| Robin's dozing off in the car as she and Amon wait for someone to meet them on an abandoned street. She hurries after Amon when he leaves the car. Amon opens the other car's door and introduces himself to the old man, the visiting Inquisitor, but the Inquisitor ignores him and gets out himself, brushing off all Amon's polite inquiries. Inside STN-J, Karasuma's trying to catch some sleep but Haruto and Michael are loudly trying to get into some kind of site. Karasuma of course asks if it's a porn site when the boys won't tell her what they're doing (Kosaka has a "NO PORN-SURFING AT WORK" screensaver, meaning that this is a regular occurence. Heh heh.) But the boys are actually looking up about Inquisitors, since they don't get any official briefings. Information on Inquisitors is really restricted, so they're wondering why such an important person is visiting there. Apparently the Inquisitor is there for the Witch Trial, to test Witches to see if they'd make good Hunters. Everyone is a little unnerved by this, and Michael keeps hunting for more information. Robin, Amon, and the Inquisitor are driving around, and the Inquisitor tells Amon to let him out well before the church. He gets out and leaves, so Amon and Robin have to run after him. He goes into a park and starts digging in the underbrush, sniffing and acting rather, uh, oddly. Amon and Robin look at each other and shrug, and when the Inquisitor wanders off, Robin looks at the rock he was sniffing at and sees runes and Ogham marks. Michael is typing away when Zaizen comes up and asks him if he's the only one in the office. Amon called and said that the Inquisitor entered a Methodist Church and wanted to begin the Inquisition immediately, so Karasuma and Haruto were sent to bring the subject to the church. Zaizen, somewhat gleefully, says that the Inquisitors are somewhat medieval in their methods. Haruto learns from Karasuma that an AI can select potential Hunters to a certain level, but the final decision is left to Inquisitors, and the wrong decision will lead to the person being Hunted. Haruto's not pleased with this. The Inquisitor unlocks his briefcase and sets up some kind of utterly bizarre machine, the Inquisition Machine, as Robin watches. Haruto and Karasume forcibly grab the subject, Masuda, from his crappy apartment, and drive him to the church as the Inquisitor - who apparently was the same one who had done this to Robin - chats with her about the process of Inquisition and temptation and so on. Amon interrupts them with news of Masuda's arrival. Zaizen is getting a full audio and video feed of the Inquisition. The Inquisitor turns on the machine, which has a crapload of Orbo tubes, and asks Masuda about a corpse that was found two years ago in Tokyo. Apparently his death was caused due to Witchcraft, and although Masuda tries to deny it, the Inquisitor slides a ceramic plate with a Rune on it down the table to him (he mentions having given Robin a Rune too.) The Inquisitor keeps pressing Masuda, who starts to look panicked. Finally, Masuda claims that he did it in self-defense from a thug who attacked him, and he'd tried to run away. But this isn't a good enough explanation for the Inquisitor, and turns the psychological thumbscrews even more, reducing Masuda to a nervous wreck. The Orbo bubbles a little, and when prompted to show his true power, Masuda is torn with conflicting urges to kill the Inquisitor and to control himself. Finally he breaks down, and decides after all to kill the Inquisitor, smashing things, but the Orbo absorbs most of the blow and Masuda collapses finally, saying he doesn't want to kill. That ends the Inquisition. Robin and Amon discuss what the Inquisition means, and Amon says that Masuda's true darkness was revealed. Robin points out that everyone has a dark side, and Amon says there's a difference between greyness and true blackness of soul. Masuda leaves, and Amon and Robin follow at a distance. Robin remembers her days as a nun and her discussions with the Inquisitor, about how those with the Craft must endure any sort of indignities if they want to be allowed to survive. Masuda apparently hasn't held a job in two years, which is around the time that his power manifested. Amon speculates that SOLOMON deliberately made Masuda an outcast and then put pressure on him to make his Craft manifest so they could get a potential Hunter. Masuda loads up on cheap food at a convenience store, and is attacked by three punks as he sits in a park, trying to eat. They beat him up, and Amon and Robin drive up. Masuda snaps and starts crushing one of the punks, and he blows away Amon when Amon tries to stop him. Robin, watching, is forced to attack when Amon is about to get crushed. But Masuda is past reason and attacks her, so she blows him away. The Inquisitor, who was watching, smiles creepily, as if this is a good thing. Zaizen tells Amon that the stone with the runes was some kind of gravestone for Witch martyrs. The Inquisitor leaves, telling Robin that it seems that she's awakened to the pleasure of using the Craft. She asks him what he means by that. "Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. A bullet in the dark. The letter from the past. A smeared bond. The nightmare without a vanishing point visits from the abyss of darkness." [previous] [next] |