It took a good minute, but it's finally done. I thought that being out of school would give me more time to write, but work is just eating up every minute I've got. Anyway, enough with my problems, here's chapter 10.
Chapter 10
The rays of the early morning sun squeezed their way between the narrow slits of the shutters, transferring their warmth to the face of the woman lying sprawled on a thin straw mattress lying on the floor. Sad Eyes grimaced in her sleep as the first of the sunbeams alighted across her nose, disturbing the delicate equilibrium that was sleep. The first sunbeam was soon joined by one of its siblings and together they worked to heat up the woman's flesh enough to shake her from her slumber. The minutes ticked by; more sunbeams collected on the woman's face. Sad Eyes cracked a bleary eye open and was immediately blinded by the light which was now streaming through her window directly into her face.
The mercenary sat upright on her meager bed, wiping the crumbs from her eyes and stretching the crinks out of her spine. It had been four days since her meeting with those greenhorns in 'Bao's Place' where she had accepted the responsibility to lead their party of refugees to Lake Pilho. Sad Eyes had readily agreed to take the job and had been paid seventy stones up front. A steady stream of profanities spewed forth from her mouth, cursing all alcoholic drinks and the people who made them to the lowermost realms of the Spirit World. She must have been pretty drunk to have accepted this job for a paltry seventy stones. Sure, she had a reputation for charging less than other wagon masters, but seventy stones? That was just an idiotically low price.
The three men had told her that their group would be ready to head out in six days so as it stood right now; she had six days to find a few additional hands to assist her in protecting the refugees. Sad Eyes pulled her top over her shoulders and felt around on the floor next to her bed until she felt her hand connect with what she'd been searching for; a polished wooden box with intricate designs carved into the surface. Popping open the top, Sad Eyes emptied the contents of the box- a broken shard of mirror glass and a porcelain comb- onto her mattress. As the mercenary combed the tangles out of her hair, she tried to think of a way to convince some halfway decent warriors to come along with her and the refugees.
'What am I gonna say,' she wondered idly to herself. What was she going to say, 'I need a few good recruits to go on a dangerous job through open country all the way to Lake Pilho. And guess what; there's hardly any money in it for you.'
Sad Eyes would have laughed if there was anything funny about it. The lowlifes in this town were not interested in taking charity jobs like this. In all honesty, she wouldn't have taken this job if she had been sober at the time it was offered; of all the things that she was, a philanthropist was not one of them.
"Maybe the trick is to find somebody who's wasted," the mercenary mumbled to herself. Whatever the case, the fact was that Sad Eyes had accepted the job and she had taken their money; she was contractually bound to perform this service to the refugees, no matter what. The tattooed mercenary picked herself up off the ground, grabbing her sword belt and sheath from where they leaned on the wall on her way out. Buckling the curved blade onto her hip, the mercenary stomped the way downstairs to the first story of the building, deftly avoiding her landlord on her way out of the front door.
"Now… where am I going to go," Sad Eyes mumbled to herself as she walked along the dusty streets of Onsung. It was still fairly early in the day. Sad Eyes put her mind to work thinking of ways to solve her predicament. Since the pay for this job was shit, she would have to find someone who was one of three things; desparate, crazy, or out of their right minds. A sudden idea occurred to the mercenary. A lot of mercenaries- herself included- were very fond of alcohol. And having survived more than a few murderous benders in her time, Sad Eyes knew that this time of day was when plenty of overeager drinkers would be waking up with hangovers.
Since drunks never strayed too far from places where they could get a drink, then logically there should be a few easy marks in the many inns and rooming houses which ringed the bar district. Who knows; maybe she could catch someone.
During his journeys, Lee had learned many things about life and about himself. The newest things that he had learned were that he was a very angry drunk and that he was an even angrier person when he was hung over. Lee had never really been drunk before. He had drunk liquor before but he had always imbibed expensive smooth wines and he had always had someone there to stop him before he even got mildly tipsy. That, plus the fact that firebenders had a notoriously high tolerance for alcohol had always protected him from the horrors of the hangover.
