Ride of the Valkyries
Part 2
Sano looked out a crack in the boarded window of the safe house where he stood guard, as the engine of an old sounding vehicle came to a stop at their door. It was the middle of the day and it had to be well over 100 degrees outside. It was hot and stuffy in the house too but there had been fighting in the streets earlier this morning. The new warlord was still trying to assert control over his new territory. It was calm now but they kept the doors and windows barricaded just in case.
'Night to the rescue! The guys were quick!' Sano thought as he signaled that it was ok to open the door when he recognized the sharp pair of eyes that glared straight at him for a second from outside. It had been about 15 hours since he dropped Ben and Roy off at the foot of the mountains.
"Wait for him to knock," Sano called to Eric. Night hopped off an old heavily patched up pickup brimming with confidence. Acting big was necessary in this region and no one could do big better than Night! Several men that Sano recognized as part of the new local regime, were talking animatedly with him. He didn't know the language but Aoshi had finally shuffled up to the window and began translating. Night sauntered over to the back of the truck to pull down the back door on the pickup.
"They're trying to get him to sell his slave…that doesn't sound right…maybe I heard wrong," Aoshi said frowning with uncertainty. He shook his head and shuffled away. He picked up his swords and watched the door, breathing heavily, his eyes slightly unfocused. Sano looked at his friend with a worried frown on his face. Aoshi had not slept or eaten much. He had run a fever through the night just like Hiei. Hiei was off and on unconscious and though their fevers had broken neither was doing so great.
He watched Night talk some more with his new "friends" as he motioned for someone to come out from the back of the pickup with a conceited look on his face. Shrouded in all black, as the women of this region always were, a woman started moving down from the cargo area of the pickup. She struggled to get off the truck and Night – usually very chivalrous – ignored her. Once she was off she began unloading some old suitcases. Sano could not see her face shrouded in black clothes as she was. He realized now that Aoshi hadn't heard wrong. He wondered where Night had picked up this poor woman.
'He must've found her somewhere in the mountains and offered her a job,' Sano thought Even though he realized that Night had no choice but to act as the men in this region do, he was still not liking the way this poor woman was being treated. Night finally took notice of her once she had the bags out of the truck and at his feet. Sano realized that the woman wasn't short, she was hunched over with a big hump sticking out of her back. Sano clenched his teeth with anger at the scene playing outside. Night bent down at eye level with her and made some hand signals to her then turned away from the woman and laughed at something one of his new buddies said.
Rage and sorrow battled inside him as he watched the poor woman shuffle away from Night with the large, heavy looking bags. She had one leg twisted inward which made her gait look painful and uneven. He called for Eric to open the door as the woman came near it. She shuffled in without a sound and placed the two heavy looking bags in the center of the room. The door stood open, Eric and Sano exchanged sad and horrified looks.
It was impossible to tell whether the woman was old or young. She stood very still, her eyes were the only thing visible. She had a glassy, vacant stare and her left hand shook involuntarily. The hump on her back looked huge on her tiny hunched over frame. Her feet were wrapped in the same black cloth material with an old pair of leather sandals strapped over the material wrapping her legs. Her feet were large, lumpy and misshapen. His heart constricted with sorrow for this poor woman and whatever horror had led to her condition. He glanced at Eric and then at Aoshi who was sitting in the far side of the room at a little table and saw the same pain on their faces that he was feeling.
Night finally strode in and quickly moved to examine the safe house. He signaled Eric to close and lock the door. It was nothing more than a small earthen shack. It had one small bedroom where Hiei and Aoshi slept, a little cooking area and a large open room that was serving as sleeping quarters. The main room had a loft just over the door where Kumar and the other boys slept. The boys kept watch from the loft through a small opening.
The main door opened into this area. Night went to Sano's window and watched for his new buddies to leave. He didn't say a word to Sanosuke as he called an instruction to Kumar in his native language on the loft. He then moved from room to room making sure all the windows were covered completely. Once Kumar called down to him what Sano deduced was a clear signal Night relaxed a little.
"We're clear!" he brusquely said in English still scanning the room. What happened next felt like it happened in slow motion. The disfigured tiny woman grew several feet and with one quick motion she ripped the black shroud from her and threw it on the ground. Sano's mouth hung open.
Tokio – dressed in desert camouflage and armor – now stood in the spot where the little woman had been.
There was a fierce, determined look on her face, a little shaft of light from a little hole on the roof fell on her face and, for a moment, it seemed to Sano as if she was glowing. He blinked hard and looked towards Eric. Eric's mouth hung open, no sound came from him. The little surprised murmurs from Kumar and his boys brought him back to the present. She turned away from the light and Sano now realized that the hump was actually a curved back pack; the lumpy feet were Velcro strapped covers that concealed her slim hiking boots. She quickly took them off then turned to where Aoshi was sitting. His eyes wide with shock.
