Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 9 – Specter

Mashiro watched Chiko leave for school. It was another day, and he had too many things to do today than he would not be able to get done. Though it was not as though he was not used to this by now. He was the caretaker for the two of them, while he was not completely unused to doing this sort of work. It was not usual for him to be taking care of himself and someone else. He was used to living alone.

This assignment that he was forced onto him still puzzled him. It was not as though he was unqualified, but he did not understand why Section Three had him protecting Chiko. How heavy was the importance of this one man in their fight against The Awaking Dragons? They usually had him on assignments into the far reaches of Japan, places where his talents were far more useful to the success of the mission. Guarding a child, however important was hardly his expertise. The job did bring some perks though as he realized.

Originally he hated the idea of having to guard Chiko, who was just a rich snob that was used to having everyone waiting on him. The man was accustomed to having everything go his way and being the center of attention. Though the sudden attack on him and the following events had been working to changing him. It was definitely true though that he had a temper, probably the result of a lot of things, though most importantly being stuck in a body he could not understand.

It was aggravating for him listening to Chiko always complaining, never having things go the way he wanted. He would throw a fit when things did not go right and even throw things. Mashiro head was still sore from that time. But in spite of everything Chiko did have a gentle side that seemed to pop up every so often that made him tolerable. And through everything Mashiro managed to find something that he thought he would never had found…quiet.

Naturally, this job was anything but quiet. However, this was something different for Mashiro there was some calm to the job that he never had been able to experience before in his life. While he was not always sure, he felt that he had found some sort of happiness, something that he thought a person like him could never find. He thought he was a person that was never allowed to know such things. There was too much that weighed his heart and mind down to actually truly feel happiness. This job might actually be just what he needed.

Mashiro walked out of the house and got into his car. He had errands to run. The first stop was the clothing store; he had to get a few more things for Chiko. Then it was the grocery store for food tonight and the rest of the week. Then on the way back he stopped for some food for lunch. He did not feel in the mood to make his own.

He drove back to the house to find something suspicious. The door was slightly ajar and there was a light on in the living when there should not be. It was middle of the afternoon, there did not need to be any lights on at all. His initial guess was that there was someone in the house, maybe Chiko; though this was unlikely he should still be in school for another hour or more.

Mashiro quietly got out of the car without making any noise. No doubt, his car arriving probably made enough noise to alert the entire neighborhood. But if they were alerted, then he would have to catch who ever they were coming out of the house. He unfortunately did not have anything with him, but the knife that he always carried around on him just in case. It was not much, but it was better than nothing right now.

With his knife in hand, he slowly approached the door to his house listening carefully for any noise that might be going on inside. He needed to know if there was still someone inside or if they had already been through the house. Unfortunately he was not hearing anything from outside. They were either gone or being quiet to not be caught by him. Either way, he had to go inside to find out what was happening.

He looked through the crack of the door, but there was not enough for him to see anything. The window was too far away from him and he was getting worried that he was going to be too late if he waited around trying to assess the situation fully. He needed to act quickly before whatever chance he had was lost. If there were someone in the house still, they would not be for long if they were smart.

Mashiro pushed the door open slowly, knife in hand ready to strike. But there was nothing in the room or the hallway. The place was a mess; someone had been through here looking for something. It began to worry him, who would come into his house and start tearing it about? Did they know that he was part of Section Three and looking for information? But the fact that he was part of the government was a secret; everything was handled in a manner so that it would not have raised suspicion. Could this just be a random act or something from that incident at the school? That man, Mr. Winter, did he find him and this was some sort of sign to him?

The questions had to stop; he had to search the house for anyone that might be still around. There were answers to be found somewhere. He briefly looked at the living room continuing into the kitchen, which was barely touched. Whoever it was, did not seem to think that there was much to find there. He continued up stairs, hearing a sound from one of the rooms. Mashiro quickly stopped, getting down close to the stairs to look around.