Last night for want of anything else to do, Lee had gone to a nearby bar. He had certainly not gone there with the intention of getting piss drunk, but the scarred vagrant felt that as long as he was there, he might as well sample some of the barkeep's wares. What had started off as few cups of cheap wine had evolved over time into him knocking back multiple shots of what the barkeeper had called a 'Blind Bandit'. Lee had hazy memories of himself being involved in a drinking game of some sort, but after that his memories became disjointed and he could only guess at what had happened during the rest of the night.
Things must have gone sour with someone though, because when he had awoken this morning he was wearing a bruise on his forehead which hadn't been there the night before. The scarred vagrant regarded it as a small miracle that he had managed to stumble back to the squalid house where he had been sleeping for the past few nights. Lee sat curled into a ball in a corner.
The rooming house was, in actuality, a produce warehouse which had fallen into disuse. With the recent influx of war refugees flooding into Onsung, the owners of the property had had the bright idea that they could make a lot more money by selling the space to desperate migrants in need of a place to sleep. For a few pennies a night, a refugee got his very own space on a hard earthen floor with three hundred other people in as dire straits as you yourself. They didn't provide even the basest of creature comforts or amenities, but they did provide a roof and locked doors to keep out the riff-raff.
Lee gritted his teeth against the horrendous pounding in his temples and choked down the vomit that wanted to come shooting out of his throat. He glared at everyone else in the room with hatred; how dare those bastards walk around like everything was normal when his head was about to fall off his shoulders. Fuck them! FUCK THEM ALL!
Lee emitted a low groan; apparently anger only made the headache worse. He swore on his mother's soul that he would never, ever drink again.
The scarred vagrant had decided that the worst thing about being hung over was the increased sensitivity to light and sound. When he had woken up that morning the sound of the hundreds of people who had been jammed into the confines of the warehouse turned rooming house had felt next to unbearable.
Lee stumbled outside to escape; bad idea. Not only was it louder on the outside, the sunlight stung his eyes and amplified the pain in his head. He had quickly retreated back into the rooming house, curled up in a corner and decided that the only thing he could do would be to try and wait it out. Unfortunately, the universe decided that it would once again screw him out of having a moment's peace.
The shrill crying of a child reverberated inside of the sleeping area. The child was quickly followed by the irate shouting of a grown man yelling "Shut up," in a hoarse voice. Lee swung his eyes in the direction of the disturbance. A tall, skinny man had a little girl- she couldn't have been over four years old- by the hair and was yelling at her.
"I said to shut up you little bitch! Shut up right now!"
The girl, however, continued to wail at the top of her lungs, uprooting the string bean man even more. Lee gripped his bag a little tighter as he watched the thin man draw back one of his long arms.
"I told you to shut up," String Bean yelled in fury, bringing his hand down on the girl's face with a resounding smack. The dry sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed inside of the converted warehouse and, to Lee's surprise, everyone really did shut up. Then the little girl started crying out in pain and fear. String Bean did not like that; he flew into a rage and began beating the small child with his boney, malnourished fists and shouting at her to shut up more loudly than ever.
The thin man's violent actions provoked a response- even more noise- from the surrounding crowd as the bystanders began shouting; some for the landlords to come and break the two up; some urging other bystanders to help the girl; some shouting at the man to take his business outside, away from the rest of them. Lee gripped his bag a little tighter. He could feel it, his hatred and rage and disgust at mankind filling up the pounding space in between his ears, threatening to split his whole skull open in a matter of minutes if he didn't do something to stop it.
Lee lurched up from his spot in the corner and stomped his way towards the place where String Bean was still beating the girl, roughly elbowing the spectators of the assault out of his way. He reached for the thin man's queue, grabbing the waist length strand of braided hair and yanked it with enough force to send String Bean crashing to the floor. An excited murmur radiated through the crowd as the thin man jumped to his feet to confront his attacker.
"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE," String Bean yelled. Lee winced involuntarily; the pounding in his head had reached an all time high after that last outburst. He just wanted them all to shut up. String
Bean's lips were moving; his lips were moving, but the firebender could not even hear what the man was saying. All that the scarred vagabond could hear was the blood pounding in his ears.