She bent down to pick up a dumbstruck Aoshi from his chair calling for someone to bring her the suitcases into the bedroom. Sano was too shocked by the fact that Tokio was here in this nightmarish place that he didn't hear the instruction at first.
"Sano! The suitcases!" she yelled at him. Finally Sano reacted…
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"That must've been quite the shock to see her there," Seto commented amused by how Tokio had blindsided all of them.
"Oh yea! We were all a bit hysterical for a few minutes there until Night brought the hammer down on us," Sano added shaking his head as he remembered that moment.
"I saw Tokio-dono walk into the room where I was talking care of Hiei and I could not believe it," Kenshin began. He was so shocked to see her that Tokio had to shake him hard to get him to start doing what she said.
"We expected Nightraven to come for us and maybe bring some of his people from Baharavia with him but we never in a million years expected Tokio to be the person he would bring," Aoshi added. Misao smiled at him.
"But anyone who knows Tokio is not really that surprised that she volunteered to go," Misao added. She explained that the real shock to them was that Night would let her go. Aoshi nodded.
"He is protective of her but he never stops her from being herself and doing whatever she feels is right. I've learned that since then. He helped her train for boot camp when she signed up for the Air Force even though I know he didn't want her to go into the military," added Aoshi. It was Anzu's turn to comment.
"You know…from what I can see… I don't think it was that much of a stretch that Tokio would come for you. She's a true friend and as soon as she knew you were in trouble she would've wanted to come," Anzu pointed out.
"Yep! And that damn wolf never lets us forget it! Drives me crazy! Damn wolf!" Sano grumbled angrily. Misao and Kaoru laughed as Aoshi now took up the thread of the story before Anzu could get carried away with a friendship speech. He explained that once Tokio was taking care of Hiei, he dramatically improved.
"But it was a very tense two days for us. We had to be careful that she was not discovered and Night made some forays out to re-supply our hideout which made things even more tense while he was gone," Aoshi continued the story…
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Aoshi tested the new bandaging on his wounds by moving around a bit. The stitching on his leg and the other cuts and bruises were healing very well and he was feeling much stronger now. But Tokio had advised him not to push himself or put too much strain on his leg. He was being careful to follow her instructions and even though he took turns at watch now, he made sure to remain seated and use one of the rifles Night procured for them.
Hiei was doing a lot better but it would be weeks before he could hike his way through the mountains back to safety. They did not have weeks; that much Night had said. Tokio told him that she just needed two days to set his wounds properly and stabilize him enough for a flight back to Valeria. Night had agreed and journeyed out with Kumar and his boys to do recon or acquire food and water.
Kumar and his boys took an instant liking to Night and hung on his every word. Night even managed to recruit a few more boys. They were fascinated by Night's ability to build almost anything they needed out of seemingly useless junk. And they were in awe of his talent for talking officers into giving him what he wanted. Night had smuggled some key components for a radio in one of the suitcases. The pieces had been hidden in toys that he took apart to get the pieces out. He reassembled the toys and distributed them among Kumar and his boys. He was able to re-establish contact with Shuura and give her regular updates.
"Here they come," Aoshi announced to Eric who was almost always guarding the door. Night was back from another recon and supplies expedition. Night had taken Kumar and the boys as always. There was a base about 20 miles north where they could fly out from but the jeep needed gas. Night explained that Shuura was going to fly his Huey in through the Stone Giant pass but first he'd have to knock out the SAMs that prevented Shuura from flying to their rescue.
"It's no good. I'm going to have to go in alone," Night growled angrily. He called everyone to gather around him. He was always angry when he spoke to Aoshi and the others. He couldn't really blame Night. Every minute Tokio spent here, the danger to her increased exponentially. How Tokio kept so calm and was even able to make light cheerful conversation with everyone - was a mystery to him!
A random inspection from the new warlord's thugs had happened this afternoon. It had been the tensest five minutes of his life! Tokio had put her disguise back on quickly and pretended to be sweeping the floor as the rest of the boys lounged around. Night had made them alternate hiding places for their weapons and their stashes of food and water were made safe too. For a second he thought Sano was going to lose it when one of the thugs grabbed Tokio by the shoulder and started to shake her and push her around the room, the man and his compatriots laughed and pushed her too as they joined in the impromptu game of Toss Tokio. Tokio flailed about comically, pretending that she was having trouble keeping her balance.
