Author's Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to Burst Angel. Not mine!

Author's Note: Too long between updates….too, too long! I was working on my Burst Angel a/u, and that took up a lot of my time. That and school. School and work together will team up to finish you. I still love Burst Angel and I still love to write. Takeru is a made-up secondary character, but his name was taken from the Burst Angel manga, where he was the Kyohei-prototype. Dedicated to Inuskye my wifey. Love you, baby.

"Avenging Angel" chapter eleven

"The Battle brought within"

Huang, bared to the waist and covered with a fine sheen of sweat, pounded a punching bag within an inch of its career. The chain rocked steadily to the side from the weight behind his heavy fists and the bodyguard grunted. Beleaguered sweat ran into his dark eyes and he blinked. When the bag began to blur from the oil of his sweat, Huang clubbed his fist in a hard right punch. The chain clacked as half of its attachment to the ceiling unhinged. The bag tilted queasily to the side. The barest hint of a smile tugged beneath his large beard.

Chongkun sipped at a glass of ice water and watched his most dedicated bodyguard improve his body. He did so appreciate good help. He set his perspiring glass on an end table and stalked across the green mats. His fine leather shoes tugged slightly at the flooring but he made walking look an art. Huang scrubbed a meaty wrist across his brow, his dark bangs askew. Chongkun smiled and clapped him on his broad shoulder; just ever so briefly. Didn't want to get covered by sweat and all.

"Good job, Huang. You know I count on you," he smiled charmingly. Huang wasn't fooled. He knew Chongkun was more devious when he was smiling than frowning. He grunted noncommittally and picked up a damp t-shirt from the floor.

"What 'bout it, boss?" Huang asked shortly. He mopped his reddened face with the fabric. Chongkun straightened his tie and glanced down at his suit; still perfect.

"I just want you to see something. You asked me about my cousin's pet angel. Well, two can play at that game," Chongkun smiled cheekily. Huang slung the ratty shirt over his broad shoulder as he followed his employer out of the private gym. He could only imagine what Chongkun had in mind.

Huang looked around the control room he was led to and shrugged into his damp sweaty shirt at the sight of a young nurse. The pretty little thing flushed scarlet at the sight of his burly muscled torso, so he opted for the gentleman route. Chongkun already looked perfect, the bastard. The young woman simpered at the Bai Lan leader and bowed slightly. Chongkun cupped her cheek with a pale hand and laughed, bantering easily. Huang waited. Part of working for the young dragon was watching him waste his own time with flirting. It couldn't be helped.

He couldn't help sucking in the slight pouch of fat on the front of his stomach when the nurse sashayed by. Damn she smelled good. Sometimes his job pissed him off.

"Ah, here she is. Take a look, Huang," Chongkun pattered to the wall window and tapped on the glass. He was positively preening, as happy as any child with a straight A report card. Huang lurched closer to the slim young man, trying not to feel old, trying not to feel fat, and really, really trying not to feel like a trained dog. He growled somewhere inside.

The massively muscled man lifted a large hand to shade his view into the dimly lit room. The windowed wall didn't show much than a few oddly placed fluorescent lights and hard tiled floor. There were a few dark puddles on the white tiles and while Huang was pondering why, he saw pale white limbs. He blinked as Chongkun flipped a switch and intense lights pounded into the chamber. A girl was lying on the floor, curled up like a puppy. Her lean naked legs were pulled up to her chest. Huang noted her hair was an odd silver color, whiter than platinum blond and tied back in a loose braid that looped around her head on the floor. Her arms and legs were bare and though it had to be freezing on those tiles, the girl slept as deeply as if she were on tempur pedic.

"Hey, wake up. On your feet," Chongkun said dryly through a microphone. His voice reverberated throughout the brightly lit chamber. The girl slept on. Chongkun sighed and fiddled with a few knobs. Suddenly, the silver-haired girl sprang to her feet, screaming as if her hair was on fire. And Huang knew it had to do with the button his boss had just pushed. He raised an eyebrow as Chongkun lit a small cackle out from his under his breath. He shoved a hand through his dark hair and leaned against the control panel.

"Awake now, princess?"

"What do you want?" the young woman asked. Murder danced in her red orbs. Huang was a solid guard, and he could handle his own in a fight and had been in countless brawls….but even he was glad the protective glass was between them and the silver-haired beauty.