Before String Bean could even register what was happening, Lee's right hand shot from his side to clamp down on the thin man's crotch. The other man's animalistic squeal was oddly gratifying to the firebender; he gave the family jewels a sharp twist. String Bean's voice went up another few octaves; Lee clamped his free hand over his captive's mouth.
"Whatever problems you have with that girl, I don't care," he spat, loud enough for the surrounding people to hear every word he said. He spoke slowly so that nobody would miss a word. "I had a bad night. My head is killing me. If I hear you yelling like that again," Lee squeezed String Bean's nuts a little tighter, to emphasize how serious he was, "I'm going to turn you into a woman."
The vagabond took the thin man's muffled whimper as a sign that he had gotten the message. Feeling his point had been made, Lee released String Bean, leaving the man to melt into the floor, cradling his poor, abused balls. Where he had had to shove people out of his way before, people all but scurried out of Lee's way now; he had almost made it back to his corner when he felt a rough hand grab his elbow. Lee turned his head to see who would dare to approach him after the demonstration he had just given.
He came face to face with a woman whom he had never seen in the rooming house before. 'Her grip's pretty strong,' he thought. He quickly sized her up; hair in the advanced stages of turning from brown to grey; judging by the calloused hands and strong grip she was used to working with her hands. Farmer? Artisan? The firebender's eyes traced the tattoos that extended all the way up her arm to her exposed shoulder, to her neck.
'Not likely, not with those'. Rough, faded ink; birds with only one wing, demons missing their left eyes; he recognized those symbols. You only got those kinds of tattoos from one place. "The four kingdoms divide the multitudes…"
The tattooed woman raised a lazy eyebrow at the young man's words but her response was immediate and unfaltering. "…but the blades of the host are innumerable."
The mysterious woman released her grip on the young man's elbow. "Wasn't expecting to find a brother of mine in here, guess it must be my lucky day."
"All depends on what you want," replied irritably. His head was still pounding, he still felt like he was going to vomit every other minute and he was in no mood to be holding long conversations with people he'd never even met before. He wouldn't have even been giving this lady the time of day if she hadn't been one of the Myriad.
The woman shrugged her shoulders but nodded her head in understanding; just because they were part of the same society didn't make them buddies. "I'm actually here looking to hire some people to protect a group of refugees traveling to Lake Pilho. Interested?"
Lee squinted at the woman. "Why do you want me," he asked, not altogether sure that this woman wasn't a bounty hunter after his head and that this job offer wasn't some kind of trap. He knew that his suspicions were farfetched, but a healthy degree of paranoia could save a man's life.
"You defended that little girl," the nameless woman said flatly. "That plus that fact that you crushed that guy's nuts with your bare hands proves to me that you care about little children and you're not shy about hurting somebody. The perfect qualities to have for this job, far as I'm concerned."
Lee stared at the woman in annoyance; if she had been watching the whole scene then she should have known that he was in no condition to do anything besides sit in his corner and wait until the throbbing in his head went away. The scarred vagrant told her as much.
"Go find somebody else," Lee said dismissively. He turned to head into his corner when he heard the woman say, "I can get rid of that hangover for you. I do that for you, you consider my offer."
That got the firebender's attention. Lee paused and turned slowly, his one eyebrow raised in curiosity. The scarred vagrant thought about it; he was only trying to be in Onsung long enough to hustle up some money before heading south. Lake Pilho was to the south and traveling with a group was bound to be safer that traveling on his own. Getting paid for honest work was also a much safer choice than his original plan- robbing somebody- would have been. But most importantly, she said that she could cure his hangover.
"You make the pounding stop, I'm in."
"Excellent," the woman smirked crookedly at the young man and extended a hand. "I'm Sad Eyes."
Jet eased his head around a corner; he saw two Earth Kingdom soldiers at the end of the alley, nosing through piles of rotting garbage. One was carrying wanted posters displaying the faces of Smellerbee and Longshot and himself. The Freedom Fighter cursed; he pulled his head back around the corner and shook it sadly. "We can't go this way either guys."