The noise was from his room, for an intruder looking for something on him it was probably the most logical place to start. He quietly approached the hall to his room, noise still coming from the room. Whoever it was, they did not seem to care or be worried that there was someone else in the house or even might be. Mashiro was at the door now, knife in the air ready to attack if they were close by.

He looked through the slight opening in the door to see someone in black clothes going through his things in the closet. They had not gotten to his dresser yet, where it would be the most dangerous to finding something. Mashiro had to stop him before that happened and find out what was going on that this person was going through his house.

He kicked the door startling the unknown intruder, who was a large built figure, more than likely a man. But with the person's face completely hidden behind a mask he could not see anymore than that. However, the mask was strange in that it was an actual mask, one that you would wear and not just something black to cover the face. There were simply two slits for the eyes and a hole to breathe from. Around the mask was a black cloth that covered the rest of the head.

The mask itself was half white and half black vertically. Aside from the solid base colors, the mask had a star shape over the left eye in white, contrasting the black base. Then on the right where the mouth would be was an extended shape of lips in black upon the white base. It was a strange mask, but it seemed familiar to him.

However, he could not wait, he had the time to act and threw his knife at the leg of the intruder to slow him down. The intruder was far larger than he was, so he needed all of the advantage he could in agility. However, the knife did not seem to slow the man down and came at him with his huge hands. Mashiro ducked underneath him and slid out of the way against his bed.

The man turned slowly having trouble moving around in the room. Mashiro could literally feel each step of the man as it vibrated through the floor. He wondered if the man would break the floor the way he was going around. But he had to keep moving; Mashiro got up and dashed between the man's legs narrowly as he tried again to grab him. As Mashiro passed behind him, he swiftly struck the back of the man's knee with his foot. Unfortunately all it did was send Mashiro against the wall in recoil. He could not even budge this man.

Mashiro scratched his head, trying to brush off the pain of hitting the wall. 'What this guy made of?' He tried to get up off the floor as the man sent his hand straight at Mashiro's face. The hand was so large that he easily wrapped his fingers around half of his head. The man lifted Mashiro up by his head off the floor and smashed him against the wall. Mashiro could barely cough as he was being flung around.

The man flung him into the opposite wall sending pain through his back. It felt as though his neck was going to snap off. Mashiro was trying futility to kick free, but the reach of the man was too great to allow him a clear shot on his body. He wondered if it would even work considering the massive size of this man. However, the man suddenly came to a stop. There was a pause that Mashiro took advantage of.

The hand wrapped around his head was loose enough that a sharp kick from Mashiro's leg and knee into the elbow and arm of the man managed to free him. Mashiro back away from him and the attention was refocused back on Mashiro. The man towered over him as Mashiro tried to prepare for anything that might happen. He was hardly in the condition to be fighting, but he did not have a choice.

However, the man simply slammed his entire arm into Mashiro as he held his arms up to block the attack. Mashiro was slammed into the edge of the wall next the door as the man pressed him against the wall. Then without continuing the assault released Mashiro and left the room and the house. Mashiro fell over coughing up blood; the impact must have cracked a rib, if not more. He faded out, collapsing on the floor in the doorway.

The man with the mask left the house and entered a white van. Inside the back of the van were computers and monitors all with images of Mashiro's house. There was a woman sitting at the computer that turned to look at him when he entered. He closed the door behind him and removed the mask, showing him to be a young man, though aged by his career. He had short black hair, an otherwise normal looking man.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner that he had returned?" the man said immediately.

"I told already, I was trying to tell you for the last twenty minutes, it was you that did not respond."

"I did not hear anything from you."

"It was not until a minute ago that I realize there was a signal jammer in the house. It was blocking my signal. Rather strange, for a simple average man, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes," he said pulling out the knife that was still in his leg. "He was definitely not normal, but nothing I can't handle."

"Did you find anything though?"

"Afraid not, if he has something, he hide it very well and I didn't have enough time to look."

"I'll report in. Get us out of here, before he gets anymore bright ideas."