Chongkun waved a finger in the air, silently tsking her. "I want to see some of your fighting moves. Assume a stance and begin."

Huang watched as the braided girl assessed the slim young Chinese man and reluctantly fell into a stance, left knee forward. Her punches and kicks were flawless, her kata form perfect. Huang had to admit, she was gorgeous.

But she was behind glass in a locked chamber; effectively behind bars. Who was she and why was she locked away?

Chongkun's next sigh of words answered his unspoken question. "She is wonderful, isn't she? The remaining warrior of a hidden program. That, Huang-san, is the last Genocide Angel. Well, one of two. You know about the other, don't you?"

Chongkun laughed as a cold trickle of sweat poured from Huang's temple. He remembered reckless abandon and fiery red eyes. That girl had been unstoppable. Nothing could stop her assault. Only a sucker strike to her rear had disabled her advance and only momentarily.

"Yeah but, where'd you find her?" What was a Genocide Angel? Huang didn't like the sound of that. Chongkun propped his chin on his fist as the girl gave a front flip, then a fancy back flip. Damn.

"Being nursed back to health by peasant fishermen off the coast. My cousin can keep hers, I found the other. We'll see how it goes down, huh?" Chongkun fiddled with the doctor's pens and tapped the glass. "Attention, Maria. You can stop."

The girl stopped fluid movement and stood as straight as an arrow. Her bare fists lay against her thighs.

"Why do you call her an angel? She looks like a demon," Huang gruffly muttered. Red eyes watched him without blinking. Chongkun laughed and played with the pretty nurse's paperwork left behind. He scattered the paperwork arrogantly; it was going to be a real mess for the medical staff to clean up. Bastard.

"Oh that is a pet name the original programmers made. I assume it's to indicate a private joke. There is nothing heavenly about the destruction they cause," Chongkun tapped a stray paper against the pile, and let it slip through his fingertips to fall to the floor. Huang glanced down at it then back into the brightly lit room.

The young woman Maria stood stock still, staring at them. Huang felt a cold shiver spread over his sweat-soaked skin. The hairs stood up on his broad arms but he wouldn't rub warmth into them. Not when another warrior was watching. And she WAS watching him.

Huang made himself stand still at attention until Chongkun was done playing around with the doctor's things. "Shall we go, Huang?" he asked.

Huang made himself return Maria's gaze without blinking. Finally he turned toward the slimmer man. "Yeah…."

The two men turned to leave and he didn't look back.

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Takane and Meg walked down the steel hallway, laughing about something unimportant when they almost tripped over someone. Someone loitering outside the door to the gym, actually. Meg and Takane stopped, faltered and stared at each other. They finally shrugged and Takane poked the young man in the shoulder.

"Hey!" she yelled to get his attention. He was really out of it. "What in tarnation are ya'll starin' at, boy?"

Meg waited, hand on slim hip. The boy pushed up to his full height and swept a nervous hand through his dark hair. He was one of Sei's young Bai Lan boys, a distant cousin of a cousin or something like that. His name was Baojia if she could recall. There was just so many of Sei's relatives around!

"Sorry, Takane! It's just, well, her!" Baojia gestured to the doorway. Takane cracked her knuckles and made a show of ambling forward.

"Hey, what do we have here…." She drawled. Baojia grabbed her arm and dragged her back.

"Quiet, she'll hear you!" he hissed, his face reddening. Takane peered into the gym and laughed.

"If Jo heard ya hollerin' like that, she'd kick yer ass," she confided. She winked at Meg who snickered. Oh boy, this kid was in for it.

"Why are you watching her, anyway?" Meg asked. She leaned on Baojia's shoulder companionably and peered into the doorway. Jo was doing her best impression of John Wayne, staring down an invisible opponent. She flew into a frenzy of motion suddenly, punching and kicking this way and that. Baojia flinched when she drew both desert eagles from her holsters and fired several shots at a sketchy target painted on the far wall. Several bullet holes dotted the blackened outline of a man. Meg licked her lips, watching Jo's taut muscles stretch across her shoulders. Her tattoo pulsed and shimmered. When the silver-haired girl swiped a wrist across her shining brow, gun still in hand, Baojia gulped. Her small breasts were obviously unbound and moved against the stretched fabric of her black tank top. Takane watched the boy watching Jo and turned to Meg and shrugged.

