Setting: Robin is working in an office building. Several of her co-workers are doing the same, talking amongst themselves and using the computer. She recognizes them as Karasuma, Sakaki, and Michael. Their supervisor and the secretary are also there. Robin decides to make some coffee for everyone. She's in the middle of pouring a cup for Michael when suddenly, there's a massive explosion by the elevators. Everyone gets down under their desks, except for Robin, who is too stunned to move. Glass shatters and armed guards rush in, pointing their guns at everyone. Karasuma yells for Robin to run as she pulls out a gun from her desk. Sakaki does the same. Michael tries to move and gets shot. Sakaki and Karasuma are shooting back, but they get shot too. The Chief, even the secretary all get shot. Everyone is bleeding badly, and the armed guards move towards Robin, ready to shoot her at point-blank range.
Suddenly, another explosion from outside--and a flash bomb get thrown into the middle of the room. As everyone is shielding their eyes, someone abruptly touches Robin's shoulder and lifts her up. It's a tall man with a serious expression, someone Robin recognizes as Amon. "Come with me," he says.
While the guards are distracted, they run into the emergency stairwells, Amon securing each flight with extra security so that it will take time for their pursuers to reach them. Amon explains that the armed guards are here to hunt Robin, as they have deemed her powers dangerous. Robin asks him: "If that's so, why are you helping me?" He doesn't answer. Robin asks Amon if he's the one who hunted Kate, her predecessor. He confirms that he did, and explains that she was trying to smuggle out STN-J secrets. She was losing control of her Craft, her power, and knew she would be hunted as a witch one day; so she tried to sell out the STN-J to satisfy her last grab for power.
Amon remarks that he never felt any trust in Kate as a partner, and Robin realizes that means Amon must trust her in her, must believe in her, somehow.
They reach the basement level, in a large room with an old-fashioned well in the center. Robin uses her pyrokinesis and blasts a hole in the exterior wall of the building so that they can escape, but Amon knows of a secret passage through the well. They can use the blasted wall as a diversion.
Amon says he doesn't think Robin is a witch. Robin is worried about the others, but there's no time. Amon urges her to climb into the well passage. Inside the secret passage, Amon suddenly gets very close to her, and slips a piece of paper into her hair, holding her face. He instructs her to contact the man written on the paper if she needs help. Robin is shaken and doesn't know what her feelings are doing. Then, Amon leaps back out of the passage and starts to close the shutter, intending for him to stay behind.
Robin frantically reaches back, urging him to come with her, telling him that if he stays he'll get shot, or killed. Amon tells her he can't go with her, and to just run. She can't let him die like this...! She tries to hit the switch to stop the shutter, but he pushes her inside just as the shutter closes. Right before he's sealed away, the last words he says to her are: "[name], the next time I see you, I..."
The shutter closes. Robin is alone in the darkness, the sound of her own ragged breathing strangely loud. She is frozen. She hears an explosion, and more gunshots. She starts to shake. She hears the thud of a body hitting the ground. She starts crying, sobbing Amon's name and trying in vain to open the shutter.
She lays there in the passage stairwell for a long time, crying until she can't cry anymore. And then, finally, she descends the stairwell further into the passage.
1. The attack on the STN-J
Setting: Robin is working in an office building. Several of her co-workers are doing the same, talking amongst themselves and using the computer. She recognizes them as Karasuma, Sakaki, and Michael. Their supervisor and the secretary are also there. Robin decides to make some coffee for everyone. She's in the middle of pouring a cup for Michael when suddenly, there's a massive explosion by the elevators. Everyone gets down under their desks, except for Robin, who is too stunned to move. Glass shatters and armed guards rush in, pointing their guns at everyone. Karasuma yells for Robin to run as she pulls out a gun from her desk. Sakaki does the same. Michael tries to move and gets shot. Sakaki and Karasuma are shooting back, but they get shot too. The Chief, even the secretary all get shot. Everyone is bleeding badly, and the armed guards move towards Robin, ready to shoot her at point-blank range.
Suddenly, another explosion from outside--and a flash bomb get thrown into the middle of the room. As everyone is shielding their eyes, someone abruptly touches Robin's shoulder and lifts her up. It's a tall man with a serious expression, someone Robin recognizes as Amon. "Come with me," he says.
While the guards are distracted, they run into the emergency stairwells, Amon securing each flight with extra security so that it will take time for their pursuers to reach them. Amon explains that the armed guards are here to hunt Robin, as they have deemed her powers dangerous. Robin asks him: "If that's so, why are you helping me?" He doesn't answer. Robin asks Amon if he's the one who hunted Kate, her predecessor. He confirms that he did, and explains that she was trying to smuggle out STN-J secrets. She was losing control of her Craft, her power, and knew she would be hunted as a witch one day; so she tried to sell out the STN-J to satisfy her last grab for power.
Amon remarks that he never felt any trust in Kate as a partner, and Robin realizes that means Amon must trust her in her, must believe in her, somehow.
They reach the basement level, in a large room with an old-fashioned well in the center. Robin uses her pyrokinesis and blasts a hole in the exterior wall of the building so that they can escape, but Amon knows of a secret passage through the well. They can use the blasted wall as a diversion.
Amon says he doesn't think Robin is a witch. Robin is worried about the others, but there's no time. Amon urges her to climb into the well passage. Inside the secret passage, Amon suddenly gets very close to her, and slips a piece of paper into her hair, holding her face. He instructs her to contact the man written on the paper if she needs help. Robin is shaken and doesn't know what her feelings are doing. Then, Amon leaps back out of the passage and starts to close the shutter, intending for him to stay behind.
Robin frantically reaches back, urging him to come with her, telling him that if he stays he'll get shot, or killed. Amon tells her he can't go with her, and to just run. She can't let him die like this...! She tries to hit the switch to stop the shutter, but he pushes her inside just as the shutter closes. Right before he's sealed away, the last words he says to her are: "[name], the next time I see you, I..."
The shutter closes. Robin is alone in the darkness, the sound of her own ragged breathing strangely loud. She is frozen. She hears an explosion, and more gunshots. She starts to shake. She hears the thud of a body hitting the ground. She starts crying, sobbing Amon's name and trying in vain to open the shutter.
She lays there in the passage stairwell for a long time, crying until she can't cry anymore. And then, finally, she descends the stairwell further into the passage.