Program Lovely
chapter eleven;Override
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At about that moment, Ichigo - and not just Ichigo in fact, but the others as well - began to worry for her heart. As it was, it seemed as if it could lodge in her throat or take a gravity defying leap at her ribs, or just flat-out burst.
Any second now.
Every step they took as a collective team seemed seperated, suspended in a net of time; each intricately bound to some faraway clock that whir-tick-tick-ticked on too slowly, too loudly.
Every step they took, Ichigo felt that fear come closer and closer to swallowing her whole.
Only Mizuki's words kept her upright and alive at this moment.
Shirogane-sama needs you.
Thump.
Step.
Step.
Closer.
Breath.
Turn.
And in a miraculous, instantaneous grinding halt, Ichigo's hammering heart stopped, mid-beat. Just as Mizuki had said, just as they'd all feared and known -
- their enemies were waiting, watching, calm, just around the very corner that surged panic and adrenaline through the core of the group.
Her heart quivered, weak, clamped still by an immoveable claw.
SQUAD.
Three. There were three of them. In her eyes, those blurred shapes of black registered a faint memory from the chaotic depths of her brain, leaving a chilling sensation crawling freely under her skin, building that flashing sign, DANGER, and lighting it. Blindingly bright.
Three, perched with menacing elegance on thrones of garbage cans, brick slabs, rusted carts - whatever was stacked at the dead end of that alleyway - staring with eyes as piercing and ominous as crows, smiles as eerily knowing as a cheshire cat's, teeth glinting beneath peeking lips. Thirsty.
In that brief two-second suspension of time, she somehow managed to tear her eyes away from the beautiful horror to look down at the kidnappers' feet - and somewhere, far off in that immeasurable distance, the frozen clock broke.
Ryou.
Time sprang the trap.
"SHIROGANE!"
And with that, Ichigo accomplished two very important things:
One, she leapt - tore - dove away from her throng of fighters, bringing her just steps closer to the unconscious, battered man on the ground.
Two, by letting the sight of him knock all sense out of her, she betrayed the trust that Mizuki so fleetingly placed in her
Thus essentially screwing them all over.
She advanced no more than five steps forward before her shoulder suddenly hit the cement. Faster than she could even realize she'd been thrown back over.
Startled cries of her distant friends rang in Ichigo's ears as her mind whirled from the impact. Save him, was all she knew - but in the end, of course it couldn't be so easy.
She stood in the way.
Red eyes, knotted hair... SQUAD girl, standing tall above the fallen Mew.
"Sorry," the enemy said with a lazy shrug and insincere smile, "But try again, yeah?"
"What do you want?" Zakuro's voice was the next thing Ichigo heard, and realized the five others were standing just a few feet behind her.
Perception started clearing up. She'd only made it this far...?
The creature girl only raised her head, mildly interested. But not much.
"Asking that question," Her lips curled into a bit of a sneer. Pudding winced at the sight of those razor sharp canines, and that malevolent glint they unthinkably possessed. It was as if those teeth were too big for such a delicate jaw. "It's more than a little redundant - mm, don't you think?"
And she cocked her head in Mizuki's direction, expectantly.
"We didn't come to just give you Mizuki," was Mint's direct and bold reply. "Are you going to be open to negotiation or not?"
The pair of them - Zakuro and Mint - immediately assumed full control, appearing almost as regular hostage dealers in all their justice shining glory.
The girl's smirk turned into a scowl. "Negotiation.." She said the word as if it were sour, unpleasant, offensive. "What is there to negotiate? You know exactly what we want - "
"Money?" Zakuro stood her ground, full-on in a stare down with the smaller, but equally menacing, girl, "Is that what you're after? Fetching a pretty prize for a piece of technology? Don't you think this is all a little far for that?"
Vermillion flecks flashed with frustration in the small girl's eyes. "You're funny." Biting sarcasm. "If we were after something as simple as money, we would rob a bank. How hard can it be."
"Then," Zakuro folded her arms over her chest, feet planted and eyes glowering, "What's the alternative? Because you have to know we aren't just going to give her to you. Not without knowing why."
Dizzy screens fixed themselves in Ichigo's eyes, upright, center, and then aligned once again. She was sprawled off to the left of where she'd started, front row for the dramatic exchange - and as the pounding in her head began to subside and the burning of her own breath cooled, she sought out the real prize here.
