twiststheblade

The miles seemed to fly by in a relatively short space of time, compared to their frenetic trip in the opposite direction. Goldy had lulled into a semi-trance during the journey, just following Miho's tail light and daydreaming to herself. Comforting in the warmth of the clinging girl behind her. Her thoughts kept returning to that little scene in the upper corridor. Had she really said those words to Miho? Admitted those feelings to herself? What does it mean?

She stirs out of her reverie when they approach the complex again. She pulls alongside Miho and pops her visor up.

"They're going to be on high alert this time," she yells over the growls of both engines. "Route one?"

From:

Miho turns her head a little, managing to watch Goldy out of one eye and the road with the other. She nods, cranks the throttle, and screams down the driveway.

The men at the gate are on high alert, gates wide open for instant back-up, guns out.

High alert, perhaps, but they're not expecting a trio of harpies on motorcycles to take absolutely not heed of them, and barel through their midst. No heed, that is, except for the two that Miho neatly breaks the necks of as she passes them, continuing on her way down the driveway to the complex, not slowing up one shred, even when it looks as if she's about to smash into the front of the building.

Bullets whine through the air around her as she skids up the driveway, slewing her bike all over the place to provide an untrackable target, and in the end dropping it on it's side in a slide.

From:

Goldy had hung back slightly. As her bike re-scatters the guards at the gate, she decides to leave them a parting gift. As they hurtle away, she kindly lobs a standard fragmentation grenade over her shoulder and back into the regrouping militia.

The resulting detonation isn't quite as impressive as the one that almost took out half a storey back in Yokohoma, but it's devastating and incapacitating enough. Ace would surely approve, Goldy thinks as she steadies the bike again and aims for the front door of the complex.

"Hang on, dear," she tells Alanna. "This may get a little bumpy."

She feels the extra cling, and that's sign enough that her warning has been heeded. She shifts gear, overtakes Miho and subsequently hauls back on the handlebars. Mud churns and puddle water spits up from the back tire. The front tire lifts off the ground in a majestic wheelie, and is the first thing to meet the door.

The lacquered wood doesn't stand a chance. It splinters and breaks apart as if it were nothing but chipboard, and Goldy, Alanna and their bike crash dramatically through the main entrance.

From:

the_lioness

"I'm just along for the ride!" Alanna shouts. Her arms tighten and her legs cling as the bike picks up speed, causing her stomach to flip over at the thrill. Faster and faster they go, mud splattering up and out, but in one fell swoop, it becomes painfully obvious to Alanna that Goldy doesn't plan on stopping.

Bumpy is an understatement.

The wheel comes up and Alanna squeaks lightly, fully expecting to go tumbling off the back. This time is different, however, and she ducks her head as they crash through the door.

"Does nobody knock in Japan?"

Chunks of wood rain down around them, and Alanna immediately takes stock of their surroundings, trusting Goldy to control the bike when it skids sideways. It's a large room with several chairs off to the side and many doors. She has a vague, blurred impression of wood, paper and plants before a more salient detail registers.

Guards.

From:

Miho had a reason for dropping her bike on it's side. She's still going at a more than respectable speed, and the bike continues on it's trajectory, albeit now sliding rather than rolling, with the little samurai perched atop it.

She knew learning to surf would come in handy one day.

From:

Guards, and guards, and more guards, all armed with swords or staffs or whirling chains, all moving, and more coming in through the doors with every passing moment. They had not made a quiet entrance, and as a consequence the entire complex is on guard. And heading straight for them.

They're hanging back for now, just a little. Picking their moment.

This will not last.

From:

The hallway beyond the entrance was easy enough to negotiate. Mats fly back as Goldy's bike careers onwards. However, the big room at the end causes more problems, thanks to its highly polished floor and the fact that Goldy has no idea which way to turn.

There are many doors. And, as previously noted, many many armed guards.

Goldy checks back for Miho, and an uncertain twitch of the handlebars causes the bike to lose purchase on the slippery surface. Goldy grimaces and fights back at first, but then decides to use the loss of control to their advantage as much as she can.

"The next stop is the hornet's nest," she cries back to Alanna as she lets the bike slide. "This is the end of the line. Please disembark here!"

The bike starts to fall sideways, away from the skid. Feeling the bike lighten and the arms depart from her waist, Goldy follows Alanna and leaps off before it hits the ground. Engine still roaring, the motorcycle slides on into a cluster of astonished men, taking most of them out before it finally stalls.

