Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 25 – Shattered

There was darkness in the room feeling out the presence of those that would disturb the peaceful solitude. Black matte covered all to keep even the light from escaping from its net. It wanted no visitors; the unwelcome guests had forced their way in without care. There was no way to remove them and thus no peace any more. Darkness relinquished itself to the light allowing but a soft beam through the room. The two guests refused the light only spreading across their mouths.

From the door came two more to enter the room. The light revealed them to be Mr. Autumn and Mr. Winter. They approached around the middle the room where the other two waited for them. Once again the four were gathered. "The assassin is dead. She'll be of no more use to us," Mr. Autumn said.

"Yes, it would seem in the end she really was just a woman after all," Mr. Winter said.

"She had her usefulness for the group," another said.

"It would have been better if she had kept herself alive a little longer," the other said.

"No matter, the pieces have already been set into motion."

"All we have to do is watch now," Mr. Winter said.

"Yes, the stage has been set."

"What if the actors forget their lines?" Mr. Autumn said.

"The final results will still be the same, one can't control humans. One can control fate though and that does control humans."

"I shall enjoy the show," Mr. Winter said.

"Yes, we must be going if we are to make our appointment," Mr. Autumn said.

Mr. Winter and Mr. Autumn departed the room leaving the other two behind. The light went out as the two remaining vanished without a sound. The room was left empty once again to return to its quiet contemplation.

- - - - -

It had been too long of a wait. However, it was finally over and they would be able to continue the assignment. The Scarred Man had been biting his time until Kitsune and Shisa were completely recovered from their injuries. Even with the medicine that he was able to use for them it had taken too long. He did not enjoy sitting around and doing nothing. But he needed them if he was going to complete this assignment once and for all. The guardian that was protecting the child was a resourceful person and that strange child. He knew that he was not going to be able handle the two of them if they managed to fight together.

He doubted that there was the possibility of that happening given how the two were when he saw them. However, he could not take that chance anymore. This needed to end and it needed to end correctly. He was not going to allow them to slip through his fingers any longer. His pride and honor had been damaged so many times nothing seemed to matter to him anymore other than restoring it. Everything else around him was insignificant to him. It meant more to him to see that he would reclaim what he had lost. He had barely held himself back from blindly going after the man called Mashiro.

The man was a worthy opponent and he was going to kill him even if it meant that it was his final act upon this earth. He would give everything for that singular goal. It did not even matter to him that the syndicate wanted Chiko Toyozama dead. That was just a secondary objective to him now. The man would still die, but for someone that could not provide him a challenge it was an empty fight. His honor would be not satisfied any longer by an empty fight that came easily.

He looked over at Kitsune and Shisa in the other room. They were recovered for the last couple days and had been getting themselves back into shape. The stiffness from lying around seemed to be breaking. Once they were ready to fight again, they would move out to end this. However, the sound of an incoming communication brought them to a stop.

Kitsune walked over and picked up the earpiece. He walked over to the Scarred Man handing him the earpiece. "Its them."

The time had come then, he had hoped to avoid this from coming so soon. "Hello."

"You are to return to Tokyo immediately. You're services are no longer required in Osaka. Everything is complete; Chiko Toyozama's death means nothing anymore. You're failure to kill him will be addressed when you return."

"I am not returning to Tokyo."

"What? Are you disobeying an order from The Superiors?"

"Yes. I have matters to finish in Osaka more important than returning to Tokyo."

"Then you are no longer a part of The Awaking Dragons syndicate."

"I understand." The line went dead after that and the Scarred Man pulled the earpiece away. He placed the earpiece down on the table and looked up at Kitsune and Shisa in the other room that were waiting for a response. It was easy to see what they were expecting. They had been planning for the day that this would happen. "We leave in ten minutes."

"This is then?" Shisa said.

"No turning back now," Kitsune said, "One way or another this is going to be the end." They all started packing their things quickly. Most of what they were going to need was already ready for them. They had been expecting this to happen eventually and knew that they would not be given very long to prepare.