"Lame fucks are trying to box us in," Smellerbee muttered bitterly.
"I'd say that they're doing better than trying," Jet replied nonchalantly. Smellerbee shot him a dirty look; this was no time for their leader to start acting like an idiot. "Jet, this is serious! We need a plan."
Despite what his subordinate might have thought, the leader of the Freedom Fighters was very much aware of just how serious their situation was. The trio had spent the past few days skulking around in shadowy alleys like the one in which they were currently cowering because someone had mobilized the local Earth Kingdom army garrison and sent them on a hunt for the three Freedom Fighters. Jet was certain that the Forger did not have the influence to set two companies of Earth Kingdom soldiers on them; it must have been that old man who had done it.
'Well, the old man did say that we would end up regretting it,' Jet thought sourly. He poked his head around the corner; yep, they were still there. The one with the posters was waving them in the face of a beggar woman.
"No chance of going back the way we came," Jet asked. Longshot shook his head- that way was effectively blocked off. Jet sighed in frustration; as things stood right now, the only way they were getting out of there was to cut through a couple dozen Earth Kingdom soldiers, something that the Freedom Fighter was less than eager to try. Jet started towards a narrow space between the buildings in front of them. "Looks like we'll just have to go deeper into the city then."
Smellerbee scrunched up her face and muttered a childish 'ah man' while Longshot furrowed his brow in displeasure. There had been a complete lack of city planning when Onsung was founded; people just put houses and businesses wherever they had found space. As a result, the older parts of the town had evolved over time into a complex maze of alleys, side streets, narrow walkways, dead ends and hidden niches. As a result, Onsung wasn't a very big city but it had plenty of places for a clever outlaw to hide. Another result, however, was that it was extremely easy for someone who lacked an intimate knowledge of the slums to become hopelessly lost.
The trio had used the maze-like qualities of the backstreets to avoid their pursuers, but in doing so they had become lost themselves. Just this morning- after a night of stumbling around in the gutters- the Freedom Fighters had accidentally made it back to a part of town they recognized. Now it looked as if they would have to get lost all over again. Jet managed to squeeze his body between the narrow space between the buildings when he heard Smellerbee's urgent voice.
"Jet, hold up a minute. Something's happening with those soldiers."
Her leader extricated himself from the space between the buildings and hurried over to where his two friends crouched peering around the corner. "What is it, something good," Jet asked eagerly. The tomboy shushed her leader before peeking back around the corner. "I'm not really sure but something's going on down there."
Jet saw that the soldiers had moved on from the beggar woman and were questioning someone else; another woman with grey hair and an extensively tattooed left arm. The mysterious woman was in what appeared to be a rather animated conversation with the soldiers. After a few seconds of watching, Jet noticed something odd.
Every once in a while, the woman would toss her head and whip he long hair around. That in itself wasn't anything unusual, but to the Freedom Fighter it seemed like she was performing the action much too frequently. He watched closely; she would stop speaking, and then toss her head when the soldiers responded to whatever it was she said. Over and over and over again.
'Is… she trying to signal us or something?'
Acting on impulse, Jet stuck one of his hands from behind the wall and waggled his hand in the air. Smellerbee and Longshot looked at him like he was crazy- Jet couldn't really blame them. He was risking
their freedom- possibly their lives- on a completely baseless gut feeling that the mysterious woman at the end of the alley was trying to help them. A few tense seconds passed without incident until the two soldiers went running out of the alley and into the sun brightened street.
Seeing the soldiers leave the alley, Jet sprang from behind the wall and approached the woman who had saved all of their skins. "Thanks for the help ma'am; that was a tight spot we were in."
The mysterious woman smirked crookedly, her drooping eyes betraying nothing. "Oh, I know. You must have pissed somebody with a lot of pull off pretty bad if they were able to get the soldiers off their lazy asses. And now…"
She stretched her arms over her head, pushing her ample breasts forward; the young Freedom Fighter's eyes immediately lowered to examine her assets. "… What say you do something to help me?"