From:

the_lioness

Alanna lands in a crouch, one hand braced on the ground. Her head snaps up as she reaches behind her and draws her sword. There are too many guards to count, and they're still piling into the room. Face expressionless, she rises to her feet and turns in a slow circle, sword at the ready, a merciless look in her eyes.

She has no intention of dying here.

From:

Miho jumps off the bike before it's come to a halt, letting it continue it's slide into the room, starting to spin on the slippery floor. It snakes wildly and careers sideways, causing men to leap out of it's path.

Miho follows it, stopping in the middle of the room, grouping together with the other two. Her knives are still in their sheaths, her shuriken are in her hands. Her eyes are burning with a truly terrifying expression.

Whilst a deeply buried part of her is truly remorseful she brought anyone else into this, she is in her element.

Let the slaughter begin.

From:

Goldy lands in a less graceful fashion, but manages to stay on her feet. Seconds later, her empty helmet hits to floor, joining two others. Beretta out, she backs towards her two friends until all three of them all standing in a tight triangle, shoulders touching.

"This is what I call a target-rich environment," she says grimly.

The truth of the matter is that there are far too many targets, and she has the distinct feeling that she's not going to be able to shoot her way out of this one. She has no melee weapon, other than her K-Bar hunting knife, and that is not looking very effective in the light of the weapons being brandished by the closing circle of men.

"Fuck it. Let's rock!"

And her gun blazes into life.

From:

the_lioness

Alanna isn't scared. That's for later, if they survive. She's angry (at herself) and confused, but both emotions only feed her determination to live, to walk back through the door and apologize.

Goldy shoots, and Alanna takes a deep breath.

"I've faced worse odds."

With a grim smile, she leaps forward, sending a whip of purple light ahead of her to help clear the way.

From:

Miho grins widely, eyes blazing. Some of the older men facing her shrink back, just a little. They know that expression. It's been years since they've seen it, but they remember.

But there are a lot of them, and one of her, and perhaps they can overwhelm these three girls with numbers. Numbers that are depleting under bullets and purple fire and whirling shuriken, before Miho draws her blades and is among them.

The bitch is back.

From:

The men swarm forward from all angles. They're so fast!

Before she has a chance to get five shots off, Goldy finds herself on the receiving end of a disarming punch to the wrist and a powerful roundhouse kick. Her pistol flies from her hand and skitters across the floor. Partially winded, she is driven back and falls into a chair. The swordsman looms over her, blade raised for the kill.

"WAIT!" she yells, leaning back and sticking her legs out at ninety degrees.

Incredibly, her attacker does pause briefly, a bemused expression on his face. She's unarmed and entirely at his mercy—quite defenseless. He'll allow her some final words, even if he won't understand them.

She doesn't have a chance to say anything. Over the clamor of the battle being waged around them, an oddly out of place sound can just be picked out. The merry electronic sound of a cell phone ringing. The blonde's jacket pocket is vibrating slightly as well. Goldy raises a finger, requesting further delay in her fate. "That's me. Can I take it? It might be important."

The warrior shrugs slightly, sword still poised to deal the death blow.

She moves very deliberately to show she's not trying anything funny, and carefully removes the buzzing, beeping phone from her pocket. She flips it open and starts talking in a light conversational tone.

"Hello... who? Uh huh ...no, I think you've got the wrong— ...hm? ...Ugly Yakuza guy? Yeah, he's here."

She looks bemused herself now. "It's for you," she says, tossing the phone up to the henchman. Not that he believes her, but he instinctively grabs it in his free hand anyway. And that proves to be his undoing. His eyes bulge as a momentary burst of high voltage electricity grounds itself through him. He stands there trembling for a few seconds, and then crumples to the floor.

Goldy grins and wrenches the sword from his hand. "Shocking! Positively shocking!"

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the_lioness

Using as little of her Gift as possible, Alanna forges ahead. At first, she remains very conscientious about not delivering killing strikes, but in the whirling rush of steel, she becomes divorced from her sword arm. Such decisions are no longer in her hands. Memories swirl through the back of her mind, and she latches onto a vision of Roger to give herself that extra edge. Eyes never wavering, she spins and thrusts and dodges, cutting the enemy down.

(Don't think, just act.)

From:

Miho has no such compunctions. In fact, she'd rather kill if she can.

She goes for neat, disabling blows, a swirl of black and silver and very rapidly red.