- - - - -

The Superiors ended their conversation with the Scarred Man. There was no talking between the five of them as the center one motioned the attendant at the door to come before them. The man obediently approached the front of the veiled balcony. "Send squads 1 through 50 to Osaka immediately."

"50 squads? But sir, we can't move that many without alerting those in Osaka."

"Those are the orders. Their target is the Osaka team. Kill all three members and any witnesses."

"Very well."

"We will soon reach a position that the groups in Osaka will not be able to interfere with us."

"Yes, sir." The man then walked out of the room into the hallway. There were two other guards just outside of the door. "New orders. Tell squads 1 through 50 to assemble in Osaka."

"1 through 50? That is a tenth of our entire assault teams. Its crazy."

"Those are the orders. Care them out immediately. This is top priority, the Osaka team must be killed along with any witnesses."

"The Superiors over rate the man's abilities. That is five hundred men just to take down three people."

"He was our best, that may not be enough."

"I can't believe he's betrayed the syndicate."

"Enough talk! Send out the orders!"

"Yes, sir!"

"So, its come to this…" the attendant said.

- - - - -

Mashiro was gathered around the computer that the Doctor had set up in his laboratory. It was very unsettling knowing that this complex existed in some part above them. The physics of it did not really make a lot of sense to him, though he had stopped trying to understand it a while ago. At this point he could only accept that what he was seeing was reality, even if it did not feel like it.

They had been working non-stop for the last week trying to crack through the network of The Awaking Dragons mainframe. Mashiro wanted answers and he knew that if he had them he would have more to bargain with when the time came for everything to end. He was tired of being the dark the entire time and being too late to do anything about the situation. Mashiro was used to being reactionary to everything that happened, but when it involved the life of Chiko he had to stop. He had to know the truth behind this all and finally put an end to it.

Their previous attempts had only found them running into government security systems. The fact that they were being directed to the government was not sitting well with Mashiro. There was no reason for the syndicate and the government to be connected anymore with Section Three destroyed. At least that is what he had hoped. He was quickly realizing that Section Three was merely a front to another front in a deep rabbit hole that did not seem to end. His biggest question was why the government and the syndicate were connected in the first place. They were always working against each other for different goals, usually fighting each other. The syndicate would want nothing to do with the government unless it furthered their goals.

Mashiro knew that the syndicate must have reasons for working with the government. Unfortunately, none of it was making a lot of sense to him right now. And some how this was connected to Chiko seeing something that he should not have that could completely jeopardize whatever the syndicate scheming. What Chiko knew was so serious that they would go to any length to have him killed, even attacking on school grounds. And yet Chiko could remember nothing, they knew that he knows nothing and they still wanted him dead in spite of that. It did not make any sense. Chiko was a loose end, but he was not that important if he could not remember anything.

"Why are you hacking into the government's mainframe?" Mashiro asked the Doctor. He hardly understood a thing that the Doctor was doing, especially at the speeds that he was working at. There was one thing that he did recognize well enough to know where the Doctor was looking into this time. "If you are caught, it means the government will be after us on top of the syndicate!"

"So I won't be caught."

"That's some confidence. You aren't even a professional hacker."

"The syndicate angle is leading me to dead ends, the security seems to be lighter from the government side. If they truly are connected as it appears, then I might find that backdoor I've been looking for."

"You've been looking for a backdoor for a week now. Why don't you try the front door?"

"Simpleton. No one uses the front door when hacking, it's like knocking to be let in."

"Yeesh, someone's on edge, doesn't even get a joke," Mashiro said softly.

"Quiet you, you're too loud."

"Tch!" Mashiro looked the other way tired of having to deal with the Doctor. He was even more annoying when he was concentrating. Not to mention that it was a little creepy seeing the Doctor so serious. It seemed unnatural for such a contradiction to actually exist. 'Hopefully this will all be over soon. Then things can truly calm down.'