Night pretended not to notice the game at first as he chatted with the patrol leader. Tokio flailed dramatically and suddenly fell to the ground and that was when Night moved. He grabbed the young man who was abusing Tokio by the arm and slammed his arm onto the table. He pulled out a large serrated hunting knife and began to saw at the man's wrist. The man began screaming and begging to be spared, he tugged at his arm with his whole body trying to free himself but couldn't budge himself even an inch.
Night told him he was within his right to defend his property and the other men with him were so terrified of Night's strength that none tried to stop him as they watched. The patrol leader begged promising to give him anything he asked if Night would show mercy. Night stopped sawing and Aoshi noticed right away that the cut wasn't very deep.
The man was so terrified of Night's strength that he promised anything to appease him. Night yelled at him that he could've damaged his property and threatened his livelihood and told him he would cut off his and his buddies' fingers instead because he was well within his rights to do so. But after a few threats Night managed to get them to promise him some gasoline for the jeep in exchange for his mercy and for not telling their superiors.
He was amused as he remembered Tokio teasing Night for getting blood on the table. She was completely unaffected by the awful visitors. It seemed obvious to him now that the two of them had planned the whole thing to extortion what they needed out of the patrols. Night had laughed but everyone else merely stared at Night and Tokio in awe. Night had gone tonight to get the promised gas. While he was there he was going to try and get information on the base that guarded the Stone Giant pass.
"The base has been re-enforced with weapons salvaged from Kanryu's factory! The previous warlord of this region made his escape to that base. He recruited Kanryu's men and hijacked the shipments that managed to escape from Kanryu's factory. So he has plenty of ammo and a lot of brand new weapons now to train and fight with," Night growled shooting a glare at Aoshi.
He sunk in his little makeshift stool and looked down at the weapon in his hands. Night was right to be mad; his sensei had advised him to be patient. That instead of attacking the factory, he should attack the supply lines, find the secret roads and take out the convoys. She had insisted that the general instability of this region guaranteed that it would not be long before Kanryu was no longer welcome in that region. She had counseled patience but he had not listened.
'I saw all the signs…I should have listened,' Aoshi thought. But he didn't because for years Kanryu had managed to ingratiate himself to every warlord. No matter how many times ruling of the region switched hands, Kanryu's factory survived. He was certain it would never change, but his sensei knew that wouldn't always be the case.
He listened quietly as Night explained that he would disable the SAMs. Then return to the rest of the group who would be in hiding nearby. Shuura would be able to fly over the base in his Huey without the danger of the missiles and pick them up. He went to Sano and told him it would be his duty to keep Tokio safe.
"In fact, I am appointing you to do nothing else and think of nothing but Tokio's safety from now until we get stateside! Got it!" Night growled at him. Sano agreed without hesitation.
"I haven't thought of anything else since she got here!" Sano shot back looking almost hysterical. Sano was extremely stressed out, Aoshi worried that he didn't seem to sleep very well. Tokio's safety was important to all of them but Aoshi knew she was tough and had already demonstrated she could handle the environment better than they could. But her being here stressed Sano the most.
"See, I told you not to worry about me," Tokio said softly. Hiei was up out of bed and managed to join the meeting with Tokio propping him up. He looked pale still but far better than he had been two days ago. He managed a weak smile.
"Good! I'm gonna be busy taking out the SAMs. The rest of you will wait, there's a junkyard not far from the base where you can hide until Shuura arrives. We'll leave before dawn so everyone get some sleep, the boys are gonna watch tonight," Night ordered. There was absolute finality in his tone so Aoshi got up from his seat and handing over his rifle, he let Kumar take his spot.
Tokio took the other cot in the room after she helped Hiei back into his cot. Sano marched into the bedroom after them. He sat on the floor with his head curled in his arms on the edge of the cot where Tokio was sleeping. She squeezed his hand and smiled reassuringly at him, then closed her eyes. Aoshi curled himself up on the floor outside the bedroom door, guilt and fear gnawing at him.
"It's going to be alright, that it is," said Kenshin to him softly. Aoshi looked at him and Kenshin gave him an encouraging smile. He was sitting just inside the room next to the door.
"Yea, no worries…I promise I'll read Lord of the Rings or at least The Hobbit when we get back!" Eric added with a smirk.
"And perhaps we can ask Sensei if we can watch The Maltese Falcon or Casablanca in her private movie theater room," Aoshi added.
"That would be pretty sweet!" Eric replied eagerly.
"Count me in," Hiei called out from his cot.
"Oh, I'd like to see that; that I would!" added Kenshin cheerfully.
