| “ | I don't believe you can sing without emotions.
— Shinji Ogawa
|
” |
A descendant of the Ogawa clan, a family descended from ninjas spread across the globe, Shinji Ogawa lost his parents when he was young. With his father working for the Genjuro Agency, Ogawa brought his skills and talents to S.O.N.G, run by Genjuro Kazanri, working as one of the organizations most esteemed operatives while masquerading as pop star duo and Symphogear users Tsubasa Kazanari's and Kanade Amou's manager. Following the death of Kanade, Shinji became one of Tsubasa'a closest friends, often picking up after her and teaching her some of his ninja techniques to use in a fight.
When S.O.N.G recruited Hibiki Tachibana, Ogawa began working as support for her as well, often serving as back-up or transport during dangerous transportation to the numerous Symphogear wielders that joined over time, all while using his contacts and skills to handle field work on the side.
Battle vs Ava Sharpe (by BeastMan14)[]
“Uh, Director Sharpe? Are you sure that it’s the best idea to-ow!”
Gary Green’s question was cut short by a tree branch, which he had initially ducked to avoid, swinging back and striking him across the back of the head. Wincing and rubbing the back of his head, he sped up his pace to keep up with his boss, Ava Sharpe, who didn’t look up from the small device in her hand as she walked through the woods. The device, a piece of tech designed by Ray and Behrad, indicated she needed to keep heading east, so she was heading east, carefully stepping over an enlarged root that Gary staggered over and quickly righted himself.
Panting, he stopped to catch his breath and stammered, “As I was saying, are you sure we shouldn’t have back-up? Like, the Legends or something? I’d feel a lot safer, Director Sharpe.”
Ava rolled her eyes and came to a stop to look back at her subordinate and snap, “Gary, for the last time, just call me “Ava”. I am no longer “Director”, because there is no Bureau for me to be Director of. Second, we are both highly trained former agents, we will be fine. We’re armed-“
“With sticks!”
“-and have dealt with much worse than just investigating a “magical signal flare”, as John put it.”
John had been a lot more descriptive, of course, but Ava didn’t really consider “feelin’ like the devil just walked over my grave, squire.” was particularly useful as intel for a trip halfway across the world. And, naturally, he was conveniently unable to come with them, citing something about a “game of cards with a demon bloke named Crowley”. Her point made, she curtly pivoted back and continued walking, the beeping sound made by the device intensifying as they got closer.
After a few moments of walking, they broke through the treeline and emerged into a field, where in the distance a decrepit, ruined stone temple rested on a hillside. Gary squinted, seemingly impressed by the sight.
“So, that’s the place right, Dir-Ava?”
Ava nodded, then gestured with her head for them to keep walking.
“C’mon, we’re almost there.”
“Can we stop for a sec, actually? I’ve got a rock in my shoe.”
“No.”
Weaving across the rocky, rough dirt road, Shinji Ogawa’s car came to a stop as it broke through the trees, idling at the start of a hill. After a few moments, Ogawa stepped out and pulled a phone from his pocket. After a few rings, a gruff, but friendly, voice answered.
“Ogawa-san, did you find the source of the signal? Our readings say you’re in the area.”
Smilingly calmly, Ogawa nodded and replied, “I’m a short distance from the place, Kazanari-sama,” holding his phone in one hand while he loaded his revolver with the other before tucking it into his suit pocket. Back in the command center, Genjuro leaned against the railing, eyes warily looking at the bright orange energy signal radiating at the center of a small map, then ordered, “Alright, you may proceed. But be careful! We have no idea what’s in there, and I don’t like sending my people in blind.”
Ogawa responded, “Of course. I’ll call back with further details once I’m inside.”
With that, he hung up the phone, then headed up the hill, where the temple loomed in the distance. After the events with Shem-Ha, S.O.N.G had hoped for a quite couple of months, but life was very rarely ever that simple.