A beautiful trophy... in a sick way. A regular Sleeping Beauty, just male and with too many cuts and bruises to count. For a second, Ichigo felt her breath catch on a horrible thought - dead - but her lungs began to work normally again when she saw a slight twitch, a grimace of pain, a nightmare stretching on his otherwise unstirring face.
Shirogane needs you, that voice echoed again, distant but distinct.
As the two dominators continued their heated exchange, Ichigo began to crawl.
"Why?" Again, the SQUAD girl sounded as if she were becoming bored. "It's called survival. You want your boy to survive, no? We're no different."
"We're completely different," growled Zakuro, losing her cool for a miniscule moment, "This is kidnapping. We'd never do anything so senseless."
The other watched her for a moment, blank and considering.
"Think so, huh?" That unnatural, murderous smirk returned. "Well. You're young. The world's not as black and white as you like to think."
You're young. What a strange thing to hear, coming from a girl who didn't look older than fifteen. Zakuro was taken aback, somewhat - if not infuriated even further.
"But it's fair, don't you think?" SQUAD girl was beginning to move, stealthily, steadily forward, intimidating even with her short stature, "I don't see why you'd bother complaining. She's not even a person."
Keeping every breath, every movement silent, Ichigo continued to drag herself forward across the cold cement. Gritting her teeth. Pressure gaining on her already-sore body. Eyes fixed on the still Ryou the entire time.
Wake up, she begged, waiting for a silent miracle. Wake up and run.
Lettuce glanced worriedly to Mizuki, but she seemed unfazed by the comment. In fact, that cold, blind blankness was returning to the robot's features, a slight flash running beneath her artificial lashes. Watching, waiting - analyzing.
Or just staring at the hostage in helpless vindication.
That was when Lettuce noticed where Ichigo was going.
"We decline," was Zakuro's curt response, bitter and seethingly polite. The girl across from her did not appear terribly surprised - only unimpressed. "So there won't be any settling this peacefully, will there?" The model issued a veiled threat.
The girl, on the other hand, simply rolled her eyes and halted her advance. "No."
A single heartbeat passed, a suspended transition -
"Salv, you can stop her now."
That was when everything crashed down.
Literally, even, as the Third One - an unrecognizable, new and frightening face - impossibly bridged the gap and smashed his foot down on Ichigo's outreaching hand.
Both crashes made her scream. The one she felt physically, and the one where her plan - get Ryou and run - tumbled in a disheartening and bone-crushing heap.
Pain blinded Ichigo as she writhed her hand, red and swelling, away from the hefty, dirty boot that had injured it... and it blinded her so severely she didn't even see him wake up.
"Ichigo-oneechan!" Pudding hollered, suddenly leaping onto the back of the man - Salv? - enough to shock him and to free Ichigo's hand.
"Pudding-!" Zakuro jolted forward, but was swiftly intercepted by the small SQUAD girl. She'd let Pudding through, which had been a careless mistake - but no others would get past her now.
"It's politics, bitch," she snarled, and dove in to punch Zakuro square in the face.
"Shirogane...!" Ichigo yelled in pain amidst the chaos - and mid word, she looked up to see the boy's eyes flutter open.
"Ungh..."
Jerking waves of pain pelted his body - raw, sore, aching - as Ryou's memory and awareness zoomed back into focus. Groaning he tried to sit up, to see where he was - and a little foot came down on his chest, sending him back to the cement in one little movement.
The young boy sitting above him just shrugged, not even blinking from the effort.
Unable to muster enough strength to struggle, Ryou focused on breathing and feebling turned his head to see what was going on, and where the rest of them were.
The small one was out of sight, but the big one had a bright looking creature hanging off his neck and was holding a redhead tightly by the collar -
"Ichigo!" he shouted, or, tried, with a rasping voice, too hoarse from his earlier fight.
That redhead in question struggled against the tall dark man's grip, but couldn't tear her eyes off what she'd just seen. He was alive...! Blotted smears of hope filled her, right down to her toes, warm and cozy despite her frigid and aching skin.
He was alive.
Now, the rest of them just had to stay that way.
