After spending day after day fending for her life, the mastermind behind Nina's terror now stood in her presence. Her bare hands gradually tightening around Lili's neck, the assassin started to mentally contemplate how to exact her revenge on her; death by strangulation seemed too good for Lili. Nina's prey was still pinned against the wall, squirming to break loose of Nina's grip as the oxygen through her lungs were being cut off.
It was only before then someone came to the girl's rescue. Nina felt a hand roughly pull onto her ponytail, forcing her to release her hold of Lili. She crushed her right hand into a fist and swung it back, striking the bodyguard's nose and smashing his sunglasses in the process. Nina spun around, bringing the same hand forward as it connected with the target's chin, bringing him to a hard descent.
Lili was down on one knee, her hands holding her throat. The younger female started to boil with rage and clench her fists, but resisted the lovely temptation of assaulting Nina when she was off her guard. "Next time, Miss Williams..." She bolted for the door, the clicking of her heels alerting Nina to turn around and witness the girl racing for the exit.
"You're not getting away this time!" Nina sprinted after Lili, only to be stopped by a piercing sensation in her leg. The pain forced her to stumble into the wall, hitting the temple of her head upon the fall. Nina stood right back up, but sudden drowsiness sent her to the floor again. "I won't let you...get away..." Making one final attempt to go after Lili, her body grew numb up from her lower half. Her vision fading into black, the last thing Nina saw was the guard she previously took out, holding a small pistol in his hand.
She awoke from her deep slumber to the sounds of numerous beeps and the heavy rain outside, her body engulfed in ache and soreness. Her eyes slowly opening, they closed back up as the bright light above offended her sensitive pupils. Forcing her eyes to open again, she looked at her surroundings; a white room filled with machinery with an extra bed beside her.
The realization that Nina was in a hospital slowly dawned upon her, as bits of her memory were blurred while the rest of it ceased to exist. No matter how hard she tried to reminisce the past events, nothing came back to her. Her face buried in her palms, she rose her head to see a woman in a white lab coat stand at the edge of her bed.
"I see that you're awake, Miss Williams." The woman wore a suit under her coat, her brown hair tamed in the from of a braided ponytail. She made no eye contact with Nina, her eyes focused on the clipboard she was holding. "How are you feeling this morning?" The woman raised her head with a warm smile, only to face a frosty glare. "Not feeling up to talk, huh? In your condition, I can understandable why."
Nina did nothing but ignore every word the other woman, turning her body to get out of the bed. However, a sharp pain in her left rib made her think otherwise and let out a cry of agony. She immediately clutched around her chest, falling back onto the bed.
"Miss Williams, you mustn't move! Your wounds haven't healed you and you haven't taken your painkillers yet. It's wise to take it easy for now." The doctor rushed over to Nina's bedside, placing a hand on the patient's shoulder only to have it swatted away with a hard slap. "It's quite obvious that you want to be left alone." Nina stared at the woman's back as she walked away. "Oh, and by the way, I'm Doctor Chang, but just call me Julia, okay?"
All the assassin did was nod at Julia as she watched her exit the room. She didn't bother to disobey the doctor's orders in her condition, and decided to just rest for now; it could be the only she could and she needed as much energy as possible if Lili and her men were ever to attack again. The hard rain and thunder outside soothed her ears as it serenaded her into slumber.
The Monacan teenager tapped her fingers on the window in boredom as she gazed at the stormy weather. Itching for another fight, Lili bashed her fist onto the wall with the regret of leaving Nina to her guards. Conning several fighters, executing kidnappings, or even murdering the head of her late father's rival business could only satisfy her so much.
The sound of a knock on the bedroom door snapped her out of her irritable thoughts. "Come in." An elderly man wearing a tuxedo stepped into the room, his posture poor and his body hunched over.
"Miss Rochefort, it seems that the 'subject' still refuses to cooperate." The news Sebastian informed Lili with prompted her to march for the remote on the table. Aiming the device at the large television set, the black screen switched to Steve restraint to a wooden chair, hands tied behind him with a burly man in a tuxedo hovering around him. His clothes were torn and roughed up, his white shirt stained from the red droplets leaking from his jaw. Lili cupped her chin and titled her head as she watched the man's interrogation, his refusal to speak earning him beatings, one after another.
"I told you, I don't know anything!" Steve screamed back at the burly male hovering over him, a mistake that brought him a heavy blow to his cheek.
"You know, I'm getting tired of hearing that same fucking remark!" The guard sent a swift kick to Steve's chin, receiving a loud cry.