- - - - -

Chiko looked up from his work half listening to Mrs. Shimasuke as always. It was after lunch so all he was thinking about was how much longer he had left in the school day so that he could leave. He did not have much to do, but going to school was still no more enjoyable than it was the first day that he arrived. All of the assignments were still as boring as they ever were. Though he did not really expect there would ever be a challenge in the class. It left him plenty of time to exercise his hand with random sketches on his paper.

There was something strange about the day that he had for a while. He felt as though he should be expecting something to happen. It left him anxious, his legs had been shaking for the last thirty minutes unable to stop. He did not know what was wrong with him, but it was increasing his boredom. There was this huge expectation of something that would lift his boredom yet it was not coming. Chiko could not even imagine what it was that would relieve him of his boredom, but he hoped that it would arrive soon.

"Kohana, the desk is shaking," Sakura said.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry." Chiko moved his leg away from the leg of the desk realizing that it had migrated across the floor until being stopped by the desk leg. It was still shaking, but not as bad as he concentrated on it more.

"You alright, Kohana?"

"Yeah…just a little bored."

"Oh?"

"What can you expect, the little genius is always bored making her doodles," Tsuneo said from behind them having eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Yeah, even Mrs. Shimasuke has trouble keeping up with her," Daiki said. "Always showing off."

"You two looking for trouble?" Chiko said turning his head around looking at them narrowly through his eyes. The two did not seem to react as he had hoped. They only continued to grin at him as though they wanted a fight with him. He did not understand them. One minute they would be completely fine and then the next they were looking for trouble to point of causing trouble just to find it.

Suddenly Chiko was hit in the back of the head by something. It was not too hard, but he still noticed it. He turned around to find the teacher glaring at him. From the look she was giving him he knew to stop what he was doing. She was scary when she got angry and was not being listened to. A fact that Chiko had learned the hard way several times already. Tsuneo and Daiki immediately returned to their innocent looking selves.

"What do you think you are doing?" Mrs. Shimasuke yelled. Tsuneo and Daiki grinned to themselves while Chiko began to turn blue. "Don't think that you two are safe either." They immediately sank in their seats trying not to make too much eye contact with her. "Now pay attention to the lesson. I'll be calling on the three of you." Chiko looked back up Mrs. Shimasuke in a challenging expression knowing that it was hardly a threat to him. "I'll be calling on the two of you," she said correcting herself.

Chiko grinned to himself frustrating Tsuneo and Daiki by him getting out of the punishment. Tsuneo decided to retaliate against him by hitting him in the back of the chair. Chiko felt the foot in the back of his chair knocking his hand off his paper. He lightly pushed his hand against their desk sending everything over in a loud crash that alerted all of the class. Chiko minded his own business while drawing and looking up at the front as the students looked back to see what happened.

Mrs. Shimasuke stormed to the back of the class looking like she was going mount the students to the wall. Tsuneo and Daiki clung on to each other as Mrs. Shimasuke marched closer. They did not even have enough breath in their throats to accuse Chiko. However, Mrs. Shimasuke pulled Chiko up by his blouse as she passed by and threw him at the wall. The other students crawled away from the incident hoping to avoid the wrath.

Chiko's head was stuck in the wall as his body dangled to the point that he did not know what was happening anymore. All he heard was muffled sounds that were not really entering his ears dazed as he was. Tsuneo and Daiki tried to find themselves a safe corner away from the teacher, but she continued after them. She picked up some pencils from the floor that had fallen and threw them at the two. They shined in the light as they dug into the wall where the two were cornered.

"Now get your things back together and pick up your desk. Don't think that I can't see everything that you do." Mrs. Shimasuke walked back up to the front of the classroom. "And pull Kohana out of the wall."

The two carefully pulled Chiko out of the wall seeing his eyes still dazed from being thrown. They planted him back in his chair and started to put everything back together when Mrs. Shimasuke began her lessons. She slammed the chalk against the blackboard so hard that it came out sounding like a gunshot. It left everyone in surprise and woke up Chiko knowing that sound too well. Mrs. Shimasuke stared at her piece of chalk confused.