"Me too!" called out Tokio from her cot.
"Me three…fellow nerds," he added in a teasing tone getting a couple of chuckles from his friends.
"You idiots survive tomorrow and we can watch them at my house in Valeria," Night added with a slight teasing tone in his voice.
"Superman to the rescue!" said Eric as everyone chuckled and promised to make it through tomorrow…
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"Hey quick! Before Sano comes back!" Mai suddenly interrupted the story telling motioning for everyone to gather around her. Sano had gotten up to go to the restroom just a minute ago. Mai scrolled quickly through her phone. She got up moved towards the center of the group. Curious, Seto followed suit. Misao encouraged Mokuba to get up and look too. Aoshi and his friends guessed what Mai was up to.
"I bet you guys are wondering why Sano calls Tokio - Sis - and why he gets so over protective of her," Mai said but without waiting for an answer she showed them all a picture. A cute little boy of about seven or eight years old, with spiky black hair, wearing a set of light blue pajamas smiled mischievously towards the camera.
"Awwww, its Sano when he was like...what….eight maybe?" Anzu replied smiling at the picture. Mai smirked mischievously and scrolled to the next picture.
"Now look again…" Mai said. Seto squeezed in with the others. The picture now showed the same little boy in the blue pajamas with two little girls. One looked like she was about 5 years old the other looked to be about 12. Anzu looked confused now. She did not recognize the little girls on the picture and began to ask who they were but Seto did recognize one of them.
"That's Tokio! That must be Tokio's brother, not Sanosuke!" Seto realized surprised.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!" Mai announced laughing.
"Oh wow…he looks exactly like Sano," Anzu said shocked.
"Now that's a little bit creepy," Jou added. Seto didn't say anything but he couldn't help but agree.
"That's why she trusted Sano right away…he didn't just resemble Sojiro, he looked exactly like her brother!" Seto realized turning his head to Aoshi for a second then turning back to look at the picture once more.
"Someone's paying attention," Mai teased poking Seto in the shoulder again. Mai scrolled through a few more pictures and without Tokio in the picture it would've been impossible to tell that it wasn't Sano in the picture.
"I know this will up the creepy factor but Sojiro-kun passed away when he was eight years old," Kenshin pointed out solemnly.
"Sano's parents died when he was eight!" Anzu blurted out looking surprised and horrified. Her friends turned to her as she explained her family adopted him because his mother's family hated him and they did not want him. Just like Tokio…
"Oh that is very creepy," Bakura said softly as he stared at the picture along with his friends.
"That's what the wolf says," Sano added startling Anzu and her friends with his sudden appearance. Seto managed to hide his surprise. He prided himself on his situational awareness but Sano moved so quickly and quietly he had not heard him approach at all.
"Damn you were fast!" Honda exclaimed.
"I'm a marine…how long do you think I was gonna take, kid?" Sano replied with a touch of arrogance in his tone. Everyone returned to their seats.
"You guys should really ask the Wolf about it. He's thought about it more than me," Sano said re-taking his seat next to his teacher. Seto added it to the list he was building of things he would ask Hajime and Tokio one day.
"So did we get to the part when Sensei shows up yet?" Sano asked, it was obvious he really didn't want to dwell on the subject. That's why Mai had waited until he had stepped away to tell them. Seto added that to the list as well. The more he learned, the more it seemed that questions popped up.
'But they keep encouraging me to talk to Tokio and Hajime, interesting…' Seto thought as Aoshi continued.
"I was just getting there. Sensei showed up just about an hour before dawn," Aoshi began. He smirked for a second as he recalled that moment.
"She showed up dressed like Linda Hamilton's character in Terminator 2," he chuckled amused as he continued…
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It was still dark when Aoshi awoke. A soft familiar voice talking to Night had woken him. A woman spoke to him in hushed urgent tones. His sensei had arrived during the night no doubt to help get them out. He felt ashamed at the thought of his teacher having to drop what she was doing to fix his screw-up. He could not understand the language they spoke, he wondered if he ever would learn his teacher and Night's strange made up language.
'Not after this stunt,' he thought glumly. Night lit a candle as Aoshi sat up and tried to stretch out some kinks from the uncomfortable sleeping position. He watched them for a minute as they continued to confer quietly. One of Kumar's boys stared at his teacher with apprehension. The boys had mostly ignored Tokio. He realized that Tokio's body armor – which Night did not let her remove, not even to sleep – made her look somewhat androgynous. From the snatches of their whispered conversations he overheard, they thought she was actually a boy. He and his friends decided that letting them think that was safer for her. Night didn't bother to correct them either.