She can't worry about the others.

Can't.

That comes when they're safe.

From:

This is not how this is supposed to go. Three helpless little girls, countless men with weapons, and yet they're being decimated?

It doesn't seem to matter what they do, there's a girl there killing them.

And there are less and less of them to contend with, fewer with every twist and cut and kick and punch.

From:

Goldy sword fights with an odd style—a mixture of Miho and Alanna's teachings. She's like a weird blend of the two other girls who are dropping enemies left right and center, though most of her efforts are spent defensively.

In fact, her rare kills mostly derive from exploitation of the lethal torso thrusts and swipes that she unwittingly takes. The attackers are consistently bewildered and stunned when their death blows simply glance off her hidden body armor. She'll have the bruises to show for her lack of skill later, but for now the adrenaline-fueled second of respite it buys her is enough.

As the fight goes on, she finds herself pressed back into a corner by two more swordsmen. There are plants there that she uses for cover. Or... there were. Now they are more like sticks and stumps in pots.

"I've heard of ex-foliating, but this is ridiculous," she pants.

She can't see a way out. So she cheats.

Ducking one lateral swipe that might have taken her head clean off, she grabs a handful of soil and gravel and throws it into the faces of her opponents. And while they blink and scrub to clean their vision, she slices their guts open and leaps between them. She lands feet first on an arm chair and and rides it as it topples backwards.

There are only a few men still standing, but she doesn't get a chance to pull her other gun. Another samurai is on her quickly.

From:

One last man comes into the room, this one walking slowly, pace measured.

He pauses in the doorway. Takes in the scene. Nods, slowly, perversely pleased. His student is responsible for this. And her little pets, but surely it has to have been mostly her.

He takes a few more steps into the room, kicking a twitching man out of the way. his eyes are fixed on Miho, who is watching him equally calmly. He bows. After a moment's hesitation, she bows back.

He does not rise.

Neither does she.

From:

Miho smiles sweetly at him, and straightens from her bow, a split second before he does.

She bends, retrieves a sword from a severed hand lying on the floor, flicks it clean, and drops into stance.

They circle each other. He tries a cut. She isn't there. She tries one. Neither is he.

They trade blows, circling silently, slow and measured. They pause, taking stock. Suddenly, there is a flurry of blows, and the man falls back, bleeding from a glancing blow to his upper arm.

Miho is smiling, now, satisfied and catlike.

She's better than he is.

She learned, grew as a warrior and a person. He's still where he was when she last sparred with him, and he broke her arm. She puts up her sword, laughs, and backs away.

"I'm not going to bother. My little red-headed friend could beat you with one arm behind her back. I've had enough of this."

From:

He is all but grinding his teeth, but, after a moment's thought, he goes for the red-head. Fine take out the other two, then he can teach that little brat what it means to be his pupil.

From:

the_lioness

Another man goes down, and blood drips from the tip of Alanna's blade. Slightly nauseous, she averts her eyes from the sight and and ducks as two men thrust forward, intent on slicing her in half. They only succeed in impaling each other as Alanna rolls to the side.

When she comes up again, no one stands before her. Groans and whispered prayers in an unfamiliar language ring in her ears, but there is no other noise nearby. (the slide of a soft shoe on wood) Or is there?

With a growl, Alanna swings her sword over her head and behind her, just blocking a downward strike. Light and quick, she spins and pushes back, knocking the man's sword aside. They circle each other, warily.

This one is different. He's not a mindless drone, fighting without knowing why. This is a general. Nerves steeled, Alanna adjusts her grip and prepares for a true battle.

With several sharp and gruff words, he lunges forward. From the first strike, Alanna knows a secret. She watches his every move with cold, cold eyes, sword moving in a blur, a small smile playing about her lips. He's quick, but she's more so. He's strong, but he never trained with Coram's broadsword.

Best of all, he lost the fight before it even began simply by assuming superiority.

Whipping her sword around in a vicious half-arc, she slashes the taller man's jacket and draws blood. The tip of his blade leaves a cut on her arm, but it's a small price to pay for the opening it affords her. Stepping in, she slides her sword under and up, knocking the hilt of his and sending the blade spinning across the floor. Stunned, the craggy faced man attempts to punch her, but with an automatic block and kick, she breaks his wrist, pushing him hard against the wall. He stumbles forward, and she kicks again, pinning him there with her foot held at an impossibly high angle.

"Never underestimate your opponent, you fool."