The door to the classroom was thrown open roughly that it nearly broke from its track. Standing in the doorway to Chiko's surprise was the Scarred Man gun in hand. At his side were the two men that had been with him the last time seemingly all recovered from the building that fell on top of them. Chiko's legs that had been shaking suddenly stopped along with the rest of his body. While the rest of the students were screaming and crying, all he could was remain in his chair paralyzed.

Mrs. Shimasuke's eyes widened in fear as she was staring down the barrel end of the Scarred Man's gun. The other two with him were watching the rest of the children. All of them screaming and shouting remembering the last time this happened at the school.
"W-what do you want?" Mrs. Shimasuke said barely getting the words out.

"Kohana Kitayama, where is she?" the Scarred Man said.

Chiko's eyes widened when he heard his name being called. He knew already why they were here, but not even the Scarred Man had come after him during school before. They were usually more discrete about it to wait until school was finished. Something was different about him than the last time that he saw him.

The children divided revealing Chiko sitting at his desk still. All of them too frightened to know what to do. They began to huddle together hoping that this was not the moment that they were meant to die.

"Chiko Toyozama, we meet at last," the Scarred Man said pointing his gun down at Chiko. The fact of his real name being called suddenly made his pupils shrink. The truth was known now and this was his last moments of life. Chiko knew that it was over now, there was no more future for him anymore. Accepting his fate, Chiko stood up from his desk looking down at the Scarred Man through the aisle of children.

If he was an actually match for the Scarred Man this might feel like a duel. However, it felt more like an execution now at this point. There was nowhere to run or hide and he did not even have the time to transform to try to block the bullets. Chiko had nothing he could do. His limbs hung at his side accepting the speeding death coming at him.

"You shall die now for the trouble that you have caused me," the Scarred Man said pulling the trigger on his gun. But before he could fire the glass of the classroom shattered diverting his attention and sending everyone to the ground. From the windows came men in black swinging in from ropes heavily armed for a fight. They did not hesitate to open fire on the entire classroom without regard to whom they were aiming at. Chiko was on the floor immediately with the rest of the students, but not before some of them took bullets.

He watched in horror as blood from the innocent was sprayed over him again. 'Blood…' Several children around him lay on the ground crying in pain from wounds. None of them were fatally injured. Chiko tried to move his paralyzed body to help them, but his mind was trapped in the blood that he could not erase.

Above the desks the Scarred Man and his two men were in a firefight with the men in black that had crashed in their classroom. Lines of bullets were streaking across the room putting holes into the walls. Plaster and paper flew up into the air as dust and smoke began to fill the room. The deafening sounds of weapons fire was all that could be heard through the classroom with neither side given up. Soon more men burst through the windows adding to the shootout bringing the fighting to no end.

Chiko slowly pulled himself out of the nightmare that his mind was driving him into. 'Legs move…' He was starting to get feeling back into his limbs as he tried to push across the floor. 'Come on, now! I need…strength…' His classmates were lying on the ground needing his help. 'Stupid body…they're in trouble…' Chiko felt his legs finally spring into action as he lifted himself up off the ground.

The shootout was still going on with more men arriving each minute. The Scarred Man had taken up outside the hallway shooting in at the black clothed men. There was already several dead spreading blood across the floor frightening the children as they collapsed nearby. He was holding his position at the edge of the class not leaving to find safer ground as more continued come from other directions.

Images of his classmates, his friends being struck by stray bullets replayed in his mind. He could see the blood spraying everywhere. They had nothing to do with this fight. They were all innocents with no reason to be here. And them, they had no regard for life. None of them cared about anyone. They were shooting kids, children, his friends. They were shooting his friends. 'My friends…'

'Chiko?' Kohana said confused by what she was suddenly feeling swelling up in their body. 'Chiko?'

'I won't let them! My friends…'

Chiko stood up in the classroom tired of being scared and them hurting his friends. His eyes narrowed shining red for a moment. "Transform!" Chiko yelled with anger through his voice. The entire room shook knocking the lights outs as sparks fell down like rain in the classroom. The firefight slowly came to an end as the entire room was brought into a pitch black that not even the sun outside could penetrate.

