Bitesize 4.9

Suppose you'll be wanting a bitesize then? :P

Bitesize 4.9

Whatever Max's plan might have been it went unsaid as at that moment there was a sharp rap at the door and Alf swiftly entered.
"Sorry to interrupt. Ed, I need you in the briefing room right away."
"Hold that thought." said Ed to Max, "I'll be back."
With a curious glance at Alf he followed him upstairs to the briefing rooms.
"What's going on Alf? You seem excited." he asked once they sat down in the privacy of Briefing Room 1.
"It's the tracker."
"The one we put in Raddick?"
Alf nodded.
"Exactly. It came online just a few minutes ago."
"So where is he?"
"Hakodate."
"Japan?"
"That's right. Hokkaido, Japan."
"You think he's found another onigawa?"
"We don't know." Alf sighed, "As far as we know there were no Japanese POWs with Odolf's group. And then there's the fact that he's out of the mirrors."
"Which means he's going somewhere with no mirrors..." said Ed thoughtfully.
There was a lengthy silence as the two men thought heavily upon the subject.
"Are there any sparsely populated geographical features near Hakodate?" Ed asked finally.
"Mount Hakodate?" Alf suggested.
Ed stroked his chin.
"Mount Hakodate... Hold on a sec..."
Ed got up and left the briefing room and collared a passing woman.
"I need a laptop. It's an emergency."
"Sure, come with me."
She led him off to a nearby conferencing room and passed him one of several laptops. Ed thanked her and headed back to briefing room one. Once inside he powered up the laptop and connected to his email. The message he'd received from Coeus was still in his inbox and Ed read it over carefully. He sighed and passed the laptop to Alf and waited for him to read it.
"Coeus?" Alf asked.
"Some minor Greek god." said Ed, "Knowledge or information or somesuch."
"Well it does mention mountains..."
"Yeah, and I'm wondering if the settlement was at the foot of mount Hakodate."
"Why?"
"Because that might explain why Raddick is there. If we assume that the Onigawa lived on mount Hakodate then they were up there when they were sealed in the mirrors. It would be where the shrine is."
"And what would they want with a shrine?"
"I don't think they want the shrine." said Ed, a smile playing across his lips, "I think they want the original mirror."
There was more silence as Ed let this suggestion sink in.
"So they need the original mirror in order to release the other onigawa."
"I can't think why else they would be there. It's too much of a co-incidence. But they still need the 'key' onigawa and I think we have him."
"Max?"
"Yeah. When I first met Odolf he told me about his dreams. They were dreams of destruction. Just now Max was telling me that he too had had dreams but his were different. They sounded very much like whatever ritual Crowley was planning to release the onigawa."
"So in order to trap them, we need that mirror."
"And more, we need Max's onigawa awake."
"We don't know how to do that Ed."
"I know, I know." said Ed, "We need Crowley to wake that onigawa up and even then, we have no way of knowing if he'd be loyal to us. The onigawa Coeus spoke of made a voluntary sacrifice. We can't bank on Max doing the same once we strip him of his human will. He's willing now but once the demon awakes..."
"You sound like you've already thought of something."
"Well let's say this..." Ed postulated, "Suppose we were to hotfoot it over to Hakodate with Max and find the location of this mirror and bump into Crowley and his goons. I'm betting even Grace couldn't take out Crowley but if we allow ourselves to be captured then Crowley would waste no time in releasing Max's onigawa. The only problem is that Max wouldn't have enough willpower to force the onigawa to seal the mirrors instead of opening them."
"That and the fact he might just kill you."
"I don't think so." said Ed, "Crowley was always a showman. I bet he'd revel in the chance to force us to witness mankind's undoing."
"Ok, so, on the rare chance that you somehow pull this off..."
Ed nodded.
"We need something to allow Max to regain control over the onigawa when it awakes. When we went after Max we had a standoff. Grace was the only one to retain her willpower and managed to break the mirror and free us from whatever mind control Crowley was exerting. Max ended up shooting me because he couldn't fight the simultaneous wills of Crowley and the onigawa against his own."
Alf raised both eyebrows as Ed's plan dawned on him.
"You mean...?"
Ed grinned triumphantly.
"As long as Max is still willing, we get Grace to turn him. I know it sounds like a longshot but it's the best chance we've gotten so far. If we don't try, we may never get another shot."
"And if you fail Crowley will release all the onigawa at once."
"That's where my backup plan comes in. But first, I need to speak to Grace and then ok everything with Max. He has to understand that he'll end up trapped in the mirrors with them."
"You're asking a lot of him."
"I'm asking a lot of all of us, but the alternative is something none of us want."