Outwardly, Jet put on his best winning smile; inwardly however, he went on his guard. Of course nothing in this world ever comes for free. "What do you need help with," Jet asked innocently; it was much more polite than saying 'Who are you and what the hell do you want us for.' He was young, but he was sharp enough to not jump headfirst into an unknown situation when he could avoid it. The mysterious woman seemed to catch on pretty quickly that it was going to be pointless to try bullshitting him; alright, straight talk it was then.
"Before we get to that, don't you think that we should include your little friends in this discussion," the woman said neutrally, looking past Jet and sown into the shadows of the alley.
"If they don't like the favor, then they'll let me know," a steely eyed Jet replied. The woman shrugged as if to say that it made no difference to her how they worked things out between themselves.
"Alright; the situation is this. Right now the three of you are the most wanted criminals in Onsung. I don't know what you did and I don't really care, but, while you're here you'll have cops, soldiers, and every idiot looking to collect the price on your heads coming after you. In short; you need to get out of town and fast."
The mysterious woman paused to let her words sink in. The young man's face betrayed any hint that he was interested in her summary in his group's situation. "You still haven't said a word about what it is you want," Jet stated. The woman sucked her teeth.
"It just so happens that I need some help leading a group of refugees who're heading south to Lake Pilho. You need to get out of Onsung, I've got a means of supplying that way out. When we get behind the walls, you guys help me with the refugees until we get to where we're going. Good deal, right?"
Jet looked thoughtful for a moment, chewing on the end of his twig as he pondered the woman's proposal. A minute ticked by before the Freedom Fighter turned into face the shadows deeper into the alley.
"Guys… she's got a proposition for us."
A full moon hung in the cloudless night sky. It shone with a brilliance that was rarely seen in a place like Onsung. It was type of moon- big and beautiful, accented oh so perfectly by the backdrop of millions upon billions of twinkling stars- that one found being depicted in fairytale romances. Had Jet been of a mind to look up into the night sky, he would have undoubtedly found the scene awe inspiring. However, things being as they were, the head Freedom Fighter was too busy observing phenomena of a less heavenly nature. For the fourth time that evening somebody had grabbed a big handful of his ass; for the fourth time that evening he had had to fight the urge to disembowel the offending party with his bare hands. Instead of acting on his violent impulses as he desperately- desperately- wanted to, Jet instead quietly removed the "gentleman's" hand and concentrated on putting the right amount of sway in his hips.
(Two Hours Ago)
Lime Street; Onsung's red light district. A bright and bustling street lined on both sides with teahouse brothels, gambling parlors and opium dens. Like nowhere else, Lime Street brought the people of the town together. Rich men rubbed shoulders with beggars; townspeople caroused with refugees. For a few short hours all of them were equal in their united pursuit of cheap thrills. The Freedom Fighters had followed the mysterious mercenary behind one of the more upscale whorehouses in the area.
"What are we doing back here," a very agitated Smellerbee asked. She hated being around places like this.
"I'm engineering the means of you escape kid," Sad Eyes replied flatly. The mercenary knocked on the back door of the brothel; three quick knocks, a pause, then two more knocks. A small flap in the door opened in the door to briefly reveal a pair of eyes under several layers of mascara. The door opened all the way to reveal a woman around Sad Eye's age who was dressed in a kimono which exposed her shoulders and an ample amount of cleavage.
"Well, well, look who decides to show up after all this time," the woman said snidely, crossing her arms and glaring at the mercenary with distaste.
Sad Eyes smirked nastily. "Nice to see you too Ming, how's tricks?"
"The tricks are getting their money's worth," the hooker replied. "So, what are you here for," she looked over at the three young people that Sad Eyes had with her. "And who're the kids?"
Sad Eyes waved her hand dismissively. "The kids are cool. As to why I'm here; this place owes me a few favors and I've come to call one in."
"People like you only come around when you want something. Fuckin' leech," Ming said, rolling her eyes. Despite the harshness of her words, she stepped out of the doorframe, allowing the visitors to enter the building. "I don't like this. You still haven't told us the plan yet Sad Eyes," Jet said as he followed behind the mercenary.
