Chapter 9 – Tell Your Friends
Ayane got out of the car and closed her long black overcoat hiding the many weapons she had strapped to her body. Turning up the collar and hunching her shoulders, she feigned the motions of keeping out the cold as she went around to the boot. Flipping open the chrome gas cap, she reached up and pulled down the nozzle that was dangling from the station's canopy above, and began to feed the ravenous machine.
As it filled, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaning against the car watched the intersection where four roads converged. Only the occasional vehicle came through. A small black van pulled up to the intersection. A little boy looked out of the back window and waved to her. Ayane smiled at him and winked. He beamed back at her with delight, then shyness overtook him as he spun around disappearing back in his seat. The traffic light moved horizontally from right to left: …red…yellow…green. The van moved through the intersection and on to its unknowable destination.
Beautiful little kid – she thought to herself and smiled.
This early in the morning, there was almost no one out. Directly across the street was a gravel strewn vacant lot dotted with clumps of high grass. To the left a few storage sheds and beyond, some small rustic houses behind a cinderblock wall.
Like a flying jewel, a dragonfly landed on the handle of the dispenser. Ayane focused on it and admired its beauty. She carefully touched one of its wings. It looked like black lace. She'd seen that somewhere before, but couldn't quite recall when. The dispenser clicked as the tank became full and the insect flew away. Watching it float out across the street and over the vacant lot in the direction of the rising sun, a light wind picked up and she thought of Ryu smiling to herself.
I wonder why he suddenly popped into my mind? She clicked the gas cap closed and released the nozzle letting it retract.
I hope he is having a nice time with Ganryu. He deserves a few quiet moments. I must resolve this without getting him involved. He has not been himself lately. More distracted – in our business that can be fatal.
Replacing the cap she turned back around and leaned on the car facing the station and waited for Eliot to return letting her mind wander.
Once the Spider Clan and their Yakuza scum are destroyed… maybe we can find another way. Ryu could open new shop in the country somewhere… I would love to teach self defense to children and we could be – where's Eliot?
She looked over at the store where Eliot was. It seemed quiet enough, window covered with advertisements and posters. She could see through the uncovered areas of the window; a handful of customers standing inside. She could see Eliot talking with one of them – But there was something wrong. …No cars at the pumps.
Could they all be there just to do shopping? It seemed unlikely.
They certainly couldn't all be working there.
Small station like this would only need one or two employees.
But it was hard to make out if they were in attendant uniforms or plain clothes. The light from the morning sun was striking the window from the right, creating a harsh glare that was making it tough to see anything in detail.
I'm getting too keyed up. I'm imagining enemies everywhere. Still, it wouldn't hurt to go in.
Closing the door, she began walking across the yard to the store. Boots crunching in the drive, squinting against the glare she tried to peer into the window as she approached. She couldn't see Eliot.
He may be just behind one of the posters – or possibly went back in the store to get something….Why am I so jumpy?
As she got closer to the front of the store, Ayane loosened her long coat to gain access to the arsenal that lay within, should the situation call for it. She reached for the door and paused before her hand touched it.
I've been doing this too long to not trust myself… Something's wrong – change of plan.
In the store, Eliot had been grappling with a real dilemma – Damn – who'd have thought there would be so many brands of grape soda?
As he puzzled over the virtues of Stewarts vs. Faygo and Boylan's – he didn't notice the three individuals sharing the aisle with him were watching him intently. One at each end of the aisle, blocking both exits, and a third who moved in right next to him. He was looking at items in the refrigerator next to where Eliot was standing.
Eliot looked up at him and smiled, noting that he was really big. He was wearing a canvas army surplus jacket and baggy cargo pants. He had straight, black greasy hair and a thin beard parted by an old scar that ran down along his neck and up across his left cheek and over the bridge of a broken nose. The big guy smiled back, several gold teeth glinting in the fluorescent lights of the store his face a map of old scars.
"Nice soda…" The big guy said. Eliot began to nod and suddenly the back of his head was gripped by a fist of stone and his face was shoved hard towards the glass refrigerator door.
Eliot didn't fight against the force, but rolled with it and allowed the violent forward motion of his large aggressor to flow around him as he spun and swirled behind him. The big guy stumbled forward and crashed through the door. His colleagues at either end of the aisle laughed and chided – "C'mon Kouta! You gonna let that little dweeb school you like that?!"
