Night Hacker

The Metropolitan Police Department's Kabukicho branch was located on Jinbo Street in the heart of the district. Several massive skyscrapers loomed abruptly over the street—huge, ugly monoliths jutting up among the low-slung shops and apartments.

Armed gunships rumbled as they lifted off the operations building's roof in the rain, heading toward Shuhui Street.

Down in the ground-level courtyard, large numbers of heavily armed Riot Squad and Mobile Task Force personnel were forming up and moving out.

Police cruisers drove out of the branch compound one after another, roof lights flashing red and sirens blaring as they carried their personnel away.

The "Yakuza Dismemberment Operation Headquarters" was set up inside a Special Grade command room in the operations building.

A chaotic atmosphere filled the room. Whether pacing the floor or sitting by the combat Consoles, many of the personnel wore irrepressible looks of shock and anxiety.

Santou Big Screens were mounted on the upper walls of the command room. One displayed a live aerial feed captured by the gunships over Shuhui Street, the lens blurred by rain and smeared with water droplets.

But the rain couldn't obscure the storm on that street—a single man tearing through an entire Riot Squad battalion—nor the boiling frenzy of the crowd.

By the commander's station, Eliza Cotton stared at the big screen with a dark face, speechless for a long while.