"Yeah, yeah." The man passed by the woman to the front seat starting the engine. The van pulled away from the neighborhood quietly.

Chiko arrived back from school to find the house in a complete mess. He wondered what had happened here and shouted for Mashiro not getting a reply. "Mashiro! Where are you?" he said continually trying to find him. He was nowhere to be found on the first floor. Chiko forced himself to get up the stairs to try to find him. After several minutes he was upstairs finding Mashiro unconscious on the floor in his room in an equal mess as the first floor. Though it looked as though there had been a fight, especially from how Mashiro looked.

He rushed to Mashiro lifting him up seeing the blood on the floor, though not a great amount it was obvious that something happened. Chiko tried to shake Mashiro awake without much luck. He then kicked him in the shins, which jerked Mashiro awake completely.

"Gah! Quit doing that, would you. I'll never be able to use this leg again with how much abuse I take from you. Ow." Mashiro pulled himself up feeling the pain in his chest. He coughed once looking at Chiko who had a worried look on his face. It was such a cute looking face at times; he forgot that it was Chiko in there.

"What happened to you?"

"I got careless…"

"I'm not so sure that is what I would call careless. Who did this to you?"

"I'm not sure, I couldn't see their face."

"Was it The Awaking Dragons?"

"I don't know, doesn't feel like it. But I wasn't able to find out what they were looking for."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Worrying about me?"

"N-no, just can't have the person that is suppose to protect me unable to do their job."

Mashiro gave him a grin and then started to get up. He could feel the pain in his chest getting worse. It was hard for him to stand up without feeling the stabbing at his side. Chiko helped him to the bed so that he could sit down and recover himself. He needed his medical kit, but he did not want Chiko to see. "I'll be fine here for the time being. We need to know why they were here, go look around the house. See if there is anything that you find and let me know."

"Okay…you going to be alright?"

"It looks worse than it is. Go on now."

Once Chiko had left, Mashiro went over to his dresser opening up his storage of tools. Inside there was a medical kit that would fix him up. He pulled it out and closed the storage up before Chiko might return. Mashiro then started going through it finding what he needed. If he had broken a rib like he thought, he was going to need to repair it quickly. "This should do it, I hate nanomachines. At least it works."

Once he injected himself with the nanomachines that would go about repairing his body on the inside he began on the outside of his body. He pulled out bandages for himself and cleaned up in the bathroom. It had been a while since he had been in a real fight that got him injured. He wondered if he was getting soft. 'Two years…I can't believe it's been that long.'

Chiko returned to the bottom of the stairs refusing to come up and told him that he found nothing. Mashiro carefully walked down to join him. He could feel the nanomachines working; most of the pain was already gone now. It did mean that he had to be careful for the next day or two. However, it concerned him if they came to the house once, what would they do next? Did he even have one or two days before they made another move? Was it is even who he was thinking it was?

Mashiro helped Chiko clean up the house and get it back in order while keeping an eye out for anything that seemed suspicious. However, there did not seem to be anything he could find. They did not leave anything and whatever they were looking for it was not directed towards anything specific. Whoever they were they were skilled, especially that man. He was going to have to deal with that man again, he knew.

The rest of the night went by smoothly without anymore incident. Mashiro had trouble sleeping with what happened today on his mind. He was trying to remember that mask. It seemed familiar to him, but he could not place it. All he could recall was that he had seen it from years ago, he was certain of that. But it was too vague for him to remember at the moment that he just kept thinking about it in circles not getting rest.

When morning came he was hardly able to get out of bed from the lack of sleep. Though he had to make breakfast for Chiko, who would be up soon. He slowly managed his way downstairs after a shower. It barely woke him up; he was going to need something a little stronger than hot water today. He started warming some coffee, as he was heating up the stove.

Mashiro ran through the cupboards getting what he needed to cook with while he was yawning. He had everything ready and heating. He took that time to go check through some things while he was waiting for things to warm up. Chiko was still asleep when he passed through the living room upstairs.