"How dare you! You hurt my friends! I can't forgive any of YOU!" The entire room was shaking as he spoke violently. "NOW DIE!" Chiko's eyes glowed red in the room as the only thing that could be seen. There were suddenly sounds of men screaming and bones crunching. The wet spray of blood was heard everywhere as the form of Chiko slowly became present floating above in a purple aura.

The light was slowly returned to the classroom to reveal the desks and chairs twisted at the side of the room. Then red, crimson and blood dripped from the metal legs. The men in black were crushed and bound in a horrific mess by the desks and chairs. Only one of the men dressed in black remained. Having seen the fate of those with him he was up against the corner hoping not to be next. But Chiko was already moving towards him ambient mist flinging the remaining chairs away as he marched towards the man.

More men arrived in the hall distracting the Scarred Man from the classroom. He was not sure what he had seen in there, but it was different from the last time. There was only malice and anger in what he saw, nothing like what he had fought before. This side was unlike anything he had seen or even expected. It was clear that he had the single intent to kill and without any mercy. That look of death was not in his eyes the last time that they fought.

Chiko materialized his sword without words and threw it at the man in the corner piecing him through the head. The sword nailed the man to the wall keeping him from fall over as blood slowly dripped down and across the blade. He finished walking over to the man and pulled the sword out of the wall flinging the man's body across the room and through the doorway in front of the Scarred Man.

"What is she?" Shisa said seeing the dead body slide across the floor nearby him.

"She's not human! That's not the same child from before," Kitsune said between shots as he maintained his cover.

Chiko breathed slowly as the transformation faded away. 'Too much…' He bent over feeling his muscles weakening from the sudden exertion. He had released himself at his limit so quickly that his body was shaking trying to recover. Chiko never felt so tired before in his life, but he knew that he could not give up now. His friends needed saving still, the school was turning into a battlefield.

He turned back around too look at all of the frightened and staring faces of his classmates. None of them knew what to think or even what to say. Most seemed scared of him rather than glad that he saved them. He did not know what to do to ease them; it was not what he was expecting from them. They were looking at him like he was a monster, like one of the men he had killed.

"What are you?"

"Monster!"

"How could you do that?"

"Monster! Monster! Monster!"

Chiko collapsed to the floor holding his head in his hands. 'Monster…monster! Monster! Monster!' He tried shaking his head to get the voices out of his mind. 'No! I had to do it! I was protecting them!'

'Monster! Monster!'

"What's this?" the Doctor said suddenly.

"You find something, doc?" Mashiro said looking back at him. He had been resting against the wall for the last few hours feeling bored from watching the Doctor. Mashiro quickly rushed to the Doctor's side wondering if he had found that back door. "You get in?"

"No, this has nothing to do that."

"Huh, what are talking about?"

"It’s Chiko. He transformed just a minute ago."

"He did? That can only mean one thing, he's in trouble."

"I've never seen this levels before. They're unfathomable. Not even my sensors were able to determine the strength that he was at. It shouldn't be possible."

"It doesn't matter. Chiko would only do that when he was in danger. I'm leaving immediately." Mashiro ran to the door that was the exit out of the lab when the Doctor locked the door. "It won't open. Doc!"

"You need to see this."

"I don't have time for this, Chiko's in danger!"

"You're walking into a death trap. If you don't see this I won't let you out!"

"You locked it?" Mashiro angrily walked over the Doctor ready to punch him. He started to grab the Doctor when he caught the screen out of the corner of his eye that made him stop. His eyes widened in shock and disbelief. On the screen was Chiko's school and surrounding it was hundredsof men. There were drop helicopters landing on the roof and dropping men in from the window. It was a full-scale assault. "Oh my-"

"Exactly."

"What is going on? This is insane! What madman does this?!" Mashiro ran to the door as the Doctor unlocked it. "I hope I can get there in time. This really does look like the end!" Mashiro threw the door open returning to the house. He ran to his room where he started to load up on the weapons, this time looking for heavier weaponry than usual. 'Chiko, live…I know you can…'

'Monster!'