With naturally swift reflexes, Zakuro successfully ducked, avoiding the brunt of the girl's blow - only a slight scratch on her jaw as proof of the shot.
But in the end, Zakuro hadn't been the target.
SQUAD girl leapt right past, diving in for Mizuki.
The robot stood perfectly still, an ice statue - solid, and ready.
With a mighty swing of the tall male SQUAD member's body, little Pudding was shaken loose and sent to the ground with an effortless thud.
"Let go of me!" Ichigo choked, trying to kick the man - Salv, he'd been called? - in the gut from where she dangled.
He responded by holding her at arms length, disgusted and irritated. "Noisy mongrel," he spat, tightening his grip on her collar and reeling back, preparing to throw her at the alley wall. Pudding pulled her head off the ground long enough to bite him in the ankle.
Ryou clenched his teeth, and pathetically grabbed on to the calf attached to the foot pinning him down. A child, with the strength of a horse -
"Wanna keep your ribs?"
The pressure on his chest increased, enough to make the blonde gasp.
Tall and graceful crashed with tiny and wild as the SQUAD girl and Mizuki locked horns - the robot grasping small wrists, holding the animal claws attached just inches from her own calm face. Silent, but struggling.
She couldn't transform like this.
Mint, who'd rushed to Zakuro alongside Lettuce ("I'm fine," the model had insisted, a deep growl in her throat, "just go!") was the first to see this.
"Mew Mew Mint - "
And the latter joined in -
"Mew Mew Lettuce!"
"Metamorphose!"
A faint light grew, flickered, and the warmth faded before it could even fully come.
Confusion was replaced by a deep-setting panic as the two looked at each other, baffled, each still in street clothes -
Nothing had changed.
"What... what's going..."
Ichigo swung out of the man's grasp as he yowled in pain, trying to snatch the speedy-quick Pudding. Only as she stumbled against a nearby wall for support to orient herself did she see what was going on - friends, hurt, confused, unable to access their own powers to defend themselves.
She remembered that day by the train station when she'd first encountered SQUAD, and the same strange panic overcoming her -
"We can't transform," she breathed, traces of horror in face and weak voice.
Ryou heard the shocked reactions, and this small statement - and his grip on the uncaring boy's leg, however feeble, tightened.
"Lose something?" That dim, flat voice bounced down the alleywall, and they turned to see Ryou's captor dangling something shiny from his small, lethal fingers.
Ichigo's heart jumped, startled. Her pendant. She'd dropped it, at the train station...
"Henrietta picked this beauty up," he explained, jabbing a thumb lazily in the direction of the girl still struggling against Mizuki's hold, "Real easy for me to intercept the frequencies. Don't know why you look so surprised,"
"Then we really can't.." Zakuro said softly, fearfully, echoing the same terrifying realization of everyone else.
Pudding finally escaped, scrambling a safe distance from her burly pursuer. Salv, repressing his anger, simply stood where he was and watched.
"It's not true!" The small girl hollered, pulling her own pendant from her pocket. "Mew Mew Pudding, Metamorphose!"
Only the echoes of her voice filled the alley. A cruel smirk spread on Salv's lips. Ichigo's captive pendant swung, back and forth, taunting.
Tears seemed to fill her eyes as she stood her ground and tried again, louder, more desperately. "Mew Mew Pudding, Metamorphose! Metamorphose! Metamorphose!"
The boy just shrugged, not a shred of empathy or care in the gesture.
"It's your own fault," he said, "for getting attached to a bunch of circuits."
The girls could only stand, frozen, petrified, bewildered. As if they'd had a limb severed, unexpectedly, suddenly.
Pudding just stood there, wide eyed and short of breath, and let her reactionless pendant clatter to the ground, falling to her knees beside it.
As if all hope had been, in that one still moment, lost.
It was heavy, dooming. You could almost hear the torment of the circles of thoughts, regrets, terrors running free through every girl's mind.
Ichigo watched, struggling against the shooting pains in her body.
No. We're not powerless...
She tried to stand.
We have to fight.
Every inch of her ached, was raw, felt like it could fall off at any time.
Don't just stand there..!
"Even if... even if we're just human, and... we don't have any amazing powers..." Breathing heavily, she raised herself up as tall as she could, gurgling through words that may have very well been heard by no one, "Shirogane... Shirogane chose us for a reason!"