Last night was still bothering him and he decided to check through a couple things on the computer. When he turned everything on, he saw that he had a message for him. The first thought was that it was someone from Section Three, but that did not make much sense. He did not wait in opening it up to find out who it was from.

When he read it, his eyes widened in surprise. It was the last person in the world that he was expecting to hear from again. The message was from a woman, he knew her from years ago when he worked in the Special Forces for the military. She was in the same team as him. 'Rachel…' He sighed reading the rest of the message. It was brief and vague.

I'm in Japan on a business trip and thought about you. If you are not busy, meet me at The Green House Café at noon.

-Rachel Lynn

'The Green House Café, I don't know. I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder what she wants.'

"Mashiro!"

'I forgot about breakfast! I'm upstairs, breakfast will be ready. Go take a shower!"

Mashiro rushed downstairs to continue on breakfast thinking about the message. It had been almost ten years since he had seen Rachel last. 'I wonder what she has been doing since then.' However, their parting was not something that he liked to remember. If she wanted revenge or payback he would not be surprised, considering what happened he would want to have revenge as well if he was in her place. The message could be a trap then, though it was a public place she could not do a lot to make a scene for herself. 'Though she was a little thickheaded at times and didn't think things through. But I guess that is why I liked her.'

He did not think he should go to meet her there were too many risks involved. Especially now that he was recovering from yesterday's injury. He would not be able to fight as well if it came down to it and she was definitely skilled. She was at least as good as he was if she had improved herself anymore over the years. There was no way he would be able to fight her in his condition.

Mashiro was broken from his thoughts by Chiko's squawking at the top of the stairs. He carried him down and showed him the breakfast. It was a little burned from Mashiro not concentrating for which Chiko yelled at him. Mashiro yelled back and they got into a fight knocking things around the kitchen. Once they managed to finish their fighting, Mashiro shoved the food into his mouth and kicked him off to school.

The morning was long for him as he kept pacing around the house trying to decide what he was going to do about the message. He had already decided that he was not going to go, but it still kept nagging at him. The nagging feeling that he had made him try to rethink his decision. There was nothing he could come to that would make him say that he was wrong in not going, though there was plenty he was wondering about. He did have questions, whether from his past that he tried to forget or the mystery and sudden message.

After wondering around for the entire morning he finally decided that he had to go. He had been trying to convince himself not to for the last thirty minutes and realized that if he did not go he was going to regret it. There was something that she wanted and he needed to know what it was. If it ended badly, then he was just going to have to deal with that. Rachel wanted to see him and he was curious to know why.

Mashiro left in the car heading for downtown Osaka knowing already that he was going to be late to the meet her. It was at least an hour with the traffic, even if he was speeding like he was. His reckless driving was working as best as he could knowing that he could not be noticed by the police.

He arrived an hour late to the café, but she was still waiting there in a red dress that made her stand out from the rest of the crowd. Though he would have noticed her without the dress, she was still as beautiful today was she was ten years ago. Mashiro let out a sigh from his seat in the car as he stared at her for a moment. He was still not completely sure about this, but he could not turn back now. Since Rachel was waving at him from where he was parked.

The two sat down under an umbrella in a quiet corner of the café on the street. Mashiro ordered some tea to try to calm his nerves. He had a lot of questions, as much as Rachel probably did. She was hard for him to read, even now. She looked pleased to see him, but he wondered if there were other deeper emotions behind her façade. They looked at each other for a few minutes without saying anything while he was trying to figure her out. It left him with few answers, but when his tea arrived the conversation began.

"You are late," she said.

"Yeah, I guess I am. Heh, sorry about that, lost track of time."

"You never could be on time. Always so carefree."

"Guess, I haven't changed that much."

"Didn't think you would. Out of all of us, you seemed like the least affected by anything. It is what made you so good."

"I don't know about that. We all carried a heavy weight."

"Yes, that is true."

"So how long as it been?"

"Ten years almost since you betrayed us."