Ava and Gary walked cautiously through the ruins, noting the signs of combat. The centuries had worn this place down to a shell of it’s former self, with whatever furniture and decorations once adorned it’s walls picked clean. Annoyed, Ava smacked the scanner, which had taken to rapidly and loudly beeping upon them entering the vicinity, then held it higher, then lower, to no avail as it continued to shriek.
“Are you seriously broken?”
Stepping away from his frustrated boss, Gary paused, stroking his chin as he noticed as he noticed the strange, faded pattern on the wall that came to a stop at a seemingly random point. He stepped closer to it, running his hand along the pattern, then paused when he felt one of the rocks shift slightly. Confused, he pushed against it, then gave a surprised cry as he tumbled through the newly made hole in the wall.
“Avahelp-“
Ava turned as she watched Gary fall into the darkness, then ran forward, stopping and squinting into the shadows before yelling, “Gary! Gary, answer me!”
After a few seconds, she heard him come to a stop with a pained “oof”, then yell back, “I’m okay, kind of. Fortunately, it was a steep incline and not just a drop. I think I found out why the scanner was on the fritz though.”
She nodded, taking in the new information, and replied, “Of course, an underground passageway beneath the temple! Good work, Gary.”
He groaned out a “Thank you,” before she gently slid down the incline after him, vanishing into the shadows. Unbeknownst to either of them, Ogawa, gun drawn, watched them closely from behind a pillar. He should’ve known the Americans would get involved. Stepping back behind the corner, Ogawa weighed his options. From the sounds of their conversations, it was just the two of them, and they didn’t seem particularly fearsome. His best move would be to neutralize them, then investigate further.
Waiting a few moments for the sounds of their conversation to fade, Ogawa stepped out from behind cover, then headed through the doorway.
For a few minutes, Ava and Gary trudged through the dark catacombs, doing their best to follow the scanner, which seemed to change it’s mind every few minutes. Ava sighed in frustration and finally switched the device off, pocketing it and turning to an anxious Gary, whose eyes warily scanned the shadows all around them.
“Alright, whatever’s down here is clearly making the scanner defective, so I think it’s best if we split up and cover more ground.”
Gary’s eyes widened and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as the idea of wandering a dark underground passageway by himself caused several dozen gruesome deaths to play out in his head.
“Are you sure that’s the best idea? Because Mr. Constantine and I just watched The Descent a few nights back and I’m pretty sure that’s a walking advisory against wandering underground passageways. Surely we can-“
“Gary.”
Gary groaned and nodded sadly, simply saying, “Yes, Ava.”
Pleased, Ava gestured for him to keep going forward while she investigated right, and he reluctantly did so, mumbling to himself all the while. He did his best to keep track of the various paths he took, in spite of the winding, seemingly deliberately confusing passageways. After a little while, he stopped, visualizing a map of the path thus far in his head. He contemplated calling Ava and giving a status report, but he decided it was best to let her keep working. As he prepared to keep walking, he heard a rustling of stones and turned quickly at the sound, rapidly drawing his baton with a shaky hand, then breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a small lizard scurry back into the shadows.
Putting his baton away, he turned and found himself face to face with a calm-faced man, who quickly knocked him out with a well-placed strike to the head before he could do so much as yelp. Ogawa moved quickly, catching Gary and slowly lowering him to the ground to ensure his fall made no noise, then followed the path he had come from. One down, one to go.
Ava’s own exploration eventually led to a wider area, where a series of rocks formed a small stage in the center of the cave. She tilted her head quizzically. It was a bizarre pattern for the formation to take, but her initial curiosity turned to piqued interest as she saw a small, ornate box sitting on the center of the table. She smiled and walked towards, ascending the makeshift steps to investigate further. She turned the box over in her hands, noting the likely centuries underground had done nothing to wear it down. As she held it close to herself, the scanner screeched to life, then shorted out in a painful burst of sparks.
Ava cried out and threw the ruined device to the ground, staring in bafflement at the box.
“What exactly is in here that could fry a piece of technology from the Waverider?”