Oh well, if Meg wasn't pissed off someone was ogling her woman, so be it.

"It's just…you saw that, right? She's amazing!" Baojia grinned, and you could see how young he was. A year or two younger than Meg or Jo themselves, and much greener. Meg sighed. At least Jo's ass was out of sight, as she was clad in knee length black shorts. Sei had asked her to wear a little bit more clothes around her gang, and apparently Jo had deigned to obey for a change.

"Yeah, she sure is. Hey, wanna spar with her?" Meg grinned. Baojia turned pale.

"Uhm…well….maybe not…." He stammered but Takane and Meg each grabbed an arm and marched him into the gym. "I said maybe not!"

"Who is that?" Jo asked simply, red eyes taking in the stripling. Meg dropped Baojia's arm and leaned against his back, keeping him in place.

"One of Sei's cousins, I think. He was plastered to the door watching you just now," Meg told Jo matter-of-factly. Jo's red eyes pierced Baojia and she flipped a desert eagle between her fingers.

"Really…."

"I didn't mean anything by it, Jo, I was just…" Baojia began to sweat. Jo pressed the barrel of the gun toward him and smiled slowly.

"Take it easy on im, now, Jo!" Takane laughed. She knew Jo would never harm an innocent. She had altered her programming for that much at least. So she and Meg milled around the gym, watching the exchange. Jo sheathed her desert eagle and slammed the boy into the mat.

"Will, he DID want a match I think…" Meg muttered. Baojia screamed as his shoulder struck at a harsh angle. For his credit, he fought back to grapple for position. Jo easily subdued him beneath her. Baojia kept his arms on the mat.

"Okay I give!" he pleaded. Jo jumped off and ambled toward Meg. Meg slung an arm around her slim waist as Baojia gawked. So it was THAT way.

"Don't take it so hard, kid, Jo's taken," Takane rolled back and forth on her stomach on an exercise ball. Baojia rolled onto his side and probed his shoulder with one hand.

"I'm sorry…" he offered.

"Aw, that's okay, you didn't know I guess," Meg simpered. She looked up into Jo's face. Jo's face remained impassively stoic.

Sei clapped as she walked into the gym. Mr. Wong and a bookend of tall guards in suits followed her. "You can spar with my underlings, Jo, just don't damage them," she reminded. Jo's mind twitched as she slowly nodded.

"I know," she said simply. Meg watched Sei's eyes twinkle. Baojia sprang to his feet and jogged to his second cousin. Sei touched his shoulder and smiled.

"What have I told you about intruding on others?" Sei asked. Baojia shrugged, his face red.

"Pleasantries aside, we need to discuss matters," Mr. Wong smiled politely. Baojia bowed to him and his cousin and trotted out of the gym. Meg snickered at his hasty retreat.

"I wouldn't laugh, Meg, we're in deep shieut," Takane twanged. She rolled off the exercise ball and climbed to her feet. "The police alone are lost. And Daddy left me a message. I'm sunk as far as the force goes."

Sei's eyes narrowed in concern. "You were fired, Takane?"

Takane shrugged but you could tell the news rankled her spirits. "In so many words, Sei…. I just hope you got use for me."

"I won't put you to pasture," Sei smiled. Jo and Meg looked at each other.

"When are we leaving this place?" Jo asked directly. Meg laid a hand on her holster. Her anticipation tingled, much like Jo had to feel all the damn time.

"Soon. Chongkun's been dipping into the family's inheritances, and I can't allow him to keep going as he is," Sei sighed. Mr. Wong patted her hand.

"The true followers of Bai Lan know who the head dragon is. It will turn out alright," Mr. Wong said.

"And be that as it may, we need to get moving or my cousin may think he is allowed to act the way he has," Sei said. Steel lined her words and Meg raised an eyebrow. Jo looked as impassive as ever, but fire radiated from her eyes. So it would be battle. Finally. Her limbs ached, her body sang, soon she would be allowed to fly into holy retaliation….

Takane looked around at the group. "Shouldn't we be holed up making battle plans? This isn't the place for it."

"You'll find this facility is well protected. Our words won't carry to unwanted ears," Sei said. She took Wong's proffered arm and led the way. Meg didn't take Jo's arm, but she let her fingers take Jo's digits. Jo's callused fingers clasped hers and Meg felt safe.