Mashiro's gentle expressed changed, narrowing at her words. She was right, it was not something that he could forget in spite of how much he had tried. He had betrayed them. "I had my reasons."

"And for those, you sent us to the gallows. I still don't know why today. I tried to figure it out. You had been through everything that we had; you knew what needed to be done. Why? You were the strongest."

"Sometimes it is the strongest that are the weakest in reality."

"It's not like you be so indirect. Maybe you have changed."

"Ten years does a lot to someone. Even someone like me with a past that I can never forget."

"Why did you betray us? I want an answer!"

"Would an answer really satisfy you though?"

"No."

"Why did you send me that message? What do you want?"

"To the point. That is what I liked about you."

"You didn't call me out here to reminisce about the past, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

"What then?"

"I hear you have been working for the Japanese Government these days. A man with your skills is no doubt a great benefit for them. It also helps that you betrayed us to them as well doesn't it?"

"There a point to this?"

"No need to rush. I however have gone into business for myself. Seems it hard to get work being dishonorably discharged."

"We all knew what would happen if things went wrong. You going to blame me for the government denying you exist?"

"Hardly, but it does bring me to my point. You see my work as brought me to Japan, and though I loathe this place if the pay is good enough I will tolerate it. It seems that the Tokyo underground is in quite the state, not to mention the Osaka underground. It would seems that they are having troubles with a certain dead celebrity."

"You'll have to be a little more specific."

"Oh really, working for Section Three I would have thought you would know about everything that happens there. Considering their main interest the last few years have been with the Tokyo underground and an organization known as The Awaking Dragons."

Mashiro remained silent not really sure what to say. 'She is well informed. I don't like where this is heading.'

"No need to be quiet. You can try to deny it all you want, but don't insult my intelligence. You should know that information dealing was one of my many skills."

"If you are coming to a point, I am failing to see it."

"Since you are so well informed about the state of affairs in Tokyo, I was hoping that you would tell me what I needed to know."

"Which is?"

"Where is Chiko Toyozama?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"I said before, don't insult my intelligence. I know you know who he is. Even if you don't know where he is, I know your little Section Three is holding him somewhere. Rumors are that he is in Osaka. You wouldn't be hiding him now would you?"

'I don't have a way out of this. She already knows more than she should know about the situation. It is not as though I can make a move either out here without attracting attention.' Mashiro was tapping his leg with his right hand, feeling the knife that he had conceal up his sleeve. He knew that he could slit her throat in an instant, but he could not risk the scene that would be caused. It was his fear though that she did not care about creating a scene. "If what you say is true what makes you think I would help you?"

"Old comrade, guilt, I don't know. I figured I would be kind before resorting to other means."

"If your intelligence is so good, you should know that I left Tokyo months ago before the death of Chiko Toyozama. I am unemployed right now."

"Yes, I know. Records say that you left Section Three before that and have been carrying for a friend's child who lost their parents. That some sort of atonement?"

"Then I don't know anything."

"Moving to Osaka, rather strange. You have a lot of coincidences, I don't like coincidences means there is something else behind working."

"You can take your conspiracies somewhere else. I'm living a normal life here."

"As if we could be normal or fit into society. No, not you. You still crave the blood and steel against your hands. We are weapons and a fancy house and child will not cover up what you really are."

"That is in the past. If you have nothing more, I'm leaving."

"I have a feeling that we will be seeing each other again."

"Goodbye."

Mashiro stood up and walked out going back to his car. He did not like the feeling that he was having. There was a lot more going on here than he liked. She knew far too much, no doubt working for The Awaking Dragons in some capacity. That meant she was here to kill Chiko, though what happened to the scarred man that had been hunting Chiko. Did his failures mean that he was dead or removed from hunting him? His removal meant that Rachel was now here if that was true. She was independent and not tied back to their organization. A simple case of ignorance would erase everything.

