9:13pm, Thursday the 9th October, 2132.

The skylanes reminded Kato of an electronic Jackson Pollock painting, a bizarre and abstract wishwash of siren lights, spotlights, neon commercials and flames all mixed together in bright and multi-coloured luminescent pollution. It was loud, too - police dropships and cars and bikes, and media vans and journalists and ambulances and an onlooking crowd and busy doctors and horrified spectators.

He stood inside the cordoned zone, half-sitting and half-leaning on a waist-high stone barrier in the hospital's general parking lot. He had a cigarette in his right hand and though it was lit he had barely touched it - he had never been one for smoking, but that night called for it, and he slowly brought it to his lips and dragged as he watched the tactical units patrol the perimeter through his cigarette smoke.

"D.S Kato," called a low-pitched voice, and Kato turned to find a receding, middle-aged Japanese man wearing a pressed, dark grey suit walking towards him.

"Captain Kurohiko," Kato greeted him, flicking the ash of his cigarette away and then dropping it to the floor so he could stand on and snuff it out.

The Captain sighed heavily and stood by the barrier, then turned to watch the doctors and nurses as they accounted for the patients that still remained stranded outside the building and delivered them to waiting ambulances. "This is a big mess. A very big mess. What the hell happened?" He asked.

"They're calling it a terrorist attack," Kato replied. Police officers with military-grade gear were still coming in and out of the hospital, and a small army of men and women in white forensics suits were setting up the beginnings of an official crime scene.

"I know what they're calling it," said the Captain, "but I'm asking YOU what the hell happened here."

Kato sighed deeply and looked down towards the floor. "I don't know," he grumbled, and brought his hand up to rub his temple to find that it was still shaking. "A massacre is what. I swear, Captain, I have the worst luck - I came here to follow up on a lead that could barely be called potential, and the next thing I know I might as well have been in the middle of it."

The Captain reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and took out a small bottle of pills, which he unscrewed and tipped so that one of them fell into the palm of his other hand. "Take this, Sergeant," he said, handing the pill out to Kato.

"What is it?"

"A relaxant."

Kato took the pill and swallowed it dry, then crossed his arms over his chest. "Thanks."

"This is big, Kato. It's not just going over my head, but the Inspector's head too."

"The Superintendant is getting involved?"

"All of Kanto is watching this," the Captain explained. "Maybe even all of Nihon. The Superintendant is adamant this is handled properly on our end, which means he wants an official statement and a report from you."

"Yeah, I understand. A psych eval too, I take it?"

"In a few days when you've had chance to calm down. Where's Detective Greaves? She should have been here."

"She's on her way. Go easy on her, Captain. I came here to speak to doctors, maybe a witness, not to walk into a damn terrorist attack. Didn't think I'd need her."

"I suppose, but Kanto seems to get more dangerous every week. You have a partner for a reason."

Kato grumbled, but didn't say anything else. Instead his attention was drawn to a group of six heavily armed individuals wearing high-tech military gear and form-fitting body suits that reminded Kato of the kind of electronic-weave armour that special forces used to wear, except far more advanced. After a few minutes of studying them, one of them, a large, bald, slightly-tanned man, noticed Kato and the Captain and seemed to report them to the tactical police officers they were conversing with. A few seconds later, one of the tactical officers began walking towards where Kato stood, a rifle hanging over his mid-section from its straps.

"Captain, Detective Sergeant," the man said, greeting them. "The QRT wishes to speak with you."

"Yeah, sure. Let's get this over with," Kato answered, and began to follow the tactical officer back towards the group with the Captain following behind.

When they reached the team of six, the large bald man held out his hand for Kato and the Captain to shake, and they both did so one after the other. "Captain Kurohiko and Detective Sergeant Kato, I assume?" He asked, his thick New Zealand accent leading Kato to believe that he was Maori.

"Yeah," Kato replied.

"They call me Toa. I'm Sergeant of this six-man Quick Reaction Team. We were the ones engaging the hostiles you saw."

"I see," said Kato. "I thought you were TacOff. I wasn't aware the KMPD had any QRTs."

"That's part of the point, Detective. We're part of the UNIS Anti-Terrorism Unit principally, but we work closely with Japan's National Police and Security Intelligence Agencies, and the KMPD."