'No, I'm not!' Chiko collapsed to the ground trying to get the voices out of his mind. He had only wanted to help everyone. Now they were staring at him with fear. He could not help them, for all the strength that he had it was useless. The voices would not cease echoing deeper into his mind cracking him. Tears slowly flowed from his eyes as he opened them wide in pain. He saw someone near to him approaching.

It was Sakura walking over to him kneeling down. "Kohana, are you hurt?" she said extending her hand out.

"But I…aren't you…?"

"You're my friend, right?"

The voices faded away from his mind as he saw her smiling face looking down at him. He reached out with his hand grabbing on to her. She lifted him up and helped him stand when he almost fell down finding that his legs had no strength left him in them. "Thanks."

"How can you help her after what you saw?" a student said.

"Yeah, she's a monster."

"She killed all of those people!"

"Shut up!" Sakura said angry for the first time Chiko could ever remember. It took everyone off guard as her voice could be heard through all of the gunfire in the hallway. "She's my friend and all of yours. Right? She protected us from them."

"But look at what she did!"

"She's our friend and she needs help. A friend helps when they are in trouble. And that is what she did! She cared about all of us enough to risk her life for us. She protected every one of you because you are her friends. It was so important to her that she showed us a side that she did not want. Now is not the time to fight between each other. Look outside. If she didn't do something, we could've been dead!"

Hakuro stood up from the huddled masses and walked over to Sakura. "Stupid airhead. I'm tired of listening to you talking." Sakura was about to object when Hakuro walked over to the left side of Chiko and lifted him up on her shoulder as well. "You're so weak, Namimura you wouldn't make it out of the classroom with her."

"Hakuro…" Chiko said softly.

"Don't get any ideas," Hakuro said looking the other way for a moment so that she was not looking at Chiko's grateful expression. She started moving forward with Chiko and Sakura when she stopped suddenly to give out orders. "Katsumi start organizing the rest of the students. Find a way out, we're on the second floor jumping may be the only option. Mariko and Masako see how Mrs. Shimasuke is doing. The rest of you get moving unless you want to die!" Hakuro resumed walking with Chiko and Sakura towards the edge of the classroom.

Chiko allowed himself a small grin listening to Hakuro giving out orders. It seemed to suit her and everyone was listening. They knew well enough not to ignore her; it made her the perfect person to rally everyone together. The fear that had been gripping the children had lifted and they were working together pushing through what stood before them. Chiko had felt relieved to see them coming together.

"Mrs. Shimasuke? Are you alright?" Masako said looking down at the teacher uncertain if she was unconscious or dead. She did not seem to be moving, but there were no visible signs of injury either. "Mariko, lets try to get her up."

"Alright." The two girls struggled to pull Mrs. Shimasuke up from the floor. They stopped once they had her sitting up knowing that they would not be able to get her to her feet without her awake. "Do you see anything? She doesn't seem hurt."

"No…" Masako said worried what was wrong with the teacher. They stared at each other hoping that there was an answer between the two of them. A few more students gathered around as the rest prepared to make an escape.

The shootout was continuing in the hallway, as the other classes remained hiding in their rooms not knowing what to do. The Scarred Man was being forced to pull back as there were too many for him to handle. Kitsune and Shisa were using classrooms to slowly work their way back with him. The gunfire was heavy with bullet holes littering the walls already and plaster across the floor. Most of the lights were already shot out coughing up sparks at ill regular intervals.

"We're losing ground," Kitsune said as he took out two more men. The bodies were starting to pile up in the hallway as more continued to flow in through unknown areas. They were coming out of classrooms, the stairs, anywhere that there was an entrance.

"This is crazy! How many are there?" Shisa said taking down another.

"Concentrate on surviving, this is just the warm up," the Scarred Man said putting four bullets into four men dropping them on the pile. He took cover by the narrow extrusion of the wall to reload. There was not enough cover for him as the bullets were blazing past him. The dust was kicking up in his face, but his eyes pierced through the cloud.

