Star conglomerates were ahead on the game, and The Five-O needed to innovate, needed a team that could go in, investigate, collect intel and go out without alerting the official channels who were in Star’s pockets, they needed a team of talented people outside the system. They tracked three of them: Yunuen found the pupil of a Wu Shu master called Wu Sanjuro, Boucher found a brilliant and competent ex-yakuza called Shinto Nagano and Lacroix himself found a mysterious and powerful living doll named Charlotte Victorique Rose.

Charlotte

Full Name: Charlotte Victorique Rose

Function: Operative.

Birthdate and Age: October 21, 1873 – 109 years old (appears 19).

Height and Weight: 1,52m – 15 Kg

Homeland: Rosenshire, England

Current Status: Active

 

The Haunted Dolls

So far as she remembers of the beginning of her new life, Charlotte and his brother, Victor, are imprisoned in an old house filled with thin labyrinthine corridors, dead end attics, basements of impenetrable darkness, doors that are walled or stuck in the worst moments, macabre toys, dripping blood, dust, and mold – and they can’t escape, because that house is their prison, and Annya is their jailor.

Annya is a cruel doll, full of malevolent aura. She has as only goal torment Charlotte’s life and try to kill Victor. Annya says Charlotte betrayed “daddy” after him trust her with his secrets and Victor poisoned her mind against “daddy”.

No one visited the mansion so, for a long time, Charlotte was tormented and tortured by Annya and Victor had to remain hidden, because the few times he tried to leave was almost killed by Annya.

The Research

On his investigations about Star Foods, Charles Lacroix stumbled with a little curiosity about dolls created by a former employee of the company, someone only known as Puppetmaster. Such tiny thing would be normally overlooked, but not by someone so obsessed to put down Star foods as Lacroix. Digging deeper, he found out that these dolls are claimed to have mystical powers and even being alive! With the aid of Agent Gunwoo, who is expert in the supernatural world, they found out that there’s an abandoned house in Kobe where it’s humored to have some of these dolls. Lacroix decided to pay a visit himself at this house and acquire these dolls to further investigate this. But he was not the first to find out about this house...

Nagoya

In Nagoya, there is a Martial Arts Gym called Dojo Oichi, there are no masters in it and fees are very cheap, this created a perfect place for undesirables train there, like half-japanese or foreign people. At this place, a Brazillian half-japanese girl called Mari Azai trained there with her closest friends called “Oichi’s Top 6”.

Mari recently lost her mother on a fire in her mother’s dojo, where she formerly. But she never believed her mother passed away on the fire, that she instead chose to disappear for yet unknown reasons.

One day, Mari received a strange note on her tiny flat. The note only said: “If you want to find your mother, find first the doll” With an address of an old, abandoned house in Kobe. Thirsty for any clues about her mother’s whereabouts she travelled to Kobe immediately, without warning her friends.

Chersey Mansion

One day, Annya warns Charlotte that they have visitors, and she should wait on the basement and testify her killing them all.

Mari arrived at the Chersey Mansion after she enters, she finds three bandits afraid of climbing down to the basement because of strange noises and smells. Mari talks with them, and They say they came to grab some dolls for a mysterious benefactor, she dupes them saying she will get the dolls for them They believe and let her climb down.

Meanwhile Charlotte saw helplessly a strange woman with strange clothes and strange hair dress climbing down the stairs. To her surprise the woman shows no fear and goes straight to her asking: “Are you the doll I need to take?” Charlotte tries to warn the stranger she’s in peril, but it’s too late, Annya strikes.

She notices that the woman knows how to defend herself but fearing that’s not enough she asks her three times for the woman to become her servant, desperately trying to get rid of the malign doll that attacks her she agrees. That way a contract is bound between them and Charlotte gains full control of her body and helps Mari against Annya.

Charlotte and Mari fight against Annya, but it looks like there’s no way to defeat her, because Every time she’s close to be defeated, she disappears inside the walls and reappears completely restored! Even scape is not an option, because basement’s door is closed shut! They agree they must defeat Annya once and for all.

With a combination of their efforts, Mari and Charlotte finally defeat Annya, that becomes a common doll, the evil inside her seeping away screaming and cursing helplessly.

The bandits outside are encouraged by the sudden drop of malign aura in the house climb down the stairs Only to find the doll they needed broken. They agree that Mari should pay with her life. But Charlotte and Mari take short work on them.

The Unexpected Operative

Mari and Charlotte flee from the house together, Mari looking for the closest payphone while Charlotte wanting that she goes to the hospital to threat her wounds.

On the payphone they stumble with Charles Lacroix, who explains who he is, being very cordial to Charlotte and hostile with Mari.

He tries to make become Charlotte’s new servant, using a studied methodology for the bounding ritual, but Charlotte refuses saying Mari is already her servant. Lacroix then tries to persuade Mari to give up the bound, but she refuses.

With no alternative, Lacroix agrees to have Mari alongside Charlotte. Invites them to enter the car where he explains everything about Stargazer Strike Force and it’s goals. Mari and Charlotte agree to take part of it.

Charles Lacroix at first didn't trust Mari, and tried to convince her to relinquish her responsabilities with Charlotte. This way she could be dismissed. But Mari has strong motivations to be there with them, and refused. Soon enough she will prove herself unvaluable to the operation. 

Mari Azai

Full Name: Mari Bittencourt Azai da Cruz

Function: Operative.

Birthdate and Age: June 24, 1965 – 24 years old

Height and Weight: 1,72m – 66 Kg

Homeland: Guarapari, Brazil

Current Status: Active

Check out the first part! 

The Stargazer Special Task Force