She prepared to open it, only to freeze as she felt a gun cock. Moving quickly, she rolled, narrowly avoiding a bullet as it slammed into the ground near here. She heard the gun cock again and a male voice said, “I’m afraid that box is Japanese property. Please, hand it over so we can avoid any conflict.”
Ava drew her baton, gripping it tightly as she poked her out from behind the stone to see a similarly well-dressed man calmly training a revolver on her. Maybe Gary was right. She probably could have brought a better weapon than a stick to this. Clearing her throat, she shouted back, “Sorry, I don’t trust people who try to shoot me.”
Ogawa trained his gun on her and politely, but firmly, replied, “That was a warning shot.”
She ducked behind the stone and quickly tried to think of a plan. Leaning on her wrist communicator, she hissed an urgent, “Gary! Gary, I need back-up!” only to get radio static in return. She waited a few moments, then said, “Gary, this is a really bad time to not have charged your communicator, please respond!” After more static, she sighed. Guess she was on her own against this one. Prepping her baton, she yelled, “Alright, whoever you are, I’m coming-“
She stood up, ready to throw her baton and attempt to disarm her attacker from a distance, only to pause when she realized that he had seemingly vanished. As she lowered her baton, she felt his presence next to her, and moved just in time to barely block a series of strikes from the man as he seemingly emerged from the shadows next to her. Quickly backing up, she set the box back in it’s resting place, then pressed the attack, swinging her baton and forcing Ogawa back, with him easily sidestepping each attack, then blocking the final blow with his revolver, which he angled to the ground and fired.
Ava gasped as her entire body went rigid, and her eyes glanced to see the bullet had lodged itself into the ground where her shadow rested. She tried futilely to move, but Ogawa used the opening to plant a clean kick to her chest, sending her tumbling down the rock cropping. She staggered to her feet to see Ogawa reaching for the box, and she quickly tossed her baton, knocking it off the table and out of his grasp. He faced her again, mildly surprised, as she quickly shook off the initial disorientation of her fall and lunged with a knee strike, only to pause in bafflement as he seemingly flickered out of existence.
Ogawa chuckled quietly as Ava found herself surrounded by four of him. She cautiously struck a fighting stance. Just her luck, she was fighting a metahuman with no reinforcements or equipment. All four of the Ogawas lunged at once, and she struck at random, only for the clones to flicker out and form around the true Ogawa, who drove his knee into her back, only for her to rear her head back and drive it into his face. Grunting in pain, he stumbled back, giving an opening for her to dive for her baton and sweep his legs out with it. He tumbled to the ground, quickly rolling to avoid her follow-up attack, then grabbed her arm, using her momentum to pull himself to his feet, then drive his palm into her wrist.
Ava cried out in pain and dropped the baton, too focused on her attacker to see it clatter down the steps. She tried to throw an elbow at him, but he caught her other arm, then spun her around, landing a clean punch to her jaw. As she stumbled backwards, he fired off another shot, the round hitting the edge of her shadow and locking her in place. He’d been caught off guard in their initial fight, expecting another average American operative and instead getting someone able to match him almost blow for blow. He needed to finish this quickly.
As he contemplated to himself, Ava’s eyes glanced down at the bullet, the clear source of her paralysis, and gritted her teeth as she managed to drag her foot ever so close to it, just barely pushing it forward. It was barely an inch wide and it felt like she was trying to move a brick. As Ogawa lunged for the finishing strike, she managed to push it clear of her shadow and rapidly brought her arms to block the strike, only for Ogawa to vanish into thin air, then reappear behind her.
The last words she heard before a blow to the neck brought her to the ground was a seemingly genuine “Nothing personal.” As the knocked out Ava hit the ground, Ogawa straightened his tie, then stepped over her body to stoop down and grab the box. It didn’t appear damaged, fortunately, meaning he could bring it back for further analysis. Giving one last look at the woman who had given him a fair amount of trouble, he descended the rocks and exited the cave, heading back the way he had entered.
“Director Sharpe! Director Sharpe! Or, uh, Ava!”