And with an impassioned cry, she ran right at the off-guard Salv, tackling him in the stomach.
"What the-!" Grunting, he shoved her off with force that had been enough to earlier knock her down. Ichigo wouldn't. She flew back, flailing, kicking him hard in the shin before racing past to help Pudding back to her feet.
Lettuce and Mint, stiff and wary, exchanged a glance. Mint cocked a small, but assured, smile, and Lettuce nodded in grave agreement. At that moment, the two turned, a new vigour burning through them, and bolted for Henrietta.
They each went for an arm, and forced her outreached hands away from their robot companion. "Coward!" Henrietta screamed, snarling, as the two successfully pulled her out of reach and held her back, "What, the weapon doesn't think she can handle some damn alley kids on her own?"
Mizuki didn't respond - only met her gaze with a challenging intensity. She pulled her collar down and raised two fingers to the gold, pendant-shaped plate on her collarbone.
"Program - activate!"
The clasps on her jacket shattered in a burst of gold light.
"Huh," Spinning the pendant around in a mesmerizing loop, the small boy feigned interest by ever-so-slightly raising his eyebrows. He lowered his gaze momentarily to the boy trapped underneath his heel - "Looks like your prototypes can do a little more than just dance, doesn't it, Creator?"
As he watched, he saw a hint of amusement in Ryou's weary eyes.
"Guess you could say that."
And then, in a sudden burst of strength, he yanked on the boy's leg and flipped him on the ground in a wild display of clattering garbage cans and flying debris.
SQUAD boy barely had a chance to make a sound before he was buried in the makeshift avalanche.
Pulling himself away from the mess, Ryou sat up quickly, fighting an oncoming dizziness, and looked up to see Zakuro kneeling before him, offering a hand.
Amidst the blood and battle and vengeance, there was a smile.
"Looks like you got it back, boss."
He only chuckled, in a small, final display of amusement. "Must've been inspired."
But now, it was time to buckle down and get them all out of here. Alive.
"Stupid - little - brats!" Exalted, infuriated, Henrietta suddenly threw her two 'chains' to the ground and flew at Mizuki with a renewed rage.
Two snares of Mizuki's snake-like hair tendrils caught her by the shoulders and lifted her into the air.
"Look at you," Henrietta kicked, twisted, spat down at her with a snarl, "Defying nature. How admirable."
Mizuki's expression remained unchanging, though her eyes seemed to flash with something new; the air around the battlesuit clad machine seemed terrifying, powerful, relentless.
"I never claimed to be a part of nature."
Barely batting an eye, she swung the small girl against a brick wall, hard. No cry of pain or noise at all game from her; Henrietta's breath simply became heavier, more carnal, as she tightened her claw-like hands around the living hair that held her so high.
"You really think so," she rasped with a sneer, "don't you?" And she raised her knees, swinging for Mizuki's face.
Ichigo pushed, shoved, tried to beat the dark, enraged man away with her fists - he had caught her, with his violent anger out of control once again, and he caught every single one of her attempts, twisting her arms, making her cry out in agony.
He wasn't very fast, though, they soon discovered. Pudding came at at opening she could and always managed to make a hit - however ineffective it seemed.
Her tiny monkey fists were barely a match against his steely disposition.
Ichigo had given up on going for the stomach long ago - now she aimed for the face. But why'd he have to be so damn tall? She'd swat, he'd shift, and then somehow manage to redirect her so she nearly ran face first into a wall.
She caught herself this time, breathless, angry, and turned to see Salv boot Pudding off the leg she had been clinging to.
"Too good to hit a girl?" She whined, voice warbled from pain - but she focused, hoping to distract him long enough for her to get a better grasp of the situation; her eyes roamed quickly to take stock of everyone else. To make sure everyone else was still breathing –
Effortlessly, the great man sent the little Pudding rolling, and advanced on Ichigo with an air of fury and menace. She didn't have time to move before he had her cornered – his bulky hands shot out, pinning her against the cold brick wall by the shoulders. Ichigo could barely make a squeak, already feeling bruises beneath his mighty palms.
"Not if they're asking for it," his voice rumbled, sharp black eyes boring into hers.