The small gathering around Mrs. Shimasuke was creating enough noise over the gunfire that she was coming around. When they noticed that she was moving her arm they all cheered hugging each other glad to know that she was not dead. Once she had opened her eyes she looked around confused at them. "What's going on? Why aren't you in your seats?"

"Mrs. Shimasuke…" Masako said relieved.

"Can you stand up?" Mariko asked her.

"Of course," Mrs. Shimasuke said still confused until her hearing returned to her. The gunfire outside became suddenly apparent to her as well as all of the blood and death. She began to panic flailing her arms around as the students grabbed on to her trying to calm her down.

"It’s okay, Mrs. Shimasuke."

"Calm down!"

Nothing was getting through to her and the students were only shouting in vain making the others in the room look over confused. Hakuro set Chiko on the counter in the back of the class and marched over to the front of the class. She pushed two boys out of the way and pulled Masako away from Mrs. Shimasuke. Hakuro raised up her hand and slapped Mrs. Shimasuke hard across the face. "You're the adult here! Get a hold of yourself!"

"Huh? But…" Mrs. Shimasuke said pausing in her crying. She then grabbed Hakuro pulling her in close to her hugging her head into her chest. Mrs. Shimasuke continued to sob. "You're so brave Hakuro! You're right! You're such a model student, Hakuro!" Mrs. Shimasuke stood up still holding Hakuro, who was painfully dangling from her arms.

Hakuro pushed herself away from the teacher quickly to get her breath back. She walked back over to Chiko calling all of the students together. Mrs. Shimasuke joined them in the back of the room as they were deciding what was best way out of the school. The boys that had been monitoring the situation came to report back to Hakuro about what they had seen. Chiko listened in as he tried to regain his strength.

"The playground is completely filled with those men," Tsuneo said.

"We couldn't see too far on the other side of the school, so we don't know how many are over there," Daiki said.

"The hallway is filled with them fighting, its not safe," Kazuo said.

"Then what way do we have out?" Mariko said.

"The ground is safest place, if there were not so many men," Hakuro said.

"But there are too many down there."

"And how do we get down there?"

"All of the stairs are block and the hallway is too. We'd die before going two steps."

"The ropes that they came in on," Hakuro said grinning.

"What? I couldn't," Masako said holding her hands up close.

"It's the only way," Hakuro said. "We just need to get some of them away so we are safe down there. If we can get across the street, we should be safe."

"Someone would have to draw their attention," Tsuneo said. Everyone looked around at each other. They all knew that it would be mean death for whoever did it. None of them were brave enough to do it, knowing that they would not be able to buy enough time even if they attempted it.

"I…I'll do it," Chiko said.

"You can't," Sakura said quickly pulling on him.

"I'm the only one that stands a chance at holding them off long enough to see you to safety."

"She's right," Hakuro said.

"Hakuro!" Masako said gasping.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on dying," Chiko said bravely as he stood up with Sakura pulling against him. He could feel the strength returning to his body. All of the pain that he had been feeling seemed to be vanishing suddenly. He felt as though he could keep on fighting a hundred men. Chiko gave Sakura a reassuring grin as he walked over to the window.

'You ready for this?' Chiko said to Kohana.

'Let's do it!'

'Right!' Chiko looked back at the students nodding to them while they thought that it would be the last time they saw him. Sakura was crying leaning against Hakuro. "Transform!" Chiko shouted as he materialized in his black costume with sword in hand. A gust of wind blew in cooling him off as he looked down at the vast numbers of men charging into the school. It seemed like something out of a fantasy novel, Chiko could barely believe this. They did not even seem to be interested in him, and this was overkill for the Scarred Man, who seemed to be their target.

Chiko looked back at them one last time. "Get ready, be quick!" He slid his right foot back as he held his sword out horizontal. The blade glowed purple as Chiko's muscle tensed up. His eyes narrowed watching his target. He pulled back a little on the sword coiling up his muscles till they were ready to burst. Then he released his arm in a wide horizontal arch that shot out a wave from the tip of the blade at the windows. The windows scattered as well as brick and cement taking out the entire wall. Debris burst from the second floor falling down to the school grounds below. A group of the men were taken out by the pieces pierced, crushed or bludgeoned filling the grass with crimson.

