Authors Note- well I'll be damned. I didn't think there were any readers left on the Kill Bill section, much less anyone left reading my fanfic. So here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it!!
Disclaimer- I do not own Nikki Bell or Sofie Fatale.
KILL KIDDO: CHAPTER 10
Location: Paris, France
Date: 9/28/24
Montoya whistled as I walked out of the Boutique.
"That looks expensive." he said, gesturing to the silk business suit I had bought.
I ignore him. The Acuna Boy didn't say a word to me on the plane, which was smart. But after he had eaten, watched the in flight movie, and pocketed seven wallets from the people who walked past him, I had already made up my mind about him.
"I mean, expensive for something you're just going to get blood all over." he furthered.
Jesus Christ, this kid is annoying.
"I'm not going to get blood all over it." I mumbled.
" You're an assassin, right?" he asked.
"Assassins adapt to their situations. In a place like Acuna, I don't hold back. In a major city I conduct my business in an eloquent and graceful fashion." I said.
"Your skirt is caught in your panties." he said.
I jerked backward and twisted around, and Montoya cracked up.
"Even an assassin is not immune to that one." he laughed.
I grab him by his neck and slam him against the wall.
"You little fuck." I hissed.
He puts his hands up.
"I'm sorry. It was a mean trick to play!" he coughed.
I star to squeeze my fingers around his windpipe, but there he goes closing his eyes and looking all pathetic again. I let him go.
"You remember what your Acuna back sass got you when Esteban was still kickin'?" I asked.
Montoya sucked in a deep breath, and extended his left hand. the top of his hand and three of his fingers had a dark angry scar that came to a point a few inch down from his knuckles. The nail on his pinkie was missing.
A hot iron.
"Remember the time you got that the next time you test my sense of humor. It will be a nice distraction from the pain." I say.
He nods. We keep walking.
--KK--
We follow the address to the Ayuma and Miroux law firm. The triangular building must be over thirty stories high. I could tell it freaked the hell out of the Acuna Boy. The inside was more like a mall then a building. The floors were all open, and the triangular design gave it a small top floor, which I assumed had some café or something on it. I asked the desk for Merceds Ayuma's floor.
The twenty-first.
I turned away from the desk and pointed to a bench.
"You," I said to Montoya. "Park it."
Montoya obediently sat down. I walked over to the escalator.
"Good luck." he called.
Her office had a metal door, but glass paneling on the walls. The room was covered in display shit- an old radio with an antenna, a wood clock, a bamboo fountain. She passed the floor behind her desk, cell phone pressed firmly into her ear. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the electronic scrambler Ricky had given me years ago. I pressed it up against the lock, and waited for the deadbolt to throw. Click.
Show Time.
I stepped into the office and slammed the door. Sofie looked up from her cell phone and frowned.
"Sorry for the intrusion, Miss Mercedes Ayuma. I know I don't have an appointment, but I can assure you …you'll want to take up my case." I said.
Sofie didn't move the phone from her ear. She reached under the desk, probably for some security button.
"Don't worry, Miss Ayuma. I've made sure our meeting doesn't go interrupted." I say, pointing the scrambler at her and pressing down on the button.
Sofie yanked her phone away as it blared static.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" she said in a nasally accent.
"You haven't been keeping up with your English, have you?" I asked, plopping down in a chair. "All as well. I don't speak much French, but I'm fluent in Japanese."
She stared at me, eyes slanted.
"I do not know what you are speaking of. I know no Japanese, despite my heritage."
"Yes, it would be a little too convenient if you knew Japanese." I smiled.
"What are you on about?" she asked.
"It was very clever, hiding in the public eye as a defense attorney. I bet many people don't even know the arm is robotic."
Her eyes widened. She looked at her arm.
" It's the gloves. Dead give away…Sofie Fatale."
Sofie was up and around the table in a heartbeat. I yanked out my sia swords. She grabbed the antique radio and pulled out the antenna. I stood up and walked to her.
"You do not know with whom you are messing with, little girl," Sofie said.
"…Little girl?" I asked.
She jabbed out her elbow and retracted it back in. the antenna sliced my upper lip. I didn't flinch. I licked the blood away, and continued forward.
"I'm sorry, did you call me a little girl?" I asked.
She whipped the antenna at me again. I caught it between the prongs of my sai sword. She yanked the antenna, trying to disarm me.