It wasn't his strength that intimidated her exactly. Or his size. Or that hateful, wild expression. In fact she would have shot her mouth off again, had this close proximity not reminded her of a somehow similarly uncomfortable situation that had passed not too long ago – and she squirmed.
Wrong person, though.
"L-let go," she resisted, throat choking up.
Katwannggg.
A garbage can flashed in front of her eyes, smashing her captor hard across the back of his head, sending him down heavy in an instant.
Recoiling from the shock, Ichigo could only look up, breathless, to see that blonde boy standing before her, pale but powerful, knuckles white around the handles of a dented metal trash bin.
"Ichigo," Ryou could only say, shoulders heaving.
She could only stare back at him, her mouth suddenly incapable of moving. Then her vision spasmed, falling from his glorious face to the SQUAD man laying temporarily incapacitated on the ground.
And then, conveniently, Ichigo blacked out.
"Can you stand?"
Now to Mint, who was on the ground, bloody kneed, beside Lettuce, who was torn between treating the wound and running in to help with the battle.
It was Zakuro who had asked the question, now looking down at her with a stony expression.
Mint shrugged, somewhat cold despite the direness of the situation. "Bet you're regretting listening to me, huh," apparently carrying with her some of the bitterness of an earlier confrontation.
There was a moment of silence. The model then reached down, disregarding a fidget of protest, and scooped the injured girl up in her arms.
" Don't be stupid," she said, turning to glance at the fight between Wild Child and The Robot, "This is why we came. It's what we're here for."
When his limbs were cleared from the pile of junk, the SQUAD boy looked up and saw quite a few things happening.
Salv was down.
Henrietta was still fighting.
And that stupid, cocky guy – the hostage that somehow managed to pull a fast one on him – was yelling at the redheaded girl who had gone limp as a doll.
The SQUAD boy didn't find any humour in this as he normally would have. Instead, he just moaned, as if inconvenienced, and pushed himself up off the ground. Suddenly the muscles in his body clenched simultaneously as he nearly doubled over, suppressing a crawling flame that crawled up the walls of his stomach –
Shit. Not now!
There were too many of them. It would be impossible to get her in this setting.
But they had to.
They needed her.
Henrietta's kick connected with Mizuki's jaw, and suddenly the one who had held earlier advantage was now on the ground, a boot grinding into her face.
"Precarious bitch," Henrietta seethed, applying pressure. A crackling sound responded. "So they wrote your personality to keep you all alone, huh?" The creature-child burst into bitter laughter. "Even that was a failure. Military weapon my ass –"
Mid-chuckle, she was grabbed by inhumanly inflexible arms and flipped, hard, on to the cement.
"And you are all running around for something as petty as revenge," before she could react, Mizuki was up again, grabbing the smaller girl's face between her hands and holding it with unmoveable grip, "A very effective team, I would say."
That set off something in her eyes – a fierce power flared in the blood red irises as Henrietta grabbed the wrists holding her captive, digging her own nails into artificial skin. "Revenge?" The laughter in her voice did not translate to her expression. Her face was cold blood and murder. "This isn't a game anymore, Program. It's a race to survive."
Then, letting out a high, animalistic cry, Henrietta elbowed Mizuki's arm aside and socked her in the face, jerking up to knee her in the gut as if on reflex and throwing her several feet away in one mighty sweep.
Something tore when Mizuki hit the ground then. Flesh, faux flesh, she saw as she lay limp momentarily, senses jumbled. Circuits and wires and sparks lined the visible tear along her shoulder. The bones and blood of a weapon with a woman's face.
As she tried to rise, sparks flew, and her face flashed panic – the damaged arm suddenly jerked away from her, out of control, leaving her on the ground once more, suddenly helpless.
Another veil of sparks shot up, and beyond them she could see Henrietta's shadow, growing closer, broader, engulfing her weakened state as a precursor of predator on prey. Up higher, away from the ground, she perceived a toothy, wicked grin – and the eyes burning with anger and hunger as she stalked her injured prize, back arching, a hissy laugh escaping her lips in short and violent bursts.
There was nothing human about her at that moment. Nothing at all.