"I think it's about that time." Another man in a tuxedo approached the wounded boxer. "Let's bring him in." With a clap of his hands, the double doors softly flew open. Entering the room was a man showcasing a brown military uniform. His slicked-back hair was dark as night and matched his gloves and boots. The man was silent as he approached Steve, sending a cold stare down to the fallen victim.
It was only until then the real torture begun. Punches that came in the form of blurs went for Steve's body, obviously too quick to witness. Each blow caused the man to gag and choke as the blood drawing from his nostrils smeared over his face. Just as the punches ceased, the soldier raised his foot and brought it down to Steve's nether regions, activating a loud scream that increased in volume as the boot started to grind into his crotch.
Lili cringed at the scene, wrapping her arms around herself. As much as she wanted to comment on how inhumane the situation, she knew she'd be a complete hypocrite for doing so.
"This is rather...a bit much." She quickly pointed the remote at the television set, and with the press of a button, the screen went black. "Just who is that man?" The teenager felt appalled as she reached for the cup of the tea before guzzling down the warm beverage.
"That would be Mister Sergei Dragunov, Miss Rochefort." Sebastian adjusted his glasses, clearly unaffected by what he witnessed. "I believe he was the man who you hired for this occasion."
"Well, he certainly has experience, I can state that much." Just as Lili said that, a man barged into the room, halting in his steps in exhaustion. "Have you no manner?"
"Miss Rochefort, it's Miss Williams!" He spoke between pants. "She's alive! One of our spies reported that she's in the Chang Hospital!" Luckily for the man, he was hunched over low enough to avoid the teacup tossed in his direction as the object shattered against the wall.
"Sebastian!" Lili pointed at the butler. "Call in Mister Dragunov and tell him he has a new objective!" She then aimed her finger at the other butler. "You! Alert the others as well!" Lili watched the other servant fled out of the room.
"My Lady, what do you have in mind for Miss Williams?" Sebastian adjusted his glasses again, cupping his chin.
"Finishing the job, Sebastian." Lili snatched the cell phone from the desk and dialed a few numbers before taking the device to her ear. "Gentlemen, please gather at the Chang Hospital at midnight." She felt a hand softy wrap itself around the wrist of her occupied hand, and turning her body, her eyes met with Dragunov's. Lili froze as her body became tense, her expression fearful and full of surprise, frightened blue pupils meeting with frosty pools of gray.
At that, Dragunov relinquished Lili's hand, which let the cellular device slip out of its grip and drop to the floor. The teenager had gotten the hint that her hired hand preferred this to be a solo job. The mercenary removed himself from the scene, with not even his absence curing the girl of her paralysis.
"Sebastian...let's have Mister Dragunov enjoy himself for now."
"So, how long was I out for?" Nina sat up from her bed as she questioned Julia, who was busy jotting down notes onto her clipboard. She realized that almost a month has passed and nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
"About a day or so." Julia still had her eyed fixated on her clipboard. "Fortunately, you appear to be making quite a recovery."
"But how did I get there?" Nina averted her eyes towards the soaked window pane.
"One of the tenants heard the ruckus and found you in your son's apartment. It's nice to have good neighbors, huh?" That answer made Nina have a double take, realizing what she said.
"How did you know it was my son's apartment?" The assassin froze as her hand slowly crept for the bedpan beneath her. At that, the lights went out, and Nina felt a presence force her down onto the bed.
"I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?" It was Julia, armed with a syringe; Nina could feel the needle lightly poking her through the hospital gown. "Killing the world's greatest assassin...imagine the money I could use to save this hospital just for doing that."
"And you call yourself as a doctor?" Nina struggled to push away the woman; Julia had showed that she had much more physical strength than expected, surprisingly for a doctor.
"Shut up! You're nothing but a murderer! I save lives, and you just take them away! You heartless bitch!" Julia rose the syringe and just as she was going to bring it back down, she halted at the sound of a metallic bang. She slumped over Nina as a new figure stood behind her.
"What a strange woman, willing to take a life to save millions...some doctor she is." Nina could recognize the voice just by the accent; it belonged to a female, one she had met before.
"Asuka?" Nina shoved Julia's body to the floor, hastily hopping out of the bed. She stumbled upon that motion, showing her injuries had not fully healed.
"Be careful, I don't think you'll be kicking ass for quite a while." Nina felt the Osakan native take hold of her hand and rush her towards the door. "Come on, I know that Rochefort chick had already planned something."
Just as Nina reached for the doorknob, the sound of gunshots and screaming made her reconsider that decision. "Too late."
