Chapter 35 - Person of the year

Max Black wakes up with the sound of someone bashing on the door of his hotel room. While he's still half asleep, Kari jumps out of bed and quickly recovers the clothes on the floor.

she orders, throwing Max's pants on his face.

he starts to say, yawning.

she says frantically, running to watch the window like a caged animal.

Max says, pulling up his trousers and getting out of bed. Another bang on the door frightens the purple haired girl, who takes a step back into Max's arms.

she answers, trying to fix her morning hair to hide her nervousness.

Max adds just when there's another knock.

<'Cause you're naked.>

she says, genuinely puzzled. Max shrugs and opens the door.

On the other side there's a woman in a black suit, wearing sunglasses. He's never seen her before.

she says, showing her badge.

Max says, instinctively transforming his body into light and moving almost instantly behind the woman's back. When he tries to catch her, however, his arms pass through the hologram.

Max can't say anything else, because the real Agent Ramirez is down the hall and has just shot him with a tranquilizing dart.

she quips, readying another dart. Kari runs out of the room: Ramirez's second shot doesn't miss her, but she was an easy target intentionally.

A Kari duplicate appears out of thin air right besides Ramirez, confiscating her weapon; a second one kicks her on the stomach, and a third one punches her on the nose.

Working together, the three naked duplicates incapacitate Ramirez in about five seconds straight.

she threatens.

Ramirez manages to say, despite the pain of the broken nose. Just as she says it, two men in dark suits storm the hallway. They don't even get to aim their weapons: each of them is attacked by six Kari duplicates.

Police station

There's a man sleeping on the floor, seemingly oblivious to the men talking on the other side of the bars.

asks the man in the black suit.

the policeman answers.

says the red skinned man, without opening his eyes.

Torn doesn't say anything, just making a sound between a sigh and a grunt. He steps up, walking towards the bars still half asleep. Red energy swords appear out of thin air while he's yawning, slicing through the bars of his cell in less than half a second.

The policeman quickly draws his gun. Torn just glances at him, and a red dagger cuts the barrel in half before the man understands what's going on.

Torn says, leaving behind him the cell and the policeman who's looking at what remains of his weapon.

says Agent Warden, hurrying to catch up to Torn while another man in a black suit deals with the legal minutiae with policeman.

Torn looks at Agent Warden with a puzzled look…or what passes for a puzzled look for Torn, whose eyebrows frown slightly more than usual.

the agent admits.

Jane Blake is asleep on a chair, kept warm by a blanket left there by some thoughtful officer. She wakes up when a man with red skin sits down in the chair to her left, giving a very confused look to a donut.

he asks.

Jane asks, still not fully awake.

Torn says, like it's some kind of ancient proverb.

<"Lady"?>

Jane asks, turning to catch a glimpse of the room where they've been interrogating Noriko for the last few hours.

Torn doesn't answer immediately, busy eating the donut with a surprisingly satisfied look on his face that almost gets close to a happy look.

There's a full ten seconds without a word. Doesn't sound much, but try it in a police station.

she finally asks.

Inside the room, Agent Warden sits down in front of Noriko. She looks pretty ruffled up, having been rushed here in the middle of the night and questioned for hours.

he says to break the ice.

she answers, her silver eyes flashing briefly while she examines every face ever recorded on a database.

<…>

she boasts.

The irritation on Noriko's face shines through her stoic exterior. Warden is getting under her skin.

she answers.

Warden adds, reaching for the inside pocket of his jacket. He pulls out a slightly wrinkled copy of a very famous magazine and puts it on the table.

The cover shows Leiko, arms crossed and oozing confidence, over the title in bright letters PERSON OF THE YEAR.

Noriko snatches the magazine, reading it so fast that it looks like she's just flipping through the pages. Then she angrily punches the table, and her eyes shine in anger.

Warden jokes, unfazed by Noriko yelling in his face.

She looks aside at the mirror, thinking about who could be on the other side. They're probably recording the whole conversation. She calms down, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Noriko reveals.

Warden snarks.