'But that simple top on our sensei makes it absolutely clear she's a girl!' he thought amused as he looked up and saw Kumar and the other boys staring at his teacher from the loft. Their eyes were wide with fascination. She was not wearing any armor. She had on a plain black ball cap, a black tank top, black cargo pants, a four inch wide utility belt with various little pouches and hooks where she held tools, a tazer and a couple of flares but no guns or blade weapons of any kind. She did however have a shield.
Aoshi stared at the shield for a moment. It was a shiny silver disc about two and half feet in diameter with the edges curved in like a frisbee. It was polished to a gleam and there were no inscriptions or adornments of any kind on it. She had it attached to her left hip on the utility belt. He had never seen it before, he had seen every sword and gun she owned and she owned many!
He had seen her using whips and she was quite good at them too. He had received training on many of the swords she owned and Night had trained them to use every gun in her arsenal. She had taught them all how to make and use a whip too but he realized now that she did not use any of these things when she fought. And he had never seen the shield before.
He was wondering about the shield when she finally turned toward them. Without meaning to he turned away. She had warned him not to come and he had ignored her good advice. His friends now suffered because he had been arrogant and reckless. He couldn't bear the thought of looking at her face and seeing disappointment in it. With his back to the wall, he laid his head on his knee. She came to kneel in front of him and pulled his face up to look at her.
"This was such a hard lesson, wasn't it Aoshi?" she said in a soft motherly tone. Somehow her gentle understanding was worse than the disappointment he had expected. If she had lectured him then he could try to justify himself and he would feel better. But she forgave him easily and made it that much harder for him to forgive himself.
"I'm sorry," he said taking her hand in both of his. She smiled and leaned forward to kiss his forehead.
"Don't be. This was painful but it was necessary. You'll come out stronger for it! Trust me," she replied with a satisfied little smirk on her face. He took a deep breath and nodded. He would trust his teacher this time!
'I will be stronger…and smarter next time!' he thought as she patted his cheek and moved on to Eric. Again she spoke in a soft reassuring tone advising him to call his parents.
"Jesse is very worried about you too so make sure you call your sister!" she concluded then smiled mischievously. "And Lisa says to call her when you're stateside. She's gonna be in New York next week," she added with a wink that made Eric smile. Eric had an on again off again relationship with Hajime's old friend Lisa Turtle. It had been going on since they were in high school.
'I guess it will be on again when we get back,' Aoshi thought, happy for his friend. Eric immediately promised he would call all of them as soon as he was back in Valeria. As she moved on to Kenshin now he realized everyone's spirit's lifted as she spoke to each one. Aoshi felt energized suddenly and raring to go.
"You have to talk to your mom and dad when we get back Kenny. They have happy news for you!" she concluded after asking Kenshin how he was doing. She smiled at him with a twinkle of joy in her eyes that affected both him and Eric too. Kenshin was quickly on his feet with his silly grin on his face as their teacher moved on to Hiei. She stopped first with Sano who was already on his feet, ready to go. She smiled proudly at him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Felt good to be able to protect your friends, huh?" she said proudly to him. Sano just smiled.
"Keep at it! You're doing a good job," she added with a smirk and gave him a motherly pat on the cheek. Sano grinned and it was obvious how eager he was to get going now. Tokio was helping Hiei into his shirt. It was ripped where the piece of metal had stabbed him but it was better than nothing.
"You've had some time for serious self-reflection. Have you made up your mind?" she said to Hiei as she sat next to him and helped him get ready. Hiei nodded slowly. He gave her a determined look and she smiled.
"Kurama is in Valeria with his parents," she said to him with a smirk as she got up.
"Good. I have something important to say to him," Hiei replied looking much stronger than he had in days. Victoria simply smiled at him and nodded proudly as she got up. The smile disappeared when she turned to Tokio.
"And you missy! Poor King Johan nearly had a heart attack when he found out you were here! Marco was just about to send an invasion force after you when I came into town!" she lectured, her tone between annoyed and amused. Tokio looked up at her horrified. She promised to apologize and do whatever necessary to make it up to both the royals.
"But they understand it isn't all your fault," she added definitely annoyed as she turned to glare at Night. Night just laughed. Aoshi promised himself that whatever consequences Tokio faced he would take his share and then some…
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"Did Tokio really get in trouble with the royal family?" interrupted Bakura. The worry on his face mirrored in all of his friends. Mai laughed.