Baojia jogged away from his cousin and her retinue, past a young Chinese man in his twenties. His black suit clung to him like a glove and he leaned against the wall, watching. And listening. Chongkun had been paying him under the table for several weeks now, and any word he could glean from Sei's lips, he was paid handsomely for. And one had to admit, you could use all the money you could get in this shallow world.

The young Bai Lan man smirked and pushed off the wall. His way was impeded three hallways down by two of the syndicate. They were dressed in traditional Chinese tunics, portraying their rank in Bai Lan. They were privy to the more elusive secrets of the syndicate, and guarded the leaders cherished by the emperors of the past. In essence, they were the shadow warriors that guarded the head dragons. The young guard's smirk died slowly on his lips. Usually no one saw them out and about in the open; they had so much to do and in secrecy that to see one of their rank meant….

"Guh!" the man grabbed his throat as seeping redness flooded his neck and flowed beneath his shirt collar. Wetness spread and his fingers grasped uselessly against the knife protruding from his neck. He looked down in utter surprise before his legs gave way. The two men in tunics caught his twitching form and bore him away, ignoring the river of blood they left in their wake.

After all, their job was to kill. Not clean up the mess.

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"Get on in here, Meg!" Leo crowed. Meg gasped as she scampered into the hangar. Jo followed at a more sedate pace. Django knelt, impassive, in the corner. His silver plating gleamed under the lights. But polished red limbs caught their attention. Leo thrust a thumb over his shoulder, teeth showing in a grin. A second mech knelt hunkered down in a resting state. It had a similar shape to Django with a similar triangular head and height. In all regards, it was an almost identical design. Coming from Django's creator, it wasn't surprising. The color definitely was though.

"Red? I love it!" Meg laughed. She ran a gloved hand fondly over the mech's foot. Her gloves matched the plating. She shifted her cigarette to her other hand and drew a long drag. Tilting her head back, she blew a steady stream of smoke up at her new machine. Jo watched her fondly, her heart twisting oddly. Meg was advancing. She was moving into her own. She wondered if she could keep up.

"When do I get to try 'er out?" Meg asked. Leo gestured to the cockpit of the red steel beauty.

"Right now. Take your coat off, you'll need some room. And it might get a little hot," Leo advised. Meg shucked her black leather trench and folded it, tossing it half-haphazardly to the floor. In her skin tight blouse and jean skirt, she looked beautiful and ready. Jo sat cross-legged on the floor and fished for a sucker. Finding one in her coat pocket, she ripped the cover off and chomped down. She hunched her face into the folds of her scarf as Leo instructed Meg how to open the cockpit and showed her the basic controls. Meg drew on her cigarette and flicked it to the ground. Leo stomped a boot down on the live cigarette and crushed it out.

Leo's assistant, a bearded young man in a blue jumpsuit, looked up from the red mech's foot, calling advice along with his employer's instructions. Leo looked down at the young man and laughed.

"Come on, Takeru, calm down! I know you helped me build 'er from the ground up, but Meg's got this!"

"Yeah, I got this. But thanks for the vote of confidence," Meg leaned up out of the cockpit and flashed a grin. Takeru flushed and grinned ackwardly. Jo raised an eyebrow at the exchange. She didn't know Leo's underlings were getting familiar with the upper scenery.

Leo hopped down from the red mech and stood side by side with Takeru. Jo stood up, the open folds of her red coat flapping in the wake of wind brought on by the mech's movements. Leo smiled down at the silver-haired girl. Jo's red eyes intently followed the red mech as Meg moved it forward step by careful step. "She's good," Jo observed.

Leo nodded, his eyes darting behind his glasses at his second masterpiece. "She watched you plenty, didn't she? I had this idea for a time to make but didn't have time to….you know, before we got here."

"Meg told me you were lying in a puddle of your own misery while she was doing all the work," Jo said offhand. Takeru looked curiously at her as Leo scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Well we're here now. And we're gonna stay," Leo said. Sei's naked back gleamed in his mind's eye and he smiled slowly. Definitely here to stay. If only he could get her to relax a bit more with him….her grandfather had placed too much on her. "Anyways, Jo, you might want to…."

