Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ A Long Night ❯ Rain ( Chapter 4 )

Rain

 

Suddenly, a loud bang made them both jump. It was followed by the beating of raindrops on the roof, and they realised that it was just thunder. Looking at each other, they laughed, their embarrassment wiped away when they realised that both had been surprised by the sudden noise. Michael gazed towards upwards and watched the rain striking the glass ceiling. Quietly, he mumbled “I miss the rain.” Robin looked up at the sound of his voice. “I never thought I would miss something so simple. I hated the rain before, everyone does, don't they? The normal people. But now, now I want more than anything else to feel the rain on my face again.” He fell silent, embarrassed again at his revelation. Robin nodded. “I know, at the convent, I wanted to go out in the rain sometimes. To let it hit my face. To be free of all those restrictions. To wash it all away” Michael looked at her more closely, he had failed to realise how close her life had been to his own in some ways. Her face had a far away look, maybe she was thinking something similar.

 

They fell back into silence, watching the rain. “You know, when they came for me, it was raining” Michael blurted out suddenly. It was the last of outdoors I ever felt,” He seldom talked about his capture, it was a taboo subject for most of the witch hunters, Amon especially. They all kept the illusion of co-workers maintained as best they could, but, Robin sensed, tonight was a night Michael needed to talk.

 

“I always knew it could happen if I carried on hacking, that one day I would hear that knock on the door, and that would be that. I just never thought it would be so soon, or like this. I mean, you hear stories, they float on the net, of people who disappeared, of people taken in the night. But, you carry on anyway. The knowledge is more important, the information outweighs the risk. I could find out anything, I felt like I was invincible. And, I used it badly sometimes, I hacked into my teacher's personal files after she reported me for abnormal behaviour, found out about her debts, her trouble with the police. I never told her, or anyone, but the knowledge gave me a power over her. That night, I was after something else, a bigger rush, I think, that was all. I don't even know quite how I ended up hacking STN-J, I certainly hadn't prepared for it. It was huge though, and so tempting, it took so long to persuade it to yield that I had to keep trying. And once I was in, there was the huge database, with all this information at my fingertips. It was the ultimate high, really.

 

Once I was in, I realised, the database was huge, and mentioned things I'd never heard of before. Witches, Hunts, these things were just rumours, though the sensible part of my brain was screaming at me to get out, that I would see something I really didn't want to if I carried on. But I couldn't stop. The more I read, the more I realised it was real, the rumours were true. I made a serious mistake, though. I stayed too long, the database was compelling, it still is for me. I thought, too late, that it was time I left, that I had been too long. I tried to quit, but the network would not let me out. I should have pulled the power cable, I should have turned the box off, but I didn't. I tried to escape, tried to delete any trace of me. I knew that it was over when they terminated my connection. I knew right that second that I was out of time, that they had traced me, that they were coming for me.

 

I kind of went mad; I got up, and started to throw any incriminating bits of paper, or CD's out of my window. I tried to format my computer, but I was shaking so much I kept making mistakes and it refused to format. The knock at the door came about three minutes after the connection was terminated. I heard my father talking on the intercom, then about a minute later, there was a knock at my door. In they came, smashing down my door as they did so. Six men with faces covered, three men in suits. I stood up, the men with covered faces aimed their guns at me, I froze. One of the suited men said “he's human,” in a surprised voice, then the others stepped forward. They grabbed me and handcuffed me, they attached shackles to my legs as well. Another man grabbed my computer. I was half led, half dragged out. All I could hear where my parents shouting at each other, already blaming each other for my arrest. They didn't even look at me as I went; they were too engrossed in their argument. As soon as we were outside, I was pushed towards a car. Two black vans were parked behind it, one with a team of people dressed all in white, holding a steel coffin shaped box. I was, for the first time, truly terrified. I have not known fear like that before or since. My legs turned to jelly, and I collapsed into the arms of the suited man who was escorting me. But, instead of being bundled towards the coffin, I was pushed inside a car. It had blacked out windows, and I couldn't see where we were going. I had rain on my glasses too, and with the handcuffs, I couldn't wipe it off. I was blinded and frightened.

 

Eventually the car stopped in an underground parking lot. They took me up in the lift, to the second floor. I was dragged down a long corridor, into an office with a man behind a desk, Zaizen. He looked at a screen, then at me, and said “Michael.” I don't know what I was feeling then. I had heard of people being dragged in by the police, but I really sensed that these people were not the police at all, and were something else. Every part of my body was telling me to be afraid, to run. Where could I run to? The man continued “I'm impressed, very few have ever got to the final stage of our security program, and you are the first human to get that far. Granted, there aren't many foolish enough to try, but your skill is certainly obvious to me. But, this doesn't change the facts. You are now in possession of information we would have rather kept to ourselves. So, where does that leave us, and where does that leave you?”