Ava grimaced as her eyes opened and she felt a splitting pain in her neck. Her vision slowly came into focus to see Gary standing over her, a look of genuine concern across his face. She blinked rapidly, bringing everything into focus, and she waved him away as she shakily stood up.
“I’m fine, Gary. Where were you?”
“I don’t know, Ava. One minute I was standing up, and then some sort of…ninja came out of nowhere and then I woke up with a huge bump on my head.”
He pointed towards a large purple bruise that was quickly forming on his head. Ava rolled her eyes and replied, “Gary, just because we’re in Japan doesn’t make him a ninja.”
“He came out of the shadows! He karate chopped me in the head!”
She paused to think about the strange techniques he’d used to outfight her, and reluctantly nodded.
“Okay, maybe he was a practitioner of some form of ninjutsu. You may have had a point about back-up, Gary.”
He seemed pleased with her admission, then looked back at the empty stone table and asked, “So, now what? I assume whatever we came here for he got away with.”
Ava sighed, massaging her temples as she realized their next move.
“Well, first we’ll have to tell John. Something tells me I’m not going to hear the end of this for a while.”
Ogawa sat down in his car, turning it on and letting it run for a moment while he called Genjuro. Almost immediately, his superior picked up.
“Ogawa-san, are you alright? We’d been waiting for your call.”
“I’m fine, Kazanari-sama. I encountered some minor trouble with two Americans, but I secured the apparent source of the energy signal.”
Genjuro’s tone became more cautious.
“Americans? You think-“
He inspected the box, ornately carved and decorated, and added, “No, they didn’t strike me as government. They were underequipped, for one, and it was only two. We may have to investigate them further.”
Genjuro nodded, taking the info into consideration, then asked, “And what of the artifact? Any sign of what it could be?”
“It’s contained in a box, but it doesn’t appear to be sealed. You want me to open it?”
Genjuro stroked his goatee, thinking it over, then hesitantly answered, “Yes, but be careful. Anything off, and you shut it immediately. Understood?”
Ogawa slowly opened the box, only fully looking at it’s contents once it became clear that there appeared to be no trap attached. He raised an eyebrow in confusion at the sole item contained within, and Genjuro spoke up after a few moments of silence.
“Well, what do we have?”
“It appears to be some form of…golden arrow.”
Epilogue[]
The elevator let out a quiet ding as it reached it’s destination, a small waiting room with a sign by the door that read “DFPD Surveillance Division” and Ava curtly walked out, hands folded behind her back, and was immediately greeted by both the scent of fresh paint and the sight of her opponent from her first “battle” sitting in a chair, politely waiting. He looked at here and nodded politely, and after a few awkward seconds, she nodded back, before walking up to the receptionist, who had a helpful nametag reading “Maxwell”, and cleared her throat.
The man looked up from his paper work and smiled.
“Ah, you must be Ms. Sharpe. Have a seat by Ogawa over there, and the director will be with you in a moment.”
She surveyed her surroundings, slightly nervous, then sat next to Ogawa, who offered his hand and broke the silence by saying, “Shinji Ogawa. I suppose I should apologize for striking you in the neck.”
Ava shook his hand and replied, “It’s alright. It was a seeming life or death scenario, even if it was…false, I guess. Do you know anything about this place?”
Ogawa reluctantly shook his head.
“I’m afraid you and I arrived at the same time, so I have little in the answers way, unfortunately.”
He gave a confused look around the room, which only had two doors, one labelled “Director’s Office” while the other was labelled “Precinct”.
“I don’t even know who runs this place.”
As if on cue, Pete Wisdom emerged from his office and curtly answered, “That would be me. This place had been on bloody mothballs when I got to it, so after a little of the ol’ Wisdom political maneuvering, I was able to get myself appoint head of the department.”
Both Ogawa and Ava rose to greet him, and he shook both their hands before continuing, “As for why you lot are here, I figured it’d be a shame to let new talent go to waste. So, without further ado, I’d like to offer both of you a job as agents of the division.”
