| There's a big gathering in Harry's place - Amon, Nagira, Robin, Doujima, and Haruto. Master comes and hugs Robin in a less creepy way than I would have expected, and welcomes her back into the fold. After the credits, they drink lots and lots of coffee and discuss what to do next. They figure out that Karasuma's probably been taken by FACTORY, and Amon graciously allows everyone to go rescue her. During the conversation, it comes out that SOLOMON is keeping an eye on STN-J, and Zaizen's split off on his own to start a new brand of Witch-Hunting that doesn't require Hunters - only humans armed with Orbo. SOLOMON doesn't like this idea and wants to find out more about Orbo. The fact that it's Doujima who's giving this extended speech about office politics finally makes Sasaki suspicious, and he calls her on it. Doujima reluctantly admits that she's a spy for SOLOMON - but she's all better now! Sasaki's about to yell at her when Robin steps in with her "No, I'M the bigger backstabbing spy!" speech, which takes the wind out of his sails. Michael appears in Harry's, which is a bit of a shock to everyone, including me. Man, I'd thought that he had some kind of tracking device that would make his head explode if he left the building, or something similarly dramatic. At any rate, he reveals that he's now ready to help everyone with their little spot of insubordination. He offers to hax0r to find out Karasuma's location, and Nagira and Yurika go off to investigate Zaizen "using Nagira's methods." Uh huh. Haruto wants to go along, but Amon and Robin veto this and give poor Nagira another houseguest in his law office, much to his assistant's ire. Zaizen finds out from his little scientist flunky that SOLOMON wasn't the one who had cut his funding, but the Japanese branch had done it by themselves. They have their original funding for Evil back, so work can now proceed. (Ah, modern villains...they have to deal with red tape now?) Zaizen orders Flunky to up the number of hunts; now he's going to take over all the Hunts using regular humans armed with Orbo. Meanwhile, Hattori and Kosaka disconnect all the security cameras as Michael locks SOLOMON out of their system. Nagira and Doujima are finding evidence of Zaizen's role in Toudou's disappearance, and Robin and Amon are staking out Zaizen's Lair of Evil. Zaizen knows that STN-J is doing something, so he orders them put under observation. The STN-J people meet to discuss strategy, and decide that Michael will search the police net for calls between Zaizen and the police. In the meanwhile, Factory rounds up Nagira's little Witch informant. Zaizen comments that he's waiting for approval of the Orbo from HQ, and he thinks SOLOMON might be feeling threatened that Zaizen's research into Orbo was faster than theirs. Robin delivers home-cookin' from Harry's to Haruto, who's still hanging out at Nagira's office. Zaizen receives reports that another one of the Human Hunters lost his mind due to Orbo use, and he wonders why Orbo affects the human mind. He then smokes another cigar and reads his magical scrolling email, which lets him know that SOLOMON is transferring some imprisoned researcher to Europe. The information gathering and secret spy stuff goes on, and Amon drinks more coffee at Harry's. Michael hax0rs Zaizen's computer, and he passes on the information about the researcher to his friends. Amon asks Kosaka to try to find out from the police when the researcher's being transferred, but Kosaka's having no luck. Hattori innocently comments that maybe the police are under SOLOMON's thumb, which gives Kosaka the idea of playing the police directly against Zaizen - "If you tell me, STN-J will thwart Zaizen's plans!" This time he gets the plans, and gets to smirk. The police is transporting the researcher down a dark road. FACTORY goons shoot out the tires, and the police and FACTORY fight. Then STN-J steps in, and there's flames all over the place. The Orbo reacts to the flames, driving one of the FACTORY goons nuts. They flee, and STN-J go to the police van to find their target dying of a gunshot wound. Amon calls for the morphine from the car (that'd explain some things - such as what he did on long stakeouts...) but it's too late. The scientist looks horrified to see Robin (must be that hairstyle looming out of the darkness) and he calls her "Maria" and "the Devil's Child" before he dies. "Toudou...you built it!" Yes, like Robin needed something more to angst over! The next day, Amon and Robin go back to visit Toudou's mother, who agrees to speak with Amon but doesn't want Robin to come any closer. Amon asks the old lady about the picture, but she denies any knowledge of who the woman in the picture was. Amon starts to leave, and then asks her about her son's wife, Maria. At the name, the old lady freaks out and slams the door shut. In the foggy night, a mysterious old man waits outside the STN-J HQ gates... "Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. The caller. Forgotten records. Silent Catacombs. The shattered past bleeds for the truth by words of confession." [previous] [next] |