered in eternity." [previous] [next] |