Ogawa seemed to consider it, while Ava crossed her arms, eyes narrowed suspiciously at Pete, who coolly stared back at her, waiting for an answer.
“What exactly does the surveillance division do?”
Pete chuckled.
“Surveil? It’s in the bloody name, luv. This city’s got a lot of threats, lurking just outta sight, and since it seems to be incapable of taking care of itself, I’ve decided to make it my job. If these cockroaches are going to come out of the shadows, then people like you n’ me are gonna turn the lights on and send 'em scurrying back. Now, are you in, or out?”
He offered his hand, and after a long hesitation, Ava shook it.
“Alright, but if there’s even a single element of this department that isn’t above board, I’m out.”
Pete smiled and shrugged, as if he expected that response, then turned to look at Ogawa, who said, “I suppose I could offer my services for the greater good here.”
“Excellent. Now, Agent Ogawa, you can head on into the precinct. Agent Lawson will be pleased to meet her new partner. As for you, Agent Sharpe-“
He snapped his fingers at Maxwell, who quickly handed him a folder labelled “Triad Activity”, which he then handed to Ava, who flipped through it to see pictures and writings on what appeared to be a criminal gang.
“-hate to throw ya in headfirst but I want you to meet your partner in the parking garage. Sending you out on a standard tailing/info-gathering job on this lovely lot. Now, hop to it.”
He turned back and walked to his office, stopping only when Ava asked, “How will I know who my partner is?”
He turned back, wry grin across his face, and replied, “You’re supposed to be undercover, so ask for “the Songbird”. Something tells me you’ll know her when you see her.”
With that, he stepped back into his office, and Ogawa gave a polite wave to Ava before stepping into the precinct to look for his own partner, leaving Ava standing alone in the waiting room. After a few moments, she stepped into the elevator and pressed the button leading to the parking garage.
Ava, file held tightly at her side, walked through the parking garage, largely free of people save for one, a woman clad in a white leather trenchcoat leaning on the railway, back turned to Ava as she watched the city. Approaching her, Ava stood at attention and said, “Excuse me, but are you “the Songbird”?
The woman tensed, then slowly turned to look at her, and Ava dropped the file as she instantly recognized the striking blue eyes staring back at her in shock.
“S-Sara?”
She dropped the file, papers scattering across the floor, and rushed to her, throwing her in a passionate embrace, then a deep kiss, and Sara grinned from ear to ear before saying, “Oh my god, I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
Ava laughed, then rested her forehead against Sara’s. For a moment, there’s no job they have to do, no strange city full of bizarre characters, no rickety house in the slums or small blue-collar apartment. It’s just two lovers, reunited.
Pete leaned back in his chair, watching the touching reunion from his computer, then chuckled and said, “Warms the heart, it does.”
From a secure location, kept away from the DFPD, Aiden Pearce, sitting in front of several monitors and rubbing the bruise from where his collar once was, asked, “There a reason you put these two together? You don’t strike me as a romantic.”
Pete feigned being wounded, then responded, “You wound me, Aiden. You don’t think I’d intervene in the name of love?”
“No.”
He sighed.
“Y’know, you’ve got a nasty tone, seeing as how I’m the only reason you’re not collared and sleeping in a trash bin right now. But, if you must know, putting these two together gives their partnership stakes. They’re gonna fight a little harder now that they know who bites it if they’re off their game.”
Aiden shrugged, then said, “Makes sense, I guess. So, your little pet project is coming along smoothly then. I don’t see why you need it, still.”
Pete rolled his eyes. The true reason was that it gave Elijah a vastly superior intel network, but he couldn't exactly tell Aiden that.
“Christ, what is this, Question Time? I built this department out of a handful of people in a bloody broom closet because I knew that we weren’t ready for another Wolves attack. If your intel about Doom taking over is true, the next one ain’t gonna be unorganized rabble rising out of the sewers. We need some sort of alarm for this shit, and thus, the new and improved Surveillance Department. Now, it’s my turn to ask a question: any luck on finding Barnes?”