Resisting the warning going off in her head – retreat to infirmary. Retreat to infirmary. – Mizuki attempted to pull herself upright again with her good arm. The other, however, as if with a mind of its own, shot across and knocked away the support, leaving the fighting machine on her knees, almost motionless, essentially defenceless.
The laughing stopped, and Mizuki could only watch as the small girl before her crouched, ready to bounce, bearing sharp, tearing teeth, ready for the kill.
It was Lettuce who stopped her. Or – tried.
"Mizuki! Run-!" Heroism was cut short – Lettuce scarcely dashed forward as claws went slicing through air, batting her aside, hardly missing a jugular.
You're mine, Henrietta's maniacal expression screamed, and she darted at the machine with a starved growl.
"Ichigo!"
Fuzzy warm lights... no, cold. Sharp. Pain. Air rushed between her lips as Ichigo gasped, eyes fluttering open, exposed to a dizzy mess of shape and color and motion.
His face zoomed into focus first, dangerously nearby.
Her reaction was to shriek – or, in her current state, squeak and jerk backwards in retreat, only to know her head hard against the brick wall.
"Maybe you were safer unconscious," Ryou mumbled, somewhat put off.
Things settled down a bit in that red head of hers, and then she was finally able to see the situation with clear, realizing eyes. As if trying to gauge her potential injury and brain damage, he held up a hand.
"How many fingers?"
She just stared at him wordlessly.
"You're alive," Ichigo breathed.
Ryou raised an eyebrow at her.
"Pudding!"
"Hold on, na no da," she insisted, and delivered another swift kick to the SQUAD man's head. He growled, and she went running after Zakuro like a child fleeing the scene of a spill.
Mint and Lettuce, both mildly injured, both lay side by side, breathing laboriously as Zakuro attempted to assess their means in a makeshift warzone first-aid.
"Are you hurt?" She asked the girl who had just come running. Pudding shook her head, but her eyes darted immediately to the battle going on nearby, and then to the other two SQUAD members.
"I don't know how long they'll stay down, na no da..." The burly one called Salv was still on the ground, trying to move but struggling, and the smaller boy was doubled over, gasping for air. However many seconds they had to regroup, there weren't many.
And Henrietta had Mizuki cornered.
Mint grit her teeth and tried to sit up, only to have Zakuro gently force her back down again.
"We can't just sit here," Mint hissed, a mix of pain and anger seething into her voice.
"We can't transform," Zakuro reminded her, dark eyes flickering up to the hopeless scene before her. Pudding dropped to Lettuce's side and started petting her hair, trying to soothe the injury. "We're no better than sitting ducks."
Mint was silent, but kept her fists clutched in frustration. Zakuro paused for a moment, then took her hand and squeezed it.
"But we'll have an opening."
"You're alive," Ichigo repeated, all fear and wonder, and Ryou couldn't help but snort in response.
"Yes, I noticed. Now let's –" But before he could finish his sentence, she had thrown herself at him, face buried in his chest, arms clutching at him like he might disappear otherwise. And for a moment, he was so stunned he lost the skill of speech.
"I was so scared," Her voice barely came out, a whine, a rush of breath. The two of them stayed suspended there for a moment, a clumsy embrace, and Ryou found his arms curling around her, almost instinctively, like that was where they belonged –
- but he regained control of them and instead gently pulled her away and helped her to her feet. Ichigo stood, bewildered, appearing rattled until the reality of the situation dawned on her again. Her head shot around to the other end of the alley, where Mizuki was down and Henrietta was closing in on her.
Clarity came rushing back.
"What do we do?" She looked at Ryou, panic alight in her eyes.
He looked just as troubled. "I don't know," He confessed. "But we need to get her out of here. Now."
Henrietta bounded, letting out a shrill scream, an inhuman battle cry, as she dove at the defenceless Mizuki. The robot feebly shot an arm out to deter her path, but only gave the girl something to grab on to, to slam against the cement with a sickening crack. Sparks flew. Mizuki's back arched, her body a mangled, contorted mess, but no cry came from her lips, and her expression betrayed no pain.
But her eyes, Ichigo saw. Her eyes flashed with something else.
Fear.
Henrietta, now pinning the programmed warrior to the ground, let out a laugh that was disturbingly akin to a howl. She lowered her face so it was inches from Mizuki's and bared every single one of her far-too-canine teeth.