"Pfft! No way! Prince Marco had the hots for Tokio for years. Our Teach here was just being sneaky, trying to help him out! These dorks finally gave him an opening!" Mai laughed at the surprised looks on her friends. She briefly explained that Tokio and Prince Marco of Baharavia had been close friends for years but they started seeing each other romantically after that incident. Much to the chagrin of Aoshi, Sano and Kenshin…
"That didn't last long though and they're just good friends now. He and Hajime are best buds now too…go figure," Mai added amused. Anzu opened her mouth to say something but decided to wait and said nothing. Seto was not surprised that Tokio would manage to catch the attention of a prince but whatever that story was he doubted it had major relevance to this tale.
'Besides, I have a feeling I might get to ask her soon enough,' he thought as Aoshi quickly continued his story…
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"Alright gather 'round everyone. The plans have changed a little," Night began. Tokio and Sano helped Hiei up and everyone gathered in the main room. Night explained that the plan for Aoshi and his group was remaining the same. They would hide in the junkyard until Shuura was on route.
"Vicky and I are gonna sneak in to the base. You will wait with the jeep for our signal," he began.
"So you and Sensei are going to disable the missiles together," Aoshi surmised out loud. Night turned and looked at Victoria for a moment with a mischievous smirk on his face. She had a slightly manic grin on her face.
"We're gonna level the place!" he replied with an excited grin. Aoshi frowned in disbelief but decided that he was going to stick by his teachers and trust that they could take out a small base by themselves…
They packed up and said goodbye to Kumar and his boys. The boys were genuinely sad to see Night go but Night promised to come back and teach them some more. Night had showed them how to build hideouts and good little places to stash their loot. He had taught them in just a few days not just to survive but how to thrive.
And more importantly: how to help the people that mattered to them!
Aoshi knew Night would make good on his promise and said so to Kumar. He had asked Kumar again if he wouldn't reconsider coming to Japan with him but once more Kumar said no. He dreams of fixing his country and helping his people. Aoshi vowed to do what he could to help Kumar.
They all climbed onto the jeep as the boys headed away from the little shack. After today it would not be safe to be there. But Night had already secured them a new place and loaded it with tools, weapons and food stuffs. A dust storm howled fiercely as they left town and covered their exit from the town. They followed the mountain range that was the natural border between Baharavia and Helmagistan as they went further up north. The sandy dune gave way to rocky terrain.
The sun started to peak out from the dusty plains to the left of them. The Stone Giant began to loom before them as the sun finally came out. The base was nestled on the plains right were the Baharavian mountain range and the Himalayas met. A feeling of déjà vu stole over him as the mountains grew closer. Fear gripped him as his mind unwittingly replayed the disaster at Kanryu's factory.
Night was in the driver's seat with Aoshi and Victory crowded in together next to him. Half way through their road trip she pulled out a little MP3 player from a pocket on her pants. She plugged it in to the radio Night had built and strapped to the dash board. Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man played and both Victoria and Night began to sing along to the soft tune. Tokio joined in the sing along and slowly Aoshi's nervousness ebbed as he watched them sing and listened to the music. Victoria turned and smiled at him.
"…take your time… don't live too fast…troubles will come…and they will pass…" she sang to him then turned to look at the others in the car as they bumped along the road. Aoshi smiled for a moment and felt his fears slowly fade. He sang along now with her watching her bob her head along with the music. Tiny Dancer by Elton John played next and this time they all sang along. He looked back out on the road and the mountain didn't seem quite so intimidating anymore.
Feel Flows by the Beach Boys played next, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin came after and by the time Peter Cetera sang Glory of Love everyone was feeling happy and energized. It was already bright and sunny when they arrived at the junkyard. Angel in the Dark by the Iron Weasels was playing as Victoria unplugged her mp3 player from the radio and plugged in her ear buds. She stuck one of the ear buds in her left ear and bopped her head to the music – that now only she could hear – as everyone except for Hiei got out of the jeep.
As quietly as they could, Kenshin, Sano, Eric and the two teachers moved large pieces of junk around to make some cover and hide the jeep. Tokio ordered Hiei to stay put inside the vehicle and forbid Aoshi from lifting anything as she helped hide the jeep. Victoria and Night seconded her commands. Night handed Aoshi a walkie-talkie and a pair of binoculars and sent him to do lookout duty. Victoria handed Hiei a hand gun instructing him to do his best to protect Tokio when the fighting started.
"But for now save your strength and do as your doctor tells you," she instructed Hiei. Hiei nodded firmly as he checked the ammo on the gun then checked that the weapon was in proper working order and pocketed a couple of clips. Aoshi left them then and climbed the largest pile of refuse.