"Bitch, bitch, whine, whine," Sad Eyes muttered to herself. "Just be thankful that it's laundry day."
(The Present)
The leader of the Freedom Fighters glared at the woman responsible for the loss of his manhood. "Sad Eyes," he muttered the name as if it was the vilest curse he knew. The mercenary turned and looked at the Freedom Fighter, a nasty smirk on her lips. "What is it sweetness?"
By some miracle, Jet did not explode on the smug mercenary. "This is never going to work, we're gonna get caught."
Sad Eyes huffed in indignation at the thought of one of her plans failing. "Nonsense; just play it cool and act whore-ish. We'll be through the town gates in no time flat."
Jet was about to retort when Longshot- the only one out of the group not dressed as a working girl- placed a steadying hand on his leader's shoulder, telling him that further argument was useless at this point. Jet quickly shrugged off the taller teen's shoulder. "Aw, fuck you too Longshot," Jet spat. "Too masculine my ass..."
While Sad Eyes and the Freedom Fighters had been receiving their makeovers in Lime Street, Longshot had been left out.
(One Hour, Forty Two Minutes Ago)
"Hey, hey," Jet yelled. "Why the hell do I have to go in drag while he," he pointed an irate finger at the archer, "can just wear normal clothes? Why can't I be the eunuch?"
"Are you serious," the working girl who was currently struggling to comb all of the knots out of Smellerbee's hair. "He's way too tall and looks way too much like a man. There's no way he'll pass."
"But I don't look anything like a woman," Jet spat.
The hooker laughed in his face, causing the normally unflappable Freedom Fighter to flush red in embarrassment. "That's true, but you'd make a perfect ladyboy."
(Present)
The mute archer gave his leader a look which clearly said, 'that's what you get pretty boy.' Jet mumbled something inaudible and went back to concentrating on putting the correct amount of sway into his hips as he walked.
"Just relax and bear it Jet," a gussied up Smellerbee said to her fuming friend. "We've only gotta do this until we get to the camp." Jet scowled but kept his eyes forward and his rear end swinging. All of that was easy for her to say, she actually looked kind of good in that getup. He wasn't alone in that sentiment; both Jet and Longshot had been shocked at just how feminine Smellerbee could look when she cleaned herself up.
"Look sharp and slutty girls, we're going to be at the gate once we get to the end of this block," Sad Eyes announced. "Once we turn the corner, you three wait while I collect the last member of our little party."
The Freedom Fighters nodded in acknowledgement. Upon rounding the end of the block, the trio took up position next to a flophouse while Sad Eyes hurried on down the street.
Silence.
"Jet…" Smellerbee said slowly. "If you keep scowling like that, you'll never get any customers."
"Yo handsome!"
A voice from above said; Lee shifted his gaze from the ground to trace the source of the voice he recognized as the one belonging to the female mercenary with the weird name. Expecting to see the same woman that he had met just a day ago, the firebender was surprised to find himself being accosted by one of Onsung's many of ladies of the evening. His ever present scowl went from annoyed to confused. "Why are you dressed like that," he asked suspiciously.
Sad Eyes twitched her hips suggestively and said in a low, sultry tone, "Why do you ask? Is it giving you ideas?"
Lee somehow managed to fight down the blush rising in his cheeks and retain his scowl; quite the feet. Sighing at the young man's refusal to be flustered by her antics, Sad Eyes quickly explained the situation. "Not a problem for you right?"
Lee scoffed as he bent over to collect his pack and swords from the ground. "Makes no difference to me how many chumps you had to queer out," he patted his pack. "I've got my papers right here."
The two set off down the street towards the place where Sad Eyes had said she had left her other recruits. As Sad Eyes and Lee moved closer to a seedy looking flophouse, the scarred vagrant saw that- as promised- there were three people waiting outside of the building. There was a petite girl, a tall eunuch in a long coat whose face was largely hidden by the brim of the straw coolie hat atop his head, and a… what?