"GoGo Yubari was a little girl." I said. "I'm something else…"
I twisted the blade of my sword, pulling the end of the antenna to the tips of her fingers. I pushed the sword forward, and the antenna pierced her index finger. She grimaced in pain and confusion.
I smiled at her. I yanked my sword back, and she screamed. I flicked my sword, and let the antenna with her speared finger fall to the floor. She stared at in horror.
"What I am?" I said, crushing the bloody finger with my foot. "It ain't human."
Sofie screamed. She screamed again and again. She slid around me and ran for the door. I took off right behind her.
She ran down the hall, pushing people out of the way. By the time I had worked my way through the crowd, she was running down the escalator.
Oh, my aching back… I jumped over the guardrail and let myself fall. I braced myself as I hit the up escalator. I let it carry me up until the two escalators crossed, and then I jumped over. I landed right in front of Sofie. She turned and started running up, which on a down escalator is futile and ridicules. She realized this quickly, and climbed over to the rising escalator.
I swung over after her, but fear had granted her wings. I already saw her elbowing her way through people. By the time I reached the top, she was running to the escalators on the side. The doors closed seconds before I approached it. I eased my two blades in between the doors and pulled them apart with some difficulty. I jumped into darkness, then buckled as my feet hit her lowering elevator. Thank you Jeebus, a vent!
Sofie was huddled in the corner of the elevator, breathing heavily. She cradled her four-fingered hand in her robotic one. As I dropped down next to her, she ran to the elevator. I kicked her back, and tapped the top floor button with the base of my sword.
"Now, now, Miss Fatale…" I said. "I think when I've finished my story, you will be more then willing to take on my case."
--KK--
I yanked Sofie out of the elevator by her hair. She clawed and kicked. People at tables stared as we passed.
I pulled her over to the guardrail, and swung her over by her robot arm. Her shoes slipped off her feet and fell down the thirty something stories below.
" Do I have your attention, now?" I asked.
"FUCK YOU!!" she yelled.
I took one of my sia swords and stabbed her robotic arm. She screamed, and the people watching screamed as well. I pushed the blade through her arm, and pinned her to the guardrail.
"How about now?" I asked.
She whimpered. Tears began to form in her eyes.
"The nerves in your arm must be extremely sensitive. You probably should have gotten a cheaper one." I said, letting go of her.
I could hear a mechanical grunting sound. Her arm was breaking. Her fingers twitched out of control, and her palm clenched and unclenched.
"Now, are you going to listen to me?" I asked.
"Who sent you?!" she cried.
"Copperhead. I'm sure you met her." I said.
She squinted her eyes, either in confusion or pain.
"…Verneda?" she asked.
"Bingo. Twenty years ago, a snake found it's way into her house and hammered a fang into her chest." I said. "I'm sure you can relate…"
The sleeve of her shirt ripped at the seem, revealing her robotic arm—a long crack down it's plastic casing.
"That snake would not know where my mom lived unless it didn't have explicate directions as to where she was. Those directions? They came from you. So, please don't think this is how I normally conduct my business affairs." I said.
I reached over the railing and twisted the blade.
"I just have a personal grudge against you." I said.
"FREEZE!!"
Several men in uniforms came out of the escalator. They pointed some nasty machine guns at me. Bodyguards? Wondered when they would show up.
"Drop her!!" one yelled in French.
"She'll be dropping shortly." I said. I looked back down at her.
"Ready to talk?" I asked.
"What do you want?!" Sofie cried.
"Where's Black Mamba?!" I yelled.
Her arm was starting to stretch. The black joint in her shoulder socket was disconnecting from the rest of her arm. Sliver wires were coming out.
"I…I don't know…" she cried.
"Wrong answer." I said.
A hand wrapped around my shoulder. Before I knew who it was, I grabbed it and flipped it forward. The security guard went flying past Sofie. We could hear him yelling right up until the loud crash where he collided with the ground. I turned back to the other security guards.
"Do I look like I would respond well to surprises?" I asked. "All of you clowns, fuck off."
"Now Sofie, everyone knows how close you and O-ren were to Bill. I know he visited you at the hospital and helped you change your identity. Someone that deep in the loop must know something." I said.
"I swear!! I know nothing!!" she cried.
Liar.
"Well, that's a shame, Sofie. All as well. Send my regards to that bodyguard for me." I said.
I reached over and yanked my sword out.
"NO, PLEASE WAIT!!" she screamed.
I jumped over and hooked my feet on the railing. I grabbed onto her.
"You know something?" I asked.