"How does it feel?" She growled, her sickening grin only growing with every breath, "To know you could be torn apart at any second? Invaded? Picked apart like a piece of worthless trash?"
Mizuki's body suddenly convulsed, a violent spasm that seemed to be a last-ditch attempt to fight back. Henrietta barely blinked, and her claws moved in a flash from Mizuki's arms to her skull, her knees now pinning her by the chest. Henrietta shrieked with sadistic joy.
"Tell me how it is! You were made to be perfect, and yet how is it I am about to destroy you?"
The onlookers could all only watch, frozen in helpless fear.
"Ha?" Shaking with mirth, the small but lethal SQUAD girl lifted her hands from her captive's face, and stopped short. Whatever emotion had been present in those icy artificial eyes was gone now. Instead, there was only coldness. A perfect mask.
Henrietta's smile faded, and she let out a frustrated huff. "Too bad," She mumbled, losing some of her ferocity. But her teeth still flashed in the dim light of the alley. Her hands slid down to Mizuki's collarbone, where she grazed the skin around the pendant with her deadly nails. "Looks like you don't experience emotion, after all. I would have liked to see you in some real pain."
A moment of hesitation. Ichigo shivered. Would she let her go?
That smile returned. "Oh well." And with one swift jerk of her arm, she gouged Mizuki's chest with her bare hands.
Sparks flew. A machinal shrieking filled the air. Ichigo screamed and tried to leap forward, only to be held back by Ryou. Mint's breath caught, and she squeezed Zakuro's hand harder. Lettuce cried out. Pudding's hands flew over her eyes.
Salv had made it to his knees to watch the carnage and let out a small chuckle. Then his eyes crawled over to the humans, now completely defenceless, wounded, and without a hope in the world.
Zakuro tensed, and began trying to gather the others to their feet. They would have to run, and they would have to run now. Mizuki was in the midst of being gutted, but they couldn't all meet that same fate. But with two seriously injured, and their powers effectively shut off –
Just as it seemed there was no hope of escape, something flashed across the attacker's eyes. His face suddenly contorted in pain, and within a moment he was doubled over again, heaving. Zakuro only wasted a moment wondering what had happened – in the next instant, she was shouting orders to Pudding, helping Mint and Lettuce up to their feet.
"What's going on?" Mint had seen, too. Not only the big one – the smaller boy, too, was still curled on the ground, struggling against something internal. "Pudding, what did you do to them?"
The smallest girl looked completely baffled as well, in the middle of supporting Lettuce as she woozily rose. "I didn't even touch that one, na no da," She protested.
Seconds later, just as Henrietta had dug deep enough into Mizuki's body to begin ripping wires, a spasm wracked the small girl's body and she let out a piercing cry, clutching desperately at her own chest.
It was only a moment, but it was all Ichigo needed to break free of Ryou and tackle Henrietta out of the way.
Henrietta cried out, slashing out at Ichigo's face as the two tumbled across the cement. Ichigo dodged and rolled off her just in time, but found she'd been winded, and couldn't move. The SQUAD girl slowly, painfully, peeled herself off the ground, still hunched over in agony, a terrible gurgling noise coming from her, blood-red eyes fixed on the unexpected attacker. Ichigo froze, still fighting for breath, and feebly held up her hands, tried to feel brave -
Five thick tendrils of hair shot up, knotting around each of Henrietta's appendages and leaving her bound and helpless. She barely even had it in her to struggle as Mizuki rose to her feet in a flurry of clicks and sparks, now a mess of torn wires and rent flesh. She raised Henrietta into the air and slowly approached her, staring the creature-girl straight in the eye with a renewed ferocity.
"I see you still do," Mizuki said, audibly struggling as differently programmed pitches and tones clashed in her voice. She reached up and put a single hand on Henrietta's chest. "Feel pain."
And with a small push, Henrietta was hurled against the brick wall, hard, sliding down into a motionless heap on the sidewalk below.
For a moment, everyone was still. Mizuki took a moment to fully observe her surroundings – her eyes flickered to Ryou, registered that he had been recovered safely – and with that confirmed, she turned towards the cowering Ichigo, who was now staring up at her in wonder.
