WARNING: This story will crawl somewhat on the side of non-consensual, dark shit. I just want to be sure you're prepared for that. I don't think even I'm prepared for it.
It was just an ordinary day for Lien Neville – ran like clockwork, if that clock ran on blood and bruises. Southtown was a gang-ridden place that needed cleaning up, and she was okay with being the one to do so, for now at least...
However, on one gloomy evening, on the tail-end of a fairly uneventful day, she found herself attracted to something mysterious near her locale.
Noises.
Very untrustworthy noises.
It started with light rattles of something walking past what could be presumed by audio only as a small pile of junk in the distance. She thought nothing to it after a moment to stop and think.
Then it suddenly turned into the light giggles of a girl. The femme fatale stopped in her tracks for even longer. This was no ordinary Southtown ambiance.
...
The unlit alleyway in front of her. She could deduce the near-exact place of origin, and it was already something she did not trust – as if there was any trust to lie towards the ghostly giggles that just sounded off.
She was unsettled, but primed for a fight. Whoever was trying to mess with her was going to find out how much of a mistake it could be to try and piss her off.
"I know you're out there... are you going to show your face, or am I going to have to hunt you down?"
When she spoke out against the unknown, it almost felt like she was talking to herself since there was no response... at least, not immediately.
Senses kept keen and on-point, she recognized the sound of a projectile twirling through the wind towards her from behind – reflexes especially quick, she turned around and lowered herself to avoid what was coming her way.
The projectile only managed to land on the wall, just a few inches above her head, shattering the window above. She was lucky it wasn't any closer... and for once, it looked like something managed to take her by surprise, and for an assassin of her craft, that was certainly an impressive feat... but it wasn't going to make their inevitable death at her hands any less deserving.
"Did I catch you at a bad time?"
The voice of the youthful responsible sounded out, and from out of the alley, Lien turned to meet that voice.
The deviant that stood before her certainly didn't look akin to the more normal side of Southtown's thugs, given the orange/yellow attire and the bewildering hairstyle of orange and white spiking out into pitch black in the back, like the stinger of a bee. If there was any more of an indication in this delinquent's look that she wanted to be noticed, she would've incorporated blindingly bright neon lights in there somewhere.
In short, from first sight, Lien did not consider this person as much of a threat. "You're the one who wants to take me down?" She made sure not to chuckle as she taunted the rebel before her. "You have guts, I'll say that – but for someone who's out to get me, I was expecting someone... not quite as cute as what I'm seeing in front of me."
The opposition sounded very discontent. "'Cute'? Seriously?"
Lien's eyebrows curved in amusement, almost absorbing the displeasure. "Did I strike a nerve there, kid? Maybe you should run along back home to your mum, before she finds out you're past curfew."
"You piece of—" The orange-clad oddity almost sputtered with furious frustration. "I-I'll have you know I'm not here to look cute! I'm an assassin like you, here to hurt people!"
Lien was far from intimidated – she was still trying to keep herself from cracking a baffled smile at the girl trying to look like a serious badass with how she was dressed. She stepped forward...
"Look, kid... you must be new to this place. You're dealing with a real-deal assassin, and a remorseless one at that – I could literally break every bone in your body in the matter of minutes, and not feel an inch of regret. The only reason I'm not doing that now, is because you should know better. You can run along now, and reconsider your plans, along with your wardrobe... or you can try to stand your ground, and more than likely die trying."
She reached out a gloved hand and lightly ruffled the hair of the orange-haired newcomer. "Now, do you have anything to say for yourself?"
The delinquent stared up to her, her cherry-red eyes attempting to burn through the head of her opposition. "Yeah. Hands off, lady... or you're going to fucking regret it."
Lien looked to intentionally provoke, as she leaned in to whisper. "Try me."
Almost immediately, a sharp stabbing pain sprung through the blonde assassin, and her cocky expression turned into one of brief shock. She saw her right shoulder, with a thin dagger embedded deep into it. The blood slowly flooded through in the moment that the honeybee brat held the dagger.
It looked like the knife was about to be twisted before Lien forced it out of her shoulder by socking the youthful in the face with a heavy punch to keep her away. The deep wound oozed out onto the surface, threatening to stain the bodysuit, as she brought a hand over her shoulder to try and stop the bleeding, to no avail.
If she didn't think much of her opposition, she certainly started to now, as an expression of anger began to envelop her face. "Bitch."
The young brat looked to be savoring the drawing of first blood, as gave her orange jumpsuit a light stripe of red up front as she casually wiped the gore-tainted dagger off on her chest. "The name's Nagase – I'm no bitch... just a kid looking for the next thrill."
Lien retaliated to the comment, not with more words, but with a roundhouse kick meaning to kick the glasses off that little bitch's head, but she dodged it and responded with an identical kick that reached vice versa with the elder assassin ducking. From there, it devolved into a bevy of punches being thrown and consistently blocked, as the two seemed to be reaching equal ground with each other.