"The UN Intelligence Service? I thought the ATU was under the Security Council?" Kato asked, far too curious for his own good. Behind him, Captain Kurohiko cleared his throat and coughed - a clear sign for Kato to stop asking so many questions.

"That's enough, D.S Kato," the Captain said. "We're not here to interrogate them. Besides, I'm sure you can understand that it's both complex and political."

"Ah, I get it," Kato said, nodding to them with a look of thinly veiled disapproval. "Complex. Confuse the ordinary people so they don't know who to blame if you mess up."

"Hey, you listen here-" began the only woman in the Quick Reaction Team, before Toa raised his hand to cut her off. She obeyed immediately, but Kato examined her in that curious way detectives couldn't help. She was caucasion, English by her accent, and had long brown hair tied in a tail and eyes with a subtle tinge of red that did not come from a cosmetic implant, but rather a tactical one. "I apologize, D.S Kato," she told him, then looked down to examine the marksman rifle she held.

"It's fine," Kato replied. "I apologize for getting us so off track. What is it you wished to speak about?"

"We don't yet know who these 'terrorists' were, or where they came from, but when we engaged they seemed to be trying to take a hostage. During the firefight the hostage escaped and ran straight through you and the police blockade that was set up on the walkway out of the hospital," Toa explained.

Kato nodded. "He didn't stop, so we opened fire. He managed to get past us and escape. He must have had some serious military grade implants to pull that off, but why they tried to take him hostage I have no idea."

"It's unusual," said Toa. "These terrorists seemed to have caused explosions deep in the hospital, set fires, cut the main power, wiped the feeds and killed anyone they came across. Potentially over one hundred people are dead. And yet, when you consider the possibility that they were only there to take one man, the rest seems a convenient distraction."

"But why?" Asked Kato, even looking to his Captain for answers, who had none. "That's a lot of effort - and a lot of death - for one man."

"We were hoping you could tell us. You came here to investigate him, after all."

Kato's eyes widened slightly, and though he had known it was a possibility the shock of the attack had prevented that cynical detective part of his mind from seriously considering it. "I've been investigating strange murders," he explained. "I heard of a young woman who had been severely injured in an attack not too far from one of the scenes, and only hours after it happened. She was brought into Fukaya General this afternoon in critical condition, alongside her apparent boyfriend and prime suspect, but he was unresponsive. They thought he was in a coma. They restrained him and put armed officers outside his room."

"Hang on a moment, Kato," said Captain Kurohiko. "This is a sensitive investigation, and though I understand and respect your desire for answers, Sergeant Toa, I have to question if this is your proper jurisdiction. You are an ATU Quick Reaction Team, not an investigative body. I must ask you to go to your superiors and let this investigation proceed through the correct channels, rather than what is beginning to sound like pseudo-vigiliantism."

Sergeant Toa nodded. "I understand. I apologize, Captain, my team and I simply want to know why so many civilians died tonight."

"And I'm sure you'll be the first to know," the Captain said.

The Sergeant nodded, then bade goodbye to Kato and Kurohiko with an awkward bow, before turning and beginning to lead his team away.

"Wait, hang on," Kato said, stopping them in their tracks. He took a contact card out of his jacket pocket, then handed it to the nearest member of the QRT who happened to be the woman with red eyes. "Just in case we need to get in contact again."

"Cardboard, really?" Asked the woman, examining it. "How old are you, 80?"

"Just keep it."

The woman put the card into one of her tactical pockets, then followed Toa and the rest of the team as they turned and began to walk away. "Even if you try to interview them as witnesses, I doubt we'll get any of them to agree," the Captain told him.

"I'm not planning to. This attack isn't my investigation, I have my own that still needs solving," said Kato. "But even so, you never know what will happen."

"This whole thing is a damn mess," the Captain sighed, reaching his hands down into his pockets. "Who's running the scene?"

"I don't know, Security Intelligence and NPA guys I think. This went over the KMPD pretty quick due to the scale. I'm just waiting to hear if my potential victim even survived - they don't know yet, too many bodies, too much chaos."

Captain Kurohiko crossed his arms and smirked. "It's amazing how how quick they turn up to take over. What's it been? An hour?"

"Something like that."

"You stupid asshole," came a woman's voice as suddenly as Kato felt arms wrap around his shoulders and squeeze him until he could barely breath. "You're lucky you're not dead."