Ichigo wasn't sure – she couldn't be even close to sure – but even with all the tears and rips in Mizuki's exterior, even with a nearly-gaping pit in her chest of exposed wires and machinery, it almost looked like the robot was smiling.
Mizuki extended a hand to help the girl up.
"MIZUKI!" Zakuro cried, a warning come too late. The robot's face suddenly froze, a blinding light going off in her eyes, and then extinguishing almost as quickly. Her knees buckled and she fell, limp, to the ground, revealing a small, suffering boy behind her, holding some sort of device in his hand, humming with electricity.
"Got her," He said, though still gritting his teeth in unexplained pain. Before anyone could do anything else, he dropped down, scooped the unconscious robot up, and barked out orders – "Salv! Grab Henrietta! We're out of here."
As it suddenly dawned on the others what was happening, some tried to move to action. Ichigo staggered forward but was easily kicked aside as the smallest boy, even with a human-weighted machine in tow, leapt off the side of a wall onto a ledge, then onto the roof. Ryou had gone for the bigger one, but was easily evaded – he, too, plucked a knocked out girl from the ground as if she were featherweight and leapt impossible distances, clearing the alley altogether.
And just like that, they were gone.
With Mizuki.
The silence haunted the alleyway, and somehow seemed even louder than the battle had been.
Ichigo was, again, the first to break the spell. She scrambled to her feet and took off down the alley, despite the half-hearted protests of those around her.
"Mizuki!" She called, her only response the sound bouncing back at her off the walls. Her response was to run faster, scream louder. "Mizuki!"
Ichigo ran around corners, past buildings, through passages, until she was on the sidewalk, faced with an empty street, a sea of silence. Breathing hard, she collapsed on to the pavement, hands pressed against the cold cement.
"Ichigo." Ryou spoke quietly, and when she turned she saw everyone had followed her, and were gathered there at the edge of the alley's entrance. She stared at him helplessly, nearly wheezing.
"She's gone," Ichigo stated the obvious, feeling like she was going to cry. Her eyes felt hot with frustration, anger, helplessness, bewilderment. Her body ached, her mind raced. "What are they going to do with her? We have to find her, they could—"
"I know," Ryou interrupted with gentle force. He stepped closer, moved to help her up. "But they could be anywhere. You saw how they moved."
"We can't just leave her with them! They'll –" 'Kill' wasn't right word, so what was? Maim? Dismantle? Destroy? "—they'll tear her apart!"
"I know," He spoke calmly, trying to keep his own distress under control, "They're gone, Ichigo. We don't know where. We need time to regroup—"
"We don't have time!" She snapped, immediately regretting it. Her body was finally calming down, but her mind kept racing as she stood to her feet. The world shifted and she nearly lost her balance, but Ryou stepped up to steady her.
"We need to get back," He spoke quietly, tenderly, so close to her that she felt her cheeks start to burn. What a stupid moment to feel embarrassed! "Everyone needs rest. We have to get Lettuce medical help."
When Ichigo looked up, she could see that her friend stood there, supported by two others, blood matting her seaweed green hair. The wounds couldn't have been too deep – a bad gash at most – but everyone, including Ryou, was battered and beaten, exhausted.
She could see that. Very clearly. But still –
"We just... we can't..." She clutched at Ryou more tightly, feeling again as if her knees might give out at any moment. Her eyes started to feel wet again. "...leave her alone..."
Ryou let out a small breath and squeezed her by the shoulders, bringing her in just a little closer so he could support more of her weight. "I know," He said one last time, "We'll take the night. We'll get back on our feet."
He hesitated, then reached down to brush some hair from her face, to look directly into her eyes. Again, Ichigo felt foolish, childish, for the rush it gave her to just be touched by him.
"And then we'll find her," he said slowly, pronouncing every word deliberately, never looking away, "I promise."
She searched his eyes. He meant it. She knew he did. And even though she wanted to do nothing more than scour the city, search every street, every rooftop and basement and cellar and doorstep, she knew none of them could go much longer. Not without rest. Not without treatment.
Not without their powers.
So Ichigo nodded and broke away from Ryou, walking on her own back to her friends to help.
And they all returned together. Broken, battered, and bruised – but together.
All hoping – silently, desperately hoping – that tomorrow would not be too late.
saving data... closing applications... system shut down.