He doubted that the Osaka underground would see things so lightly. However, no one knew that she was working for the Syndicate so nothing could be traced back. Protecting Chiko just became a lot worse for him. He was going to have to fight Rachel. Even if she did not learn the truth, she was already too close to leave the city alive. He wondered if he would be able to kill her though. While it was definitely true that she hated him for what he did, he did not equally hate her. It was more pity than anything else at this point. She obviously did not want his pity though.

Though even more troubling was the last thing that she said, "I have a feeling that we will be seeing each other again." She was planning something at this point; she would be an idiot if she did not. Mashiro just did not know what it would be. She knew his past as well as he did, she could use anything from his past that she wanted too. She needed him for the information that he had, which meant that she had not figured everything out. That was hardly the leverage he was wanting against her, but as long as she did think he had something she needed he was not dead. Though it did mean that he was in even more danger than before. She knew where he lived and the child form of Chiko staying with him.

Knowing how things will probably end up, she is going to call him again for a confrontation. This was just a warm-up exercise for her. She was judging him to see how he was over the last ten years. He tried to play it close to the vest around her knowing that they were both equally trying to understand the other. Even though they both knew each other very well, they took different paths and things had changed. They both needed to know what had changed.

He had not seen much from her, though from the way she was talking not a lot had changed for her. She was still cold and clear, as before, though the calculating she was doing was a little unusual for her. He remembered being more headstrong and not thinking about the situation clearly. She was just eager to take on the assignment and did not really care about the results or what she was getting into. They were perfect traits for someone in their line of work. It was obvious that her naivety was gone and she was serious about what she was doing. She was deadly already with her skills; this made her even more so now that she was more refined.

Mashiro drove home with the heavy thoughts on his mind unable to shake it. For once he was actually driving normally along with everyone else, but it only accented how deep his troubles were. Having a shadow from the past return was hard enough, knowing that it meant opening old wounds and creating new ones was what concerned his mind. Chiko was already involved in more than he needed to be and now along with Mashiro he was being pulled into an even darker web.

As he was thinking about that, he realized something from her words. He cursed himself for being so stupid. She was not going to meet him again; she was going to force him into a position he could not avoid. She was after Chiko knowing that he had to protect him even though she did not know the truth. 'What a terrible irony to have what you are seeking and not realize it. I have to get to Chiko before they do.'

Mashiro pushed the gas and sped ahead of the cars racing to get back to the school before Chiko got out. Unfortunately he spent so long with Rachel and driving slowly that he did not know if he was going to make it back in time. He could not let Rachel have Chiko; he did not know what he was going to do.

He made it into the neighborhood as Chiko was being let out of school. Mashiro could see him walking out of the school talking to his friends. Everything was safe; he started to pull the car in to pick him up. Chiko was almost out of the gates of the school when a large white van pulled up at the front. Mashiro had to stop immediately in order to not hit the van that recklessly got in front of him. 'What family drive something like that…no wait!'

Mashiro jumped out of the car rushing to the gate when a large man stepped in front of him. The shadow he cast completely covered Mashiro, he knew it was the man from yesterday. He worked for Rachel; they were here to kidnap Chiko. Mashiro did not have time to fight with him and ducked underneath him through his legs. Unfortunately the man was quick to grab Mashiro by the leg and whip him back up. He swung him against the van making a dint in the metal and knocking Mashiro out cold.

He was left on the cement as the white van sped away with Chiko in the back screaming for someone to help. The students around Mashiro were left confused and trying to wake him up.

Mashiro woke up in a classroom, looking around it appeared to be Chiko's classroom. He blinked to clear his vision and found Mrs. Shimasuke face in front. It made him jump back in the chair that he was sitting in and slide back against the wall. He did not know what she wanted, though now was not the time, he had to find Chiko before anything happened.

"Are you feeling okay, Mashiro?"

"Umm, yeah Mrs. Shimasuke."

"I told you to call me Natsuko."

"Where is Kohana?"