Nagase took to higher ground, running and bouncing between the brick walls of the alley as she rained down on her opponent with swift stomping kicks – Lien managed to block all but the last one, which staggered her significantly, and potentially left her open for another strike.
Rather than going ahead with a hand-to-hand strike, Nagase withdrew her blood-stained dagger again and charged forward with an intention to stab, but Lien enacted an evasive roll and made the newcomer wind up with her weapon stabbing into the wall. Seeing running at her with a winding punch, she dodged it and retorted with a chopping slap across the Brit's face, before grabbing her arm and wrenching it down to force her into a vulnerable position.
More blood from the deep shoulder wound leaked out onto Lien's body, the pressure from the arm wrench forcing more of the viscid red to surface like a water pump; that was enough motive for her to want to escape as quickly as possible, as she punched her opponent in the gut twice and then once in the face to back her off, before tackling and pinning her against the wall behind her.
Lien wanted some answers about this mysterious rascal, and she wanted them now. "Who sent you?"
Nagase simply chuckled, before she stomped down on one of Lien's feet and then turned the tables on her, whipping her by her leg against the wall and pinning her there – a very 'vice versa' position from seconds before... "It wouldn't be fun if I told you, now would it?"
One of Lien's legs flailed outward to successfully sweep to the ground, and the femme fatale capitalized on her quick regain of dominance by stomping down at her opponent. Nagase was quick to roll away each time a boot come down towards her. She then kipped up and attempted to bring her feet around Lien's neck – if she wasn't already in a competitive mood, she would've snapped the bitch's neck with the right flick of the thighs.
Lien kept on the defense, however, forcing some uncomfortable bends down on Nagase's legs with her brute force. Her interrogation continued, "I'm not going to ask again; who – do you – work for?!"
Nagase felt one of those sharp-heeled boots pressing down against the back of her head, threatening to smash her into unconsciousness – or worse – against the concrete. Still defiant, she giggled through the pain. "You're gonna have to do better than that..."
Lien stopped cranking at the legs of the youthful assassin, shifting around to lift her by her waist. "You're gonna wish you never said that."
With absolute remorselessness against the opposition, Lien slammed Nagase against the grimy dumpster behind them, the tech-ninja's face colliding full-on against the hard surface ahead.
On the repeated slam against the dumpster, Nagase kept a hand to her face, as a means to prevent her from breaking and/or falling off and depriving her of some of her tech. She was really starting to get irritated with losing the upper hand, as she then put her hands forward against the dumpster and kicked away the adversary.
The fight only intensified in speed as fists swung around, with only half making some sort of contact against the other's body. Magase continued to sparsely use the one unsheathed blade she held, as a means to scare the opponent into keeping her guard fully up, and potentially potentially get a significant scratch ahead in the impromptu bout, but nothing had started to come of it yet...
...at least until she finally managed to truly gain the upper-hand, with a stomping kick at one of Lien's legs that nearly snapped it in half upon impact and left her kneeling. Capitalizing on the vulnerable agent, Nagase hopped onto the blonde's back, and was right about to slash her throat open, if she wasn't resisting so hard with her open hands against 's dagger-wielding arm.
Nagase's ear-to-ear grin shifted into near unsettling territory with how devious she looked, rubbing the bloodied blade against Lien's neck. "Just face it, you're old news; you can't win."
Lien strained as she began to stand up, still latched onto her back with the blade to her throat. "If you think so... know this; always keep your weapons in check!"
All of a sudden, with one hand grabbing the second, sheathed blade on the honeybee-themed assassin's back, Lien swiftly went around and right up behind the tech-enhanced one...
…and a brief rush of blood shot out against the wall in front, as Nagase found herself suddenly impaled through the chest by her own weapon! Her face nearly paled in shock as she found herself thrown and pinned against the wall. The dark red oozing through onto Nagase's outfit, stabbing through what could be considered part of a vital point of her body, looked absolutely satisfying after a hard-fought battle.
Lien chuckled sinisterly, looking down at the blood pouring through, and leaned forward against the victim in question. "Know the pecking order, you little shit."
Nagase grunted with some breath left in her... "Duly noted..."
It was certainly a job well down for Lien Neville...
…
Until something was stabbed into her neck when she least expected – a needle?
It left her neck as quickly as it entered, but it looked effective enough to bring a sense of surprise in Lien's mind. Slowly, she wound up letting go of Nagase and letting her slide down against the wall, trailing the blood down the bricks – and it was clear this wasn't by her choice, as her body began to fail her, as did her sight, as everything slowly succumbed to a blur. Surprised as she was, she was more experienced in dealing out toxins against those who wronged her or who she worked with, so suffering from a similar case was something she was not expecting on most days.
Lien found herself sitting against the wall, right next to Nagase, who was slowly finding herself in a pool of her own blood – this was when she noticed before her sense of sight fully died out.
The small syringe resting between her fingers... and her face, one eye still open and staring right at Lien... smiling, looking as if... she planned...?
That sneaky... little cu... nn~ - - t -
And then, nothing...