Alarm bells sounded and red lights flashed all over the hangar. The sirens were deafening. Leo and Takeru looked here and there while Meg made her mech kneel awkwardly down. She was still clearly getting the hang of it. Jo waved a hand at her and raced to the end of the hangar where Django knelt dormant and waiting. Jo clambered up expertly to the shoulder where she tapped a code into a hidden panel in the neck. Django's head opened and she jumped inside, tapping the controls to reclose her pod. The security bar lowered over her chest and Jo grinned as she slid her gloved hands into the control panels.

Jo tapped a code into her control panel and static crackled right into her ears. "How you doing, Meg?" she asked. A small monitor to her right snapped to life and Meg's worried smile filled the screen.

"I'm okay! Still getting the hang of it," Meg said. Her bare shoulders shone with a fine sheen of perspiration and Meg moved her control toggles with an intense look on her face. The red mech across the hangar stood back up and Jo moved Django closer towards it. Django's hand lifted and reached out to the red mech. Takeru blinked, his dark eyes serious. The two moved as closely together as if they weren't encased in steel and alloy. The bearded young mechanic thought Leo's friends were extremely attractive, but it was apparent in the glimpses he saw of them that they were more than tied at the hip. Now he backed up as Meg moved her red mech awkwardly toward Django. Jo turned Django to the end of the hangar and Meg followed suit in her red.

Meg was having a time keeping up as she hunched over the toggle controllers. Beads of sweat rolled beneath the straps of her tank top and slicked her skin. Leo wasn't kidding about it being hot; he might have installed some form of cooling system to aid the beleaguered pilot, but he hadn't told her where the on switch was. Sweat beaded down her brow and Meg shrugged a bare shoulder up and leaned her cheek against it to rub some of the perspiration off. Django held his hand up and gave her the thumb's up.

Leo was across the hangar, talking to Sei. She had her hair pinned up, and clenched her cane. She wasn't armed but the Bai Lan in full riot armor beside her shouldered rifles and more than made up for her own lack of weaponry. Sei gestured and one of the soldiers offered two handguns to the bearded mechanic. He grinned and held one in either hand, locked and ready to go. Takane emerged from the small hallway, wooden katana propped against one shoulder.

"Alright, girls, get ready!" Leo yelled. Through the speakers, both Meg and Jo could hear his shout. Takeru backed up with the other soldiers and shielded his brow with one hand, looking up at them. Sei gestured and the group moved off down the hall. Jo understood and moved toward the large hangar doors, large enough to permit her exit with the mech. Meg made to follow. She was still faltering with her mech's gait and tried to straighten herself.

"Ready for what? What's he talking about, Jo?" Meg asked through the mech's communicator. Jo's red eyes pierced through the small screen.

"Battle, Meg. Something's coming our way. Sei doesn't call in her big guns for a stroll," she said lowly. She made Django pull one of his large guns out of a holster on the mech's side. Meg gulped, and moved her mech's hands, searching for weapons.

"Wait, I don't have any guns!" she said, panicked. Django gestured to her side and Jo smiled through the screen.

"Click that large green button to your left," she said. Meg turned and searched, locating the green button indicated. She pushed it and heard a loud 'WHICK!' erupt from below, near her mech's waist. Django gestured again with one hand toward his own waist and Meg moved her mech's hand to retrieve a protruding gun extending from a panel in her mech's hip, large and tailored for the machine's hand. She allowed a reckless grin when her own mech displayed his own weapon.

"Is it loaded?" she asked Jo through the communicator. Jo nodded, silver bangs flopping.

"Leo would never leave you in the lurch, Meg. Come on…. It's time you learned battle up front and personal in your own machine," she said.

"Jo, I'm scared," Meg admitted. Excitement was chewing up her insides and the urge to pee was strong. She'd be safe inside the mech from gunfire, but what if she couldn't learn in the heat of the moment?

"I'll protect you, Meg. Just stay at my side," she ordered. Meg laughed.

"Where have I heard that one before?" she asked. Jo tapped a finger against the lens of her communicator; her large finger filled Meg's screen on her end.

"Just listen to me sometime," she said. The two mechs walked out of the end of the hangar toward gunfire and Meg felt sweat drench the space between her breasts.

Chinese men in grey camouflage swarmed outside the hangar and Meg grit her teeth as she moved up beside Jo. They moved forward.

End for now

End notes: Yeah it's been awhile on this one. I had half it written in January but a lot of things kept coming up. School, a new job, stress. And my other story. Darn that other story :P Hope anyone still reads this. Please review, it only takes a second!

Sincerely, penpaninu 8/11/12