One last kick, and he slumps to the floor.

From:

Metal still clashes and sings from one final location in the room. Goldy's adversary looks a little unnerved to be the last man standing. Nevertheless, he battles on doggedly anyway, honor and pride at stake. A pair of sai whirl and flash, trying to strip this wretched blonde of her steel. And eventually succeeding—she never did spend any time training with Raph.

The moment of victory proves short-lived.

Goldy hops back onto a couch in the wake of her sword being ripped away. Bouncing gamely at her new vantage point, she lands a Shang kick and prepares to follow up with a volley of kidney punches, just like Liam and Alanna had shown her.

They aren't required. She relaxes and sighs, face falling a little.

"I could have handled it," she protests.

Blood gouts over the man's lips. His eyes are wide and surprised. Goldy steps aside to let him fall into the cushioning, a well-aimed shuriken sticking through his neck.

From:

Miho shrugs, trotting across the room and wiping blood off her blades onto her trousers. Not that it does much good - she's fairly well soaked through by now. Never was much of a neat fighter. She tugs the shuriken out of the corpse and adds it to a stack in her left hand - she's been going around the room retrieving them.

"I had one left. Seemed a pity not to use them all."

She looks around.

"Well. What a mess."

And it is. All of the men are disabled or dead, except for the few that had fled. The once white walls are spattered with red, the furniture is broken and disarrayed, the floor shines now with blood, not varnish.

She takes a deep breath. Nothing else to do, now, is there?

"I need to clean up."

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Goldy is less blood spattered, courtesy of her far fewer kills. Breathing becoming more controlled, eyes becoming less wild, she steps off the couch and looks about for her Beretta. And while doing so, she finally takes in the carnage around the room.

"Shit. You two kicked some serious ass."

She spots her gun and heads over to retrieve it. Once it's reholstered, she looks each of her team mates over and nods approvingly at the apparent lack of injuries.

"Okay. I suppose my nose could use a powder as well."

(Scene 2)

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Outside the door to her father's office, Miho gives her friends one last long look. Her eyes pause on Goldy for a moment, and and she takes a deep breath. Then she smooths her the bodice of her dress down and straightens her snow-white skirts. She twitches an errant curl back into place in front of her shoulder. She takes a pace towards the door, visibly falters a moment. Then, her shoulders set, and her head drops forward a little.

Her hair falls forward, obscuring her face, and baring the back of her neck. In Japan, the back of the neck is considered one of the most beautiful places on a woman. She quietly slides the door open, and steps through. The door slides closed again.

From:

the_lioness

Alanna is doing her best not to be sick. Her stomach churns at the memory of all that blood, and at the thought that a good bit of it was spilt by her hand. She watches the door long moments after Miho slips inside, takes deep breaths and fights off the uncertainty.

"Is she okay? Are we supposed to just stay here?"

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Goldy meets Miho's eyes and conveys many unspoken feelings in that meaningful instant. Once the door slides shut, she draws a breath herself and starts to twirl a lock of hair around her finger. It's worry that creases her forehead, not disgust at the butchery that just occurred. Her focus is now on Miho and the task before her.

"She's... fine. This is just something she's got to do."

"Alone."

From:

A man's voice is heard, speaking in Japanese. It is sharp, commanding. Miho replies, softly, only a very few words. Footsteps can he heard, moving softly across the room. The man replies, and this time his voice is gentler, but there is a challenge in his tone. Miho again, quiet, just one word.

"Hai."

There is silence.

A long silence.

A very long silence.

Then, there is a slight scuffle, a male yell. Rapid, loud shouting, quickly trailing off into nothing.

Silence again, until it is broken by a helpless sob.

From:

She'd listened. She'd heard what she needed to. She'd winced at the latter ones. Especially the last.

"I think that's our cue," Goldy says bleakly.

She draws another deep breath, steeling herself, and slides the door open once more.

"Come on."

From:

Inside, a man is slumped sideways in a chair, eyes staring dully off into a corner of the room. His chest rises and falls shallowly, and his hand twitches on his knee like a dying bird. Miho is knelt at his feet, head still forward. Her long hair is still over her shoulders, and blood runs from it. A small knife is held in her right hand, which is likewise gloved in red.

A pool of blood is slowly growing, fed by thinning rivulets running down the legs of the chair. It reaches Miho's knees and is gradually absorbed by her skirt. She doesn't seem to notice. There is a deep choking sound from the man in the chair as his eyes roll forward and down, and with a desperate surge of strength he makes a grab for his daughter. Miho is frozen. Her breath seems to have almost stopped. She's shaking, violently.