 

I knew what was coming now. Now was when they would do something to me. I had always thought that if the police had ever got me, it would be OK. I was too young to be sentenced, I would receive a light penalty. These were not the police, and I was in a lot of trouble.” Michael looked round the atrium and nodded, “oh yeah, a whole lot of trouble! Zaizen turned to me and said “it would be a shame to lose that talent you clearly have. And at such a young age. I don't do this job to kill children, I don't do this job to kill anybody unless it is entirely unavoidable. So, what we'll do is give you a choice. You can stay here, become our computer expert, we clearly need a new one. You will work as part of the team, and have access to some of the latest technology, stuff which makes your home PC look like a 486.” I remember wincing slightly, even then. My computer was the only thing I was really proud of, and had spent lots of money on, and here was this suit insulting it. Silly really. Then Zaizen continued, with a statement that made all thoughts of my computer fly out my mind. “There will be two provisos, however. You will follow the orders of the chain of command here at STN-J, and you will not leave the building for any reason without my personal approval. Of course, if you feel you cannot tolerate those rules, there is another alternative.” Zaizen glanced down at his desk, and I followed his gaze. There was a large syringe on the desk, shining evilly in the light coming from his computer screen. “If you do not want to come and work for us, I will have no other choice. You will never wake up. Do you understand?” I may have been young, but I wasn't stupid. I realised straight away what he was saying.

 

I took a deep breath in and said “I'll stay.” Nothing more than that. Nothing more needed to be said. He nodded, and, grunting, rose from the desk, picking something up as he walked round towards me. I flinched away as much as I could with all the restraints and shackles. He looked at me. “This is simply a collar” he said, calmly. “A reminder, if you will, of your choice. The tag gives your name, your code, your status. If you ever try to escape, I guarantee you will not get beyond the front gate, and your death will not be as simple as an injection and darkness. The collar will serve as a symbol of that, in more ways than one and it cannot be removed.” As he said this, he stood behind me and put the chain around my neck, loose enough so as not to constrict, but tight enough that it would not go over my head. He used something resembling a soldering iron to seal it shut, and that was that. I was now his slave.

 

I suppose you're wondering why I chose that option?” Michael looked at Robin, who was looking slightly shocked as the story unfolded. “That this isn't really a life, confined in here, forever. That it would have been quicker and ultimately less painful to have taken the needle. But I was fourteen. I wasn't ready to die there. I still am not ready to die. If I was, I could, easily. Climb up there” he waved at a pillar stretching up to the roof, “and just let go. Fly before the darkness hit. Or run outside into the sunshine, one last time. But I'm not ready for that. I still have something to offer, and something to carry on for here. Knowing that the option is there makes it so much easier though.” He smiled, a wan smile. “This is all a bit depressing really. I don't think I've ever told anyone about that night before. I've certainly never told anyone about the pillar. The others wouldn't understand, wouldn't want to know. I don't know why you're different, why I felt like I could tell you. Why I could trust you?”

 

“Maybe because we have something in common” replied Robin, quietly. “Maybe because I know, I can understand, just a bit, what your life is like here. It is different if you have never known freedom, though. I have lived in the convent my whole life, since my mother died giving birth to me. They knew what I was there, in the convent, and they taught me from a young age that the only choice for me was to become a Hunter, or else I would become the Hunted. The Craft grants a person very little choice, it rules every part of your life, always there, always bubbling. I have never had a choice, not really. If I were to run, they would hunt me down just as efficiently as they would get you.” Michael was quiet, he had never really realised how similar his and Robin's lives were. He felt a closeness to her he had never felt before. Partly sexual, if he was honest with himself, he fancied her to bits, she appealed to him in a way that Doujima, with her snide comments and nastiness never could. But it was deeper than that, he felt comfortable with her, relaxed, in a way he could not feel with the others. Robin calmed his inner demons, silenced the voices which laughed at his predicament. He looked at her for a long time, before he noticed her shiver. He realised that he was pretty cold as well. “Do you want to come to my room,” he asked, summoning all his courage. “It's a bit warmer, at least, than the office, and it's certainly warmer than down here.” “OK”, Robin replied, and they both stood.