From a distance the second tallest figure had looked like a woman. Lee found, however, that the person he had taken to be a woman was looking less and less feminine the closer he got. Most disturbing of all was the fact that he felt he recognized the shemale from somewhere. He examined the transvestite's face closely. The subject of Lee's study broke off his conversation with the short girl and looked at the two approaching figures. Lee and the ladyboy locked eyes, realization dawning at the same time.
"Lee?"
"Twig boy?"
Jet looked ready to murder the other young man. 'That bastard didn't even bother to remember my name? Not like it's hard; there aren't that many Jets walking around.'
"Hey, you're that guy," Smellerbee exclaimed in surprise.
"You remember me," Lee asked.
"Hard to forget somebody who's had half their face fried off," the small girl replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sad Eyes that it was time for her to step in before anybody's feelings got hurt.
"Okay, well it's great that all you guys know each other. This way we don't have to waste time on introductions." The mercenary hustled the strange group up to the gate Lee stepped forward first and showed his papers to the guard on duty and was quickly waved through. Sad Eyes and the disguised Freedom Fighters made to pass right through the gate when they were stopped by a guard.
"Halt, you women can't just go on through like that! I need to see your papers!"
The Freedom Fighters froze, exchanging sidelong glances while discreetly reaching for the weapons concealed beneath their clothes. Sad Eyes, however, kept on walking as if she hadn't heard the eager young soldier at all.
"Hey… hey lady, didn't you hear me? I need to see your papers!"
The guard caught the mercenary by her arm; Sad Eyes quickly turned on the man and started shouting at him at the top of her lungs.
"Get yer hands offa me ya runt. You wanna touch then you gotta pay!"
The young guard blushed rose red and tried to shush Sad Eyes. "Look lady, I'm just trying to do my job. If you haven't got papers then you're gonna need to come with me to the blockhouse and…"
"Oh, I see now," Sad Eyes snorted derisively. "Take me out back for a lil' freebie, huh? That you plan Mr. Officer? I suck you off, you let me through?"
The mercenary made absolutely no attempt to keep her voice down; her antics were beginning to attract spectators. The Freedom Fighters watched, captivated by the sheer trashiness of Sad Eyes' performance as one guard, then another left their posts to see what the problem was.
"You're getting in the way of my business, that's the problem," Sad Eyes screeched indignantly.
"Ah for Spirit's sake Biu, just let'er through," one of the two older guards snapped at the youngest guard. "But Sarge," Biu pleaded. "The Captain said that we've got to check everybody coming in and going out; orders from on high he said!"
The "Sarge" blew a raspberry to show the kid just what he thought of orders from on high and the people who gave them. "Just leave her alone; hookers come back and forth to work the shanty town all the time."
While the guards became increasingly embroiled in their argument, Sad Eyes signaled to the Freedom Fighters that now would be a good time for them to hurry through the gate before cooler heads prevailed. In need of no further prompting, the three walked, calmly but quickly through the gates. They found Lee sitting on the ground a short distance from the gates.
"How'd it go," the scarred vagrant asked, his tone indicating that he really didn't care much about how hard of a time they had had.
"We made it through," Jet said simply. He was already using the arm of his kimono to wipe the makeup off of his face but just ended up smearing it all across his face. The four did not have long to wait before Sad Eyes emerged from the other side of the gates.
"Now that that's over with, let's get going."
Joo-Hwan was restless; the refugees had packed up all of their possessions, they had broken camp; they were ready to go as soon as the sun came up over the horizon. And their protection was nowhere to be found. A hundred possible scenarios played through the farmer's mind, each one more horrible than the last. Something bad was going to happen, he could feel it down in his soul.
"Hey, somebody's coming! I think it's the mercenaries we hired!"
Joo-Hwan sprang to his feet eagerly. They'd come, by the Spirits! How silly he was to be worried; they'd paid their money so of course they'd show up. He could rest easier now; he could go tell Mikan once he saw…
The farmer felt his stomach drop; he saw them. Their protection was a little girl, some scruffy scar-faced kid, a eunuch and a drag queen.
"We are so screwed."