He felt restless as he lay on his belly at the top of a pile. With the binoculars he kept watch on the gate of the missile base. The junkyard was a cemetery of the aircrafts that had wandered into Helmagistan and didn't have anything of value to pay the dues to whatever warlord was in charge. There was at least two decades worth of craft parts piled in a loose circle about half a mile from the entrance to the missile base.
'Ugh! Why didn't I hit this place instead!' he chastised himself. The layout of the base was very simple and compared to the factory and the town they had been laying low at, it was very lightly armed. Its location made it a critical distribution point in Kanryu's operations. The base was enclosed by a ten foot tall chain link fence. His vantage point allowed him to make observations on the base. The entrance to the base had the control tower standing next to it right alongside the fence.
A large gun emplacement sat at the base of the tower just inside the gate. From where he was he could hear the announcements on the PA system directing people to move crates and prepare for shipment departures. There was a lot of activity as forklifts moved around the base stacking crates at one end and moving other crates into a large hanger on the other end.
There was a runway that started at the base of the mountain and ran the length of the base it seemed from his point of view. He couldn't see very much past the rectangular building that was to the left of the end of the runway, parallel to it. It looked like there was a helicopter on that side at the end of the runway, but all he could see was the tail rotor. He couldn't see what kind it was as most of it was obscured by the building, even though the building wasn't much taller than the fence and didn't seem to be more than 10,000 square feet.
The loaded missile launcher sat right in front of the building to the left of the runway. The missiles were pointed right at the gap between the mountains. There were several guards around the launcher buzzing all around it. They looked as if they were preparing to use it. It was protected by a large Gatling gun emplacement similar to the one at the gate sitting right alongside it. He called down all his observations to his teacher.
"Good lookin' out kiddo! Keep me posted!" she replied cheerfully. 'Too cheerfully' thought Aoshi worriedly. Night had been so tense and angry the last couple of days but now he seemed so relaxed – almost cheerful. And his Sensei! She was utterly unconcerned! She had marched into Helmagistan by herself with no weapons! He didn't know how to feel other than very nervous. He had no idea what was going to happen.
"Here they come!" He called down to his teachers as he spotted the patrol that was supposed to check on the junkyard coming and signaled the others. Quickly everyone scrambled to hide.
'Everyone except for Sensei and Night,' he thought as he pulled a large slab of rusted sheet metal over him. His teacher had pulled on Tokio's disguised and was amazed how easily she slipped into the character Tokio had played the last two days. He began to suspect this act was something they had done many times before.
'Even down to the shaking hand! I bet she's doing the vacant stare too,' he thought between amazed and amused. The two guards saw Night sifting through the trash and began yelling at him. Aoshi sunk further into the trash heap and listened carefully.
"What are you doing here?!" demanded the first guard. Night looked up from his sifting to see two rifles pointed at him. With an amicable smile and his hands in the air, he explained that he was a traveling mechanic. He went from town to town fixing broken machines and stopped whenever he saw a junkyard looking for salvage. Aoshi was fascinated by how good a sales pitch Night now gave the guards. He expounded on how good he was on fixing anything and that he was fortunate to have this little pack mule how was deaf and mute but extremely strong.
"I don't charge much in fact most times for a meal and little room for the night I can fix anything," he concluded his sales pitch enthusiastically. One guard wanted to test whether Night's companion was deaf and suddenly fired a round from his gun in the air. His teacher did not flinch and the guards were sold. They told him to follow them and not to try anything.
Night cheerfully thanked him and Aoshi risked inching forward so he could get a better look. He grabbed the binoculars and watched as his two teachers were marched out of the yard. Carefully he climbed down from the junk heap. He found the gang huddled in the jeep hidden behind the junk pile he had been looking out of. He quickly put them up to date then went to look for Eric and Kenshin to give them an update too.
Tense minutes passed as they waited in silence then they heard a muffled blast and suddenly the base's PA system blares an intruder alarm and a panicked man's voice called for all hands to battle positions and protect the missile launcher. The missile platform began to turn away from the pass and the man on the PA abruptly stopped talking. The Eye of the Tiger by Survivor began blaring from the speakers on top of the tower and throughout the base. Aoshi laughed louder than he ever remembered laughing.
"I guess that's our signal!" laughed Sano. Hiei was wedged in between Tokio and Kenshin. Eric was in the driver's seat with Aoshi in the passenger seat. Sano was wedged between Eric and Aoshi. He stood and pushed the tarp covering the passenger cab of the jeep as Eric gunned the engine and peeled away from the junk yard at top speed. He anchored himself on the roll protection bar of the jeep with his rifle at the ready. They felt energized as they all raced now to the base; even Hiei seemed almost his old self.