From:

the_lioness

Something she's got to do.

Alarmed, Alanna's head snaps up at the muffled sounds. She watches Goldy and nods as the blonde speaks, following her into the room.

The sight that awaits causes her to clutch her stomach again, and as a result, she is several seconds too slow when she lunges forward in an effort to protect Miho. Too late, she thinks. She'll die right here before them, just like all the others.

From:

It is a gruesome picture.

But Goldy's face is blank—cold dark remorseless—and her stride doesn't break. Nor does the grip on her gun waver.

Now it's her turn.

Even as the ( fucker's ) hands reach for Miho's neck, the Beretta muzzle touches the temple above them.

A split-second is all it takes.

A shot. A blink.

And there's a new stain splashed across the floor, heavy with gore. The man slumps sideways, eyes wide and anguished, holding that last image of his daughter.

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She turns. Her right eye stares through a mask of scarlet, blood painting the side of her face, running in between her lips. Her eyes are wide, not seeming to focus. Suddenly, the knife drops from her fingers, and she bolts across the room, through another door. Shortly, she can be heard vomiting. She continues to retch, coughing and choking helplessly, long after her stomach must surely be empty.

From:

the_lioness

The gun fires, and Alanna stops mid-stride. She squeezes her eyes shut, breathing heavily, and fights the rising bile, trying not to lose control of her own body.

(A huge, hooded shadow touches her eyes with hands as black as midnight. Death, a total absence of light.)

How many people had she sent to meet the Dark God today?

Spinning towards the corner, she abruptly loses the battle and then leans her cheek against the cool wall.

From:

Goldy remains by the leaning corpse, a thin trail of smoke curling away from her gun. She gazes towards the door Miho departed through.

She's not throwing up.

She's not even pale.

As wonderfully as the trio have worked together in the hours that came before, their individualities are never more apparent than at this precise moment. While one loses her stomach at the sight, and another from the act itself, the third feels no sickness.

She feels nothing but compassion. And there's only thought running through her head, repeating itself over and over, like a skipping record.

IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou...

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For once, though, Miho's over her fit in short order. She's standing in the doorway, face clean and wet, eyes wide.

"That's it, isn't it?"

She doesn't really seem to be talking to anyone, in particular.

"I. . . I'm free."

From:

the_lioness

Eyes wide and worried, Alanna wipes her sleeve across the back of her mouth and watches.

She doesn't really understand what's happened, and maybe it's better that way, she thinks.

"Swords?" she asks hoarsely.

From:

There's a long moment as everything clarifies for Goldy. The nightmare-induced hysteria, the child-like fear, the uncontrollable nausea; she's seen it all before. And now it makes sense.

She lifts a finger to Alanna, requesting a short moment.

"I think you are. Yes," she says, walking over to Miho and pulling her into a gentle hug. It's a gesture that hopefully conveys all her understanding.

"It's over. You did great."

From:

She rests her cheek on Goldy's shoulder for a moment, eyes still wide and dry, before pulling away gently.

"I have to. . ." She trails off, eyes on her father.

A quiet sigh.

Taking a few steps, she stops beside his chair, straightens his head, pulls his lapels straight. She gets blood on her hands, but doesn't seem to notice. Gentle fingers close his eyes, and she looks at him for a moment.

In his own way, he did love her.

Another sigh, then she moves behind his desk, shifts a painting, and reveals a simple safe. A few spins of the dials, and she opens the door.

In the safe are, as she expected, the swords. She also takes out a battered shoe box, and a large photo album.

"Okay."

Calm now.

"Let's get out of here."

From:

the_lioness

Pulling herself together, Alanna steps away from the wall with a small smile. Exhausted and covered in dirt and other people's blood, she decides those are among the best words she's ever heard.

"Let's. Mission accomplished. Now I want to go home and give Adam the biggest kiss he's ever received."

She glances down.

"Possibly in the shower."

From:

A soft smile breaks on Goldy's face when Miho retrieves the weapons and the photo album.

"Me too," she says absently. "Though I have someone else in mind for the kiss."

Alanna gets a hug too, as the three move back together.

"One to tell the kids about, eh?" she says to the knight while eyeing the puddle by the wall. Such a waste of good shushi. "Though not, perhaps, in such vivid detail."

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