Psycho-Pass: Coping Mechanisms

Part 7 : Memory Control

PART 7 – Memory Control

The woman tried to escape, but CID members had vast experience in chasing, and the thorough knowledge of the terrain. Shizuka was starting to lose her breath though, running a small marathon. Kogami was running even faster, getting closer the woman on his own.

Talking about physical condition. This man was a beast.

"I've got this, Inspector!" he shouted to Shizuka. The woman he was chasing after turned to see who he was talking to.

"Be careful!" Shizuka yelled back to him. It almost felt like they were partners again. Partners of equal footing, not a shepherd and a hound. Shizuka sighed. She disappeared in the nearby alley.

Kogami approached the fugitive, making a short pause.

"Stop, or I will shoot!" he warned. She was within the shooting range. But, there were also spectators. Innocent bystanders. He couldn't make a shot.

There wasn't a complicated story behind the case itself. This woman has just killed a man, her landlord. She couldn't pay the rent, so he was about to chase her away. She refused to leave and he tried to force her out. She grabbed the steel rod and bashed his head in. At first, she tried to play the victim, but Kogami knew a predator when he saw one.

Shizuka has seen it as well. She didn't need a Dominator to know that woman's crime coefficient went up through the roof. That person wasn't even feeling remorseful at this point. And, moreover... she was still holding the rod she used to kill that man. It was covered in blood. People were staring. The danger of Psycho Hazard was growing.

People were about to notice this little show.

"Come closer, you scum, so I can bash your head in too!" the woman threatened. Kogami aimed. She took a turn, and he had to give up again.

"Shit..." he uttered to himself.

"Kogami, do you still have eyes on the target?" Shizuka used her communicator to call him.

"Yes. She sped up again, and there are people around, but I will catch up to her, Inspector!"

"Don't let her escape," she stated, short of breath as she was moving in her own direction.

"I won't."

He sped up as well. The woman turned towards Kogami a couple of times, just to see whether he's still close. She was losing focus. She started panicking.

Both the Enforcer and the Inspector knew the alleys of this area like the back of their hands. Shizuka managed to cut through between the passages and intercepted the woman on the other side.

"Shizuka!" Kogami shouted as the woman lifted the steel pipe, clashing with Shizuka's own rod. The woman hit her over fingers, over her shoulder, and Shizuka kicked her in the guts with her knee after suffering an agonizing pain.

"I will kill anyone who tries to take my home away! I will kill you!" the woman, still in pain herself, rose to hit Shizuka again. She swung the pipe. Shizuka confronted her again, blocking her next swing.

Kogami aimed. The Paralyzer wasn't about to work on this one.

"The target's threat judgement has been updated. Enforcement mode is Lethal Eliminator."
The crime coefficient was too high. Shizuka knew.

She could almost hear Dominator's inner voice, as if she was the one holding the Dominator instead of Shinya. She still felt the phantom grip of familiar, cold, metal handle between her fingers. She missed carrying the Dominator. In this phase, she was physically longing for carrying one. With each new case, being this exposed to criminal world without such a powerful protector was a serious issue for someone like Shizuka.