The surprise from above alerted those that were not dead to Chiko's position quickly opening fire on him. He was away from the ledge that he created that it only put holes into the ceiling. The sword transformed back into the rod as he took the gap in the firing to make his move. Chiko sprinted the short distance into the opening floating for the moment he jumped outside in the air.

The men were quick to open fire again, but Chiko was spraying a mist from the rod that was halting all of the bullets. He floated down to the ground with them following him with their guns still firing futilely. Chiko landed at the edge of the brick wall with his back to the wall facing all of the men looking to kill him for interrupting them. The mist faded away finally releasing all of the bullets leaving the men frustrated and reloading their weapons. Chiko changed back to the sword as he glowed purple for a moment until he was shattered by the sound of a roaring engine from behind.

Chiko looked behind him trying to figure out what the noise was that was coming closer to him. His mouth hung agape as he witnessed a car burst through the brick wall of the school at full speed crushing or sending flying who ever was in its path. The car came to rough stop spinning around as the wheels squealed against the brakes. Out of the window came a hail of gunfire that quickly mowed down the front line of men that were surrounding the new foe.

They did not waste a moment unleashing countless bullets into the metal frame of the car that just sat taking it all. It seemed like it would blow up, yet it only remained punctured and dented. The car suddenly roared to life again as it charged into the group at full speed sending people diving out of the way. However, before it got too far into the group the entire vehicle blew up in an explosion that shook the ground and shattered all of the glass in the school and a block radius around.

Chiko took covered behind his mist shield as metal piece flew around out of control. Red and gray smoke blew out of the wreckage of the car, as a mass of men lay dead across the school grounds while even more came charging in. Then out of the smoke a figure walked firing from it bringing down those that dare come close. Chiko released the shield, letting the mist fall away to the ground, looking to see who was the crazy idiot that was driving. As the figure exited the smoke Chiko could see that it was Mashiro, smirking, as he laid down fire against those incoming. Mashiro was holding two large automatic weapons in each hand looking some hero out of the movies. Chiko grin as he stood up to greet Mashiro.


"Got quite the party here!" Mashiro said relieved to see that Chiko was safe.

"And you know how to make an entrance," Chiko said meeting up with him.

"And you need to fill out that maid outfit of yours," Mashiro said killing several more men that got too close.

"Remind me to kick you later. We need to draw them away from the window."

"Right! You make sure they get out safely," Mashiro said.

"He's here too," Chiko said heading off to protect the ground the students were coming down at.

"Looks like this is really the end! You ready?" Mashiro said charging into the mob. 'Wouldn't want it any other way.'

Chiko started directing those on the first out of the rooms as Hakuro was getting the class from above out. He sent them out the hole in the wall that Mashiro had made. It was not long before more men were seen from around the corner. He handed the task off to the teachers and he charged towards the men to keep them busy. 'Let's protect them!'

'All of them! Our friends!' Kohana said.

'Right!'

Preview for the next episode:

"I can't believe that they are attacking a school! Have they no regard for innocent life!?" Chiko says.

"They're the syndicate," Mashiro says, "They have no care about anything, but their own."

"Yeah, I know, but still this is just wrong! How many people are going to die?"

"Can't think about that now. We just have to protect them!"

"I'll do my best! But I already spent a lot of my strength. I don't know how much longer I can hold out!"

"Hang in there a little longer, Chiko!"

"I'll help you, Chiko," Kohana says.

"I'll need all of your strength for this. This is the final battle no holding back now!"

"Right!"

"The next episode of the Inner Man, Truth. We've come at last to the end and now all will be revealed. Everything that was leading up to this and every reason that this was done for. But can we live long enough to use it."

"Don't worry, this is not the end...yet!"

"Need that kick to the shins to get you going?"

"That's quite alright."

"You better not miss it. Tee hee!"