Aiden shook his head.
“Still nothing. It’s like he vanished off the face of the city.”
Pete nodded, his confident smirk replaced with a more uncertain expression, then said, “Right then, I’m off. Keep an eye out. Ta.”
He hung up the phone and turned his chair to overlook the city. The disappearance of Bucky Barnes, one of his top operatives, was deeply worrying. The kid was a ghost, but people don’t just up and vanish in this city unless someone wants them to. He’d have to keep digging.
Sitting on a walkway overlooking the sewers tunnels, Kai Leng came out of cloaking with a confident smirk as he watched Doom, flanked by two of his commanders, walk through, entering his private quarters. He slowly drew his monomolecular blade, grinning to himself over getting to not just slay Doom, the man who had betrayed him and handed him off to Beast’s horrific experiment, but also two of his most trusted advisors. Bane would reward him handsomely for this.
As he prepared to drop down, he heard a quiet thump behind him, then let out a confused cry as a metallic arm grabbed him by the throat and pulled him into the shadows.
“Per your orders, Lord Doom, we’ve focused on probing assaults for now. No true force commitment, and no consistent pattern of attack. DFPD and Cfp’s organization have inflicted light casualties, naturally, but nothing we can’t recover from.”
Zero spoke confidently, his mask not betraying his frustration with the series of low-stakes attacks he’d organized. Doom slouched in his throne, resting his chin in his hand as he heard the briefing. He nodded as Zero finished and stepped back, then said, “Well done. Continue these assaults, alongside your recruitment drives in the lower neighborhoods. There are loyal fighters across this city, we simply need to win them to our cause.”
Zero nodded, then stood aside so his fellow commander, a tan-skinned man with a black goatee, a dirty gray t-shirt, and jeans could step forward. Doom nodded for him to speak.
“And you, Raynor? How is your hunt for the traitors proceeding?”
“’Fraid Ventress is still in the wind, boss. Few clashes here and there, but I think she knows she ain’t got the numbers for a proper fight just yet.”
Doom’s eyes betrayed no emotion, and Raynor continued after he received no reply.
“We do got a bit of good news about Bane. Apparently, he’d been using Corleone’s old smuggling tunnels to move men and guns through, and the fella that snatched them after he went down is a lot less willing to cooperate. Told me he’s hiding out in a warehouse in the Blue Collar district, the one by Logan’s Bar. I’ve got guys ready to roll at your-“
“No.”
Doom’s answer gave him pause, and he stammered, “You…want me to leave ‘em?”
“No, I want Bane and his measly little crew of ungrateful brats slaughtered, but I will allow my Doomguard to handle it.”
Raynor raised a quizzical eyebrow.
“Since when do you got a personal guard?”
At that moment, an imposing figure, clad all in black save for his silver left arm, which held a decapitated head, face still frozen in terror and pain, and his gray mask, which showed only his cold, rage-filled eyes, stepped out of the shadows, and casually tossed the head at Doom’s feet. Both Raynor and Zero backed up, giving each other uncertain looks.
“Since I was able to acquire Sergeant Barnes for my own use. Though, he is no longer Barnes. You can just call him the Winter Soldier.”
The Soldier faced towards Doom, awaiting orders, and Doom nodded gratefully towards the head.
“I want Bane eliminated in the same style as Kai Leng here: with no mercy or hesitation. You may take Quiet with you as support as well. She’s waiting near the entrance.”
The Soldier nodded before fading back into the shadows, and Doom turned back to his men and stated, “Now, our work is done. Leave me. We’ll reconvene once Bane has been dealt with.”
With that, Doom’s men left him to his own thoughts, and he smiled underneath his mask. Everything was going exactly as planned.
Expert’s Opinion[]
Shinji Ogawa was in a class all of his own. While Ava’s experience and competence made her an extremely impressive combatant capable of matching his initial attacks and ninjitsu abilities, once her started using his more varied skillset, there was very little she could do to keep up with him, making her defeat ultimately inevitable.