"What took you so damn long?!" a grumpy Senior TPD agent gnarled at Sho who had just now, entered her hospital room.<br/><br/>He held his impassive gaze as usual, even at the sight of his partner giving him dagger glares sharp enough to send a grown man cowering.  What was she so mad about?  It was not like she was in critical condition or whatever; her appetite for hospital food was evidence enough of it.<br/><br/>Kisho calmly walked towards her,<span style="color: #BF0000">"Here."</span>he offered a bag of food he had bought along the way. Liz loved noodles.<span style="color: #BF0000">"Stop eating that garbage like a hungry savage."</span>he teased her before finding himself a seat by the bed.  Liz's counterattack was instantaneous.  She launched a kick aimed at Kisho's face but the man simply blocked it with his right hand, catching her foot and holding it in place.<span style="color: #BF0000">"You really shouldn't be kicking like this in a hospital gown."</span>he told her, moving her foot aside just enough so he could see her face.<span style="color: #BF0000">"I can see..."</span>he said, pointing the direction with his eyes while remaining impassive as ever.<br/><br/>Liz jerked her foot free and immediately covered up, face blushing red as she did so. "Y-you pervert!"<br/><br/><span style="color: #BF0000">"Not my fault. You tried to kick my face."</span>he mumbled monotonously, obviously caring little about what he saw.<span style="color: #BF0000">"Besides, it's not like this is the first time I saw your knickers."</span>he told her with a straight face.<br/><br/>"Bastard!" Liz's face grew even redder, and her temper along with it. She tried to kick him again but Kisho simply swayed back making her miss by a mile.<span style="color: #BF0000">"You see now? What did I tell you? It's not my fault I get to peek."</span>by this time, he was dodging consecutive kicks.  Kisho once again blocked one of her kicks and held her steady.<span style="color: #BF0000">"If you're already this lively, what are you still doing here?"</span>he finally asked her, tone settling down on a serious note.<br/><br/>Sensing her partner settling down to business, Liz behaved herself and settled down as well, easing into their usual business groove. A good moment of silence passed between the two before Liz began to speak.  "So, what happened?"<br/><br/>Kisho sighed at the question; a lot has happened.  He took a deep breath before beginning to recount his side of the night that Liz missed out on, intentionally skipping the part where he met the woman calling herself Nanu, and her mischievous deed towards their car.  Among all things, the last one he needed was a growling Liz on his case.<span style="color: #BF0000">"And that's my side of the night,"</span>he paused to look at her,<span style="color: #BF0000">"the chief wants us moved to a special investigation team starting tomorrow."</span>he concluded, bringing out a laptop he brought with him.  Now it was his turn to get her side and make a report.  The device's screen blinked to life and Kisho expertly maneuvered through the device's operating system until he had a blank screen with a blinking text cursor on.<br/><br/>He listened to his partner's story, typing with decent speed as her partner's recounting of her night carried on.  She was at the part where she drew her firearm to suppress the hitmen when Liz abruptly stopped herself.  Kisho thought she needed a breath but when the silence persisted, he looked at her and urged her to continue.<br/><br/>"Sho," she called his name, eyes looking at anywhere but his own. "by your count, how many shots were fired?" she asked him with an uncertain tone mingling in her voice.<br/><br/>He took a moment to recall the event before looking back at his partner,<span style="color: #BF0000">"A little over fifteen maybe."</span><br/><br/>"Right..." she trailed off, now meeting Kisho's gaze. "Twelve of those were mine." she confessed, "Half of that I fired on the third hitman," she told him, fingers twirling against each other as she did. "but he never went down."<br/><br/>Did he hear her right?  Kisho's eyes sharpened at the revelation.  Taking all things into consideration, it would only make sense if one of the hitmen was one of<span style="font-style: italic">them</span>, an anomalous existence very much like himself.<span style="color: #BF0000">"Are you sure you hit him? You could have missed you know?"</span>he contested her statement, wanting to make sure if she was not mistaken.  Then again, Liz was by no means a bad shot with a pistol, that much he knew.<br/><br/>"Sho!" she yelled his name, seemingly taking offense at his questioning. "I'm not as bad as you think I am with a pistol!" she went off on him, looking down with her hands curling into fists that gripped the sheets of her hospital bed in frustration.<br/><br/><span style="color: #BF0000">"Liz, don't tell me you're starting to believe the rumors about <span style="font-style: italic">Anomalies</span>. They're not true."</span><br/><br/>Liz opened her mouth, seemingly ready to rebut his words but her voice never came out. "Sho, I know what I saw that time..." she turned to meet his gaze again. "You believe me don't you?" she was almost pleading, wanting him to be on her side.<br/><br/>Kisho thought for a moment.  How could he not believe her?  He was an Anomaly himself but at the moment, nobody but himself knew about it.  If only it was that easy to say it to her face that he believes her... if only he could tell her. He shook the thoughts away.<span style="color: #BF0000">"I believe you, but you know I can't write that down."</span><br/><br/>Liz huffed, looking discontent with his answer.  "Write down whatever you want... Sho."<br/><br/>He looked at his partner with apologetic eyes.  He wanted to come clean but he had risks to consider if he did so.  Kisho silently apologized to her before going off on a typing spree to complete his report.  Nothing like that ever happened.  As far as both of them are concerned, Liz missed all six shots because she got shot first and lost her balance.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">______________________</div><br/><br/>Today was the first day of the newly formed investigation team.  As much as the agents involved are opposed to it, they were tasked to work individually to cover more ground.  Liz was assigned in Ethaia, the second city, while he remained in Arundel.  He hated the fact that there were only a few leads that came up from the investigation of Disko Katz; still better than nothing he supposed.  One such lead was that two of the hitmen Liz killed were actually Specters.  This led him to the conclusion that whoever was targeting the Bearers were likely to use Specters to do their dirty deed. This fact could probably be attributed to the the convenience of specters having nothing to trace back to.  Or so they would like to believe.  With the thought in mind, Kisho found himself driving around the entertainment district again in his own blood-red classic car until he decided to stop by at Disko Katz.<br/><br/>He stepped out of the vehicle after parking it at exactly the same spot where Liz's car got jacked by Nanu.  He glanced at the establishment across the street, obviously it was closed and the police line was still there.  He leaned his back against his car, watching as the people steered clear from the establishment, keen eyes scanning his surroundings for a certain individual.  It takes one to know one; this was the place where he met a Specter.  If he was out looking for them, it was only logical to start here.<br/><br/>He had thought about their first meeting last night.  No matter how much he did not want to admit it, perhaps he was too harsh with her.  Images of the time she got out of the car in pain flashed back in his mind.  Assuming she was still alive, the least he could do was apologize.<br/><br/>Now, if he only knew where to find her.