Infuriated at being fooled by such a small and child-like opponent Kouta tore himself out of the broken door with a spray of shattered glass and he fixed his gaze on Eliot. He snarled and said – "Take a good look at me. See all these scars?! You don't want a piece of this you little bitch!"
Eliot stood his ground. "All those scars tell me is that you have been the recipient of numerous humiliating and apparently painful defeats. Perhaps you should consider a less violent approach to life." Kouta's face turned red and his large scar was a deep purple as rage flushed through his body. His friends were beside themselves with laughter.
Eliot was quite serious and continued. "Please sir – do let's be reasonable. I do not want to hurt you. Especially in front of your friends, so be on your way and I'll -" The sentence didn't get finished as Kouta snarled and lunged at him, he was a tidal force surging with undiluted hatred.
Again, Eliot did the unexpected and grabbed the lapels of Kouta's jacket and pulled his immense bulk onto him has he rolled backwards. Then continuing the motion, Eliot planted both feet directly in the center of his antagonist's mass. They were in the middle of his broad belly as he propelled his momentum directly over his head and at the top of his flailing arc, released his lapels and thrust his legs skywards rocketing Kouta down the aisle where he skidded into a cardboard display case full of custom wheel rims. This brought another peal of laughter from his associates.
"Kouta! Oh my god you will SO never live this down. That little pixie man is kicking your ass!" "No shit dude – I gonna wet myself I'm laughing so hard!"
As Kouta regained his footing he composed himself.
"Okay – so you're tricky. But let's see you slip past this." And he pulled a large hunting knife from under his jacket. At the ends of the aisles, his two accomplices smiles faded as they also pulled similar knives. Then all three of them began to move in warily.
Eliot chose a leopard style that focused on countering his opponents strike with a parallel reaction. But with three opponents, it was difficult for him to know which assailant would strike first and where.
They were closing in two on one side and one on the other. They were fighting smarter now. Measuring their movements, and being careful. Then a voice broke through the tension.
"Eliot? Eliot – oh here you are! Playing with new friends when you should be getting the supplies! Really, do I have to watch you all the time? Please tell them you have to leave… now."
Kouta wheeled around and glared with a mixture of anger and surprise.
"How the fuck did you get in here – bitch!? We sent three guys out to deal with y-"
"They're dead." Ayane said flatly.
Kouta's associates howled and ran at her with knives upraised.
Like a striking adder, Ayane's foot shot out and stamped down on the edge of a nearby rim that had fallen from the demolished display case. Popping it up, it flipped into her hands and she smashed it down directly over the skull of the first onrushing assailant. His head punched right through the center knocking out the spinning portion of the rim and the circumference came down around his neck like a metal collar. In the same motion, she swung him by the rim, using his momentum to crash him into his partner with a bone shattering force that sounded like a boneless walrus being dropped from a sky scraper.
Tearing his wide eyes away from his dead partners, Kouta gripped his knife and was momentarily glued to the floor in indecision. Then realizing Ayane was unarmed, and the element of surprise was lost, he began to move towards her with murderous intent. Ayane, shrugged her long coat to the ground and in one fluid motion pulled out her huge revolver, pointing it directly at his head from point blank distance.
"Looks like you brought a knife to a gunfight…bitch. I want you to take a message to your employers. Tell them once the spider clan is finished, I'm coming for them." She looked at Kouta carefully – she knew he was a seasoned killer and not to be taken lightly… "Can you remember all that? Think hard…I can speak more slowly if you need me to."
Kouta, glowered at Ayane – he knew she had the upper hand now, but he vowed silently to himself, that he would get payback for this humiliation. "No need." He said, "I will remember – don't you worry."
"Then go, and don't let me catch you again." Kouta left, roughly shoving past Eliot and stepping over his fallen comrades.
"Are you sure it is wise to let him go?" Eliot queried, "he could make trouble for us later."
"No, said Ayane, he has failed and is no longer employable. He's just an idiot who will deliver his message, beg for forgiveness and be killed for his failure. Our real prey is still ahead of us - Ohmygod! They have Faygo!" Ayane grabbed a case of the intensely sweet grape soda from the shattered refrigerator and headed with Eliot for the rest of the supplies.