"I…I know something…it's not much…" she mumbled.
I threw her over the railing and swung up after her. I put the blade to her neck and stood her up.
"Let's do business." I said.
--KK--
Sofie lead me back down to her office. We had no problem with security after she explained the situation to them. She held her dangling arm to her body with her bloody, mutilated hand. I pulled off my scarf and handed it to her to stop the bleeding. She took it without a word.
We walked into the office, and she went behind her desk. With her only functional hand, she opened up a file cabinet and started sifting through it.
"You're Vernita's daughter, right?" she asked in Japanese.
"Yes." I responded.
"You look like her," she said.
My sai sword found its way out of my hand and spun into the wall next to her face. She turned and looked at me. It had scraped the skin off the tip of her nose.
"You have no right to talk about my mother, rat. NO RIGHT. Mention her again, and I'll cut off your other arm." I spat.
Sofie turned around and started yanking files out. I walked up behind her and pulled my sword out of the wall just as she took out a huge Japanese sandal wood box.
"Bill left everything in his will to me." She said.
"Bullshit." I said. "Even if Bill would provide a document with his name on it, why you? Why not his daughter?" I asked.
"Because if he were to die under the circumstances he foresaw, his daughter would be halfway across the country by the time his body was discovered. With the rest of the vipers assumed dead, the only person to pass on his wealth to was me." She said.
"Possibly plausible. Am I to assume that Bill asked Black Mamba where she was going before she killed him?" I asked.
Sofie opened the box and rooted through it. She pulled out pictures, a strange looking flute, some rings. Finally, she pulled out an envelope and handed it to me.
"This was found in his home. I got to it before the police did, so no one's seen it but me." She said.
I opened the envelope and pulled out a crinkled piece of yellow notebook paper. The heading was written in bold black letters.
DEATH LIST FIVE
1 :O-ren Ishii
2: Vernita Green
3: Budd
4: Elle Driver
5: BILL
My eyes lingered at the second name. A red mark sliced through it. This mark was probably made moments after my mom died. It sent a shiver down my spine. I looked at the other names, and stopped at number four. Elle Driver. California Mountain Snake.
There was no red dash. Instead, a curving red question mark.
"Driver?" I asked.
"The hateful bitch." Sofie said in Japanese.
"I take it you didn't get along?" I asked.
"The only person who got along with her was Bill. She had no sense of honor whatsoever. Her techniques for fighting, killing, anything…they were all below the belt." Sofie said.
"You're one to talk about honor."
Sofie ignored me.
"She and Beatrix despised each other." Sofie finished.
"So why would Beatrix not assure she was really dead?" I asked.
"How should I know?" Sofie asked.
We were both silent. I looked at the paper. I felt it, flipped it over.
"Is… this enough to let me live?" Sofie asked.
I sighed and folded the note up. I put it in my pocket.
"Keep your wretched life. I don't want it. Although I will probably need you to accompany me to the lobby to keep the security guards at bay." I said, standing up.
Sofie snorted.
"I told them to leave you alone, in my presence or not." She said.
I looked at her strangely.
"And what inspired that act of generosity?" I asked.
Sofie stared at me. She shook her head.
"You think I don't want Beatrix Kiddo dead? Look what she's done to me." Sofie said, pulling out her robotic arm so I could see how it connected. I could see the flesh around it, covered in stitches and scars.
"Glad to know we're on the same page, cyborg. Thanks for the note." I said.
Sofie cocked her head, and sat down in her seat.
"Fuck the blonde bitch up good." She yelled as I walked out the door.
I rode the escalator down to the lobby. Sofie had kept her word—the security guards didn't come near me. People in the lobby stared at me as I walked over to Montoya. He stood up.
"You didn't see who threw that man off the top floor, did you?" Montoya asked.
A few minutes ago, a comment like that would have sent me off the edge. Now, with the note in my pocket, I decide to humor him.
"Shut up, smart-ass." I said.
"What happened to conducting business in an eloquent, graceful fashion?" he asked.
"Didn't pan out. I work better in a violent, threatening mess. " I said as we walked to the door.
The group of people crowded around parted to let us through.
"I'm beginning to learn that about you." Montoya said.
And thus concludes this chapter of Kill Kiddo, and my supply of pre-written chapters (at least the chronological ones…hintity-hint-hint). I'm going to be busy with school since it is the final quarter, but whenever I have the free time and if it seems like people are still reading, then I shall write. Ideas, suggestions, comments, you know the drill! Write on!!