"I don't know. None of the children are saying anything, they are all too scared." Mrs. Shimasuke placed her hand on Mashiro face pushing his hair out of his face. It made Mashiro pull back; he had like her before she started being so forward about her feelings towards him. Now, she was making the situation awkward. He needed to leave immediately Chiko was in trouble.

"Please, Mrs. Shima—"

"Natsuko."

"Er, N-natsuko, please I need to find Kohana. I need to leave immediately." Mashiro climbed out of the chair and fled or ran, it was hard to tell, out of the classroom to his car. Mrs. Shimasuke fell over her desk and into her chair indelicately.

"I'll get him next time."

"Mrs. Shimasuke, something wrong?" Mrs. Toki said as she was passing by.

"Oh, no its nothing," she said slightly embarrassed and trying to find her footing.

Mashiro raced back to the house knowing that he was going to need to be prepared this time. He rushed upstairs ready to fight to get Chiko back. He pulled out several weapons from the storage of the dresser's mirror. It was mainly knives and simple handguns, things that he could carry with himself and not be slowed down. This was going to be a long fight and he could not risk being too slow. These were professional that knew how to fight, no chances.

As he was driving, he could feel his heart's pounding slow down. That feeling he had hoped to forget was coming back to him. It was the cold emptiness that left no room for emotion or care about oneself. He hated that feeling, but Rachel was not pulling back and he needed his edge back. It was a dark place that he had found himself in too often and always relying on it to get him out of tight situations. Ten years, it had been ten years since he felt this. His body was relishing the feeling while his mind was twisting in pain.

Mashiro passed the cars on the highway following the tracking signal on Chiko. He was closing in on them as they began to pass in the edge of the Osaka near the factory area. The van ahead was speeding along realizing that Mashiro was following them. The area was going to be a rough place to keep track of them if he lost them for even a moment. There were too many places to hide that would confuse his tracking device or shield it completely.

He pulled in closer when the back of the van door opened and the large man aimed a rifle at him. Mashiro dodged out of the way as the man fired into another car igniting into an explosion that started a chain of wrecks behind it. However, the man was not finished as he fired again, but failed to hit Mashiro. The shooting continued with Mashiro avoiding it when the man suddenly changed his target and hit a tank in a nearby factory that blew up. The resulting explosion caused a tower to weaken and fall over the road blocking the path. Mashiro was stuck as the van drove off.

However, Mashiro was fortunate, the man got off and was standing on the opposite side of the tower. The large man smirked at Mashiro. Mashiro was eagerly looking to finish what this man had started. He was going to end the fight with this man who had left him unconscious twice already. Mashiro was tired of being led around and beat up.

Another explosion cracked through the dust setting in the factories of Osaka. The two men stood off watching each other to make a move. The large man leapt on top of the tower that had fallen. Mashiro followed now with nothing dividing them.

"The boss said you were strong, a skilled warrior. I'm not so sure," the man said.

"You will find out soon enough how strong I am."

"I hope so, lets see if you still deserve that title you earned."

"Crimson Angel," he replied a name he long left behind. But it was awake once again, returning from its slumber of ten years and it was craving blood. Mashiro eyes narrowed reflecting the red flames of the fires appearing almost crimson as his blood lust was becoming.

Preview for the next episode:

"Crimson, it is such a fine color. How it pours so finely as it is released. Ah, the smell of iron, the metallic taste across the lips. It is a beautiful, wondrous-"

"Er, y-you're creeping me out Mashiro. What happened to you?"

"Ah, such a young child."

"Hey, c-cut it out."

"Tell me, child have you had the pleasure of knowing such a fine elixir?"

"You're acting too weird, what happened to you, Mashiro? Did someone hit you over the head?"

"Ow! Gah! Stop kicking me already!"

"Finally, normal. Creepy Mashiro is gone."

"Huh?!"

"Hey! You're making me forget about the preview. The next episode of The Inner Man, Angel. Can Mashiro stop being creepy long enough to save me?"

"Creepy? Argh! Quit that already!"

"He won't be the only one I kick in the next episode! Don't miss it! Tee hee!"