Kato struggled free, and turned to find Greaves had ambushed him from behind and looked to be on the verge of tears. "I'm fine, Greaves. And don't cry - you're not allowed to be sentimental on this job."

Greaves wiped her eyes. "Yeah, fuck it, I know."

"Detective Greaves, please stop cursing," said the Captain, to which Greaves took in a deep breath and apologized.

"So what the hell happened?" She asked.

"You're looking at it," Kato and Kurohiko both replied at the same time, and then looked at one another in awkward acknowledgement of the coincidence.

"I'll tell you later, Greaves," Kato said afterwards. "I'm sick of explaining it to people if I'm honest."

Greaves nodded. "So what about the girl? Did you speak to her? Is she still alive?"

"Don't know," said Kato. "She was critical when she came in. She could have died before this attack even happened. Could have died during it. There are a lot of bodies out there, no-one knows yet. I think the TacOff are still sweeping to make sure there are no traps or guys hiding."

"Excuse me, officers!" A woman called out from behind them, her voice carrying across the parking lot. The three detectives turned to look at the source and saw a reporter standing in the distance in front of a KM Channel 5 News team. "Can we ask some questions?"

"Go fuck yourself," Greaves shouted back, then the three detectives turned back around as though nothing happened.

The next ten or so minutes were a blur to Kato. He watched as forensics teams walked in and out of the main hospital doors with bags of equipment, and examiners suited up outside expensive mobile laboratories in preparation to run field tests before too much of the evidence was lost. He looked up and saw tactical officers sweeping through the hospital's upper floors and over the walkway bridges that led to the surrounding superstructures, and watched as men and women followed behind them checking over what Kato assumed to be bodies. All the while Captain Kurohiko and Greaves were talking, but Kato wasn't listening and he felt an overwhelming urge to go somewhere else. He couldn't.

"Detective Sergeant Kato?" Someone called, and Kato cleared his throat and snapped back to attention to look at the man speaking. It was a Tactical Officer, with a female doctor standing besides him.

"What is it?" Kato replied.

"That young woman you came here to see, Taniguchi Nami? We've found her," the officer said.

Kato perked up. "Is she alive?"

"Barely," said the doctor. "She was in critical condition when she came in. Someone disconnected her life support but.. She's still alive. She's not conscious, but she's alive."

Kato sighed heftily in relief, even going so far as to smile at the good fortune. "Great," he said. "We need to put an armed escort around her. She might have been an intended victim of this attack and I don't want to take any chances."

"I'll get it done," said the Tactical Officer, before turning away and talking into his earpiece.

"What about the suspect in her attack? Is he missing?" Kato asked.

"Yes, it appears so," said the Doctor.

As she spoke, the Tactical Officer turned back towards them and nodded in agreement. "He's missing alright. And there are two bodies in his room and a trail of them outside," the officer said.

"Shit," mumbled Greaves.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's the guy I tried to apprehend on the walkway," said Kato. "He moved like he had some serious hardware, and those terrorist guys melted like butter when he got close to them."

"Hardware?" Asked the officer. "None of the other officers on the walkway saw any signs of augmentation."

"That's the thing," Kato admitted. "There wasn't any."

"Do you think he's our murderer?" Asked Greaves.

"I don't know. Maybe. It's too soon to tell."

Captain Kurohiko stepped forward and cleared his throat to get his detective's attention. "You should go home, Kato. You too Greaves. There's nothing else you can do here, and Kato needs some rest," he explained.

"I agree," said the Tactical Officer. "We've got plenty of descriptions of the suspect already. We'll find him."

"With respect, Captain, there's no way I'm going to sleep tonight. I might as well keep working my case," argued Kato.

Captain Kurohiko looked at him for a while, and Kato could almost swear there was the faintest hint of a grin of approval there. "As you wish, Sergeant," he eventually said, before leading the officer and the doctor off to ask them further questions.

"I'm with you the whole way, Kato," Greaves said. "So what do you wanna do now?"

"I don't know," Kato replied.

"Well the girl's alive, and we have a suspect. At least after all this shit the night can end on a high note," said Greaves.

Kato looked off into the distance in contemplation. "Don't say that," he told her. "The night's not over yet."