As they approached Aoshi could see that the main building was on fire. Sano and Kenshin sang now with Tokio as they approached the base. Their Sensei was very easy to spot! A man came flying out of the window of the tower and landed painfully and awkwardly in front of the gun emplacement by the gate.
"Is she crazy!" Sano called out from his lookout point. They all stared in shocked silence as Victoria leapt out of the window she had just thrown the air traffic controller from. She landed perfectly on the main gunner and lost no time in smashing her shield into the other gunner's face as she came up from her landing. She turned again and smashed the gun with her shield. It was nothing but a giant paperweight by the time Eric hit the brakes next to the gun. His teacher nimbly climbed onto the hood of the jeep.
"Eric we're gonna play a game of chicken with that truck!" she began pointing at a cargo truck lumbering slowly towards them.
"Uuuummm…" Eric began looking somewhat freaked out.
"Don't worry! When I give you the signal you'll swerve out of the way! But wait for my signal! Got it!" Victoria called out to him grinning ecstatically.
"It's ok Eric! Trust her!" Aoshi said giving Eric's arm an encouraging squeeze. He picked up his rifle and aimed out in the direction of the truck. Sano did the same yelling out an encouragement. Buoyed by his friends' enthusiasm Eric revved the engine.
"Ok! I'm ready!" Eric called out. Tokio jammed her helmet on tight. Minding Night's instructions for her to keep her head down - she turned towards Hiei and covered as much of him as she could with her body helping him steady his right arm as he pulled it up to fire his weapon if need be and keep to his orders of protecting Tokio.
"Leave the truck to me! Cover the sides!" She instructed as Eric finally gunned the engine forward. Footloose by Kenny Loggins now blared out of the speakers as they raced straight at the large lumbering truck. Sano fired at towards some guards heading on foot towards them on the driver's side one went down, the rest scrambled for cover. Aoshi shot a forklift driver turning his forklift towards the apparently suicidal jeep. Victoria crouched on the hood of the jeep holding on to windshield of the racing jeep with her left hand while holding her shield up with her right arm in front of her.
"NOW!" Victoria called and Eric swerved wildly to his left almost at the last moment towards the runway and Victoria leapt off the hood of the jeep and landed perfectly on the hood of the truck. She grabbed the side of the driver's window and swung herself to the side of the truck. She landed on the door's step and smashed her shield at the truck driver's face then yanked the door open and tossed the driver out of the truck.
"She's crazy!" Sano yelled excitedly as Victoria pummeled the other guard inside the truck then kicked him out of the other side of the truck. She took the wheel and turned the lumbering mechanical beast around. She accelerated and the truck began to race back towards the hangar at the far end of the base. She leapt out of the truck and nimbly tumbled away from the rolling behemoth at the last possible second. It crashed into the warehouse, knocking over crates and trapping the men inside as the truck tipped over and fell sideways on top of more crates.
"She really is nuts!" yelled Sano. He seemed to be the only one capable of speech. It took all of Aoshi's willpower to remember to shoot his rifle at approaching enemies and not just sit there and stare at his Sensei and the carnage she was causing! She stopped to dance to Footloose as fire now erupted in the hangar! Two guards ran towards her and began to fire at her. She turned around and put her shield up and caught every bullet on it.
"Come on! We gotta help her!" yelled Sano but Eric was already wheeling around to head towards her. Eric was an excellent wheel man. He had avoided collisions with anything too big as well as the fires that were now raging around them but used the mass and speed of the jeep to bowl enemies over without slowing them down.
But Victoria didn't need the assist; she smiled cheerfully and ran straight towards the men firing at her with her shield in front of her. She reached them almost instantly and smashed them with her shield, knocking the two men unconscious. A third – very large man – charged at her brandishing a large wrench like a club.
Victoria planted herself and when he swung down and missed her by a mile, she swung herself on to his back and jammed her tazer into his neck. The large man convulsed for a couple of seconds and smashed into the ground with the added weight of Victoria on his back. She jumped up off his back and tossed the spent tazer aside then continued to dance.
"Hi kids!" she greeted cheerfully as Eric slammed the brakes next to her. She opened the passenger door and stood on the step. She instructed Eric to head towards Night and the missile launcher. She rode standing up on the step. She smiled at Aoshi and he just stared dumb-struck!
"How's everybody doing?" she asked casually with a pleasant smile on her face, as if they were all just out on a stroll through the park.
"Oh we're fantastic!" Sano replied full of the same manic enthusiasm that seemed to have gripped their teacher. Tokio chanced to look up now and chuckled as she loosened her hold on Hiei. She leaned forward to take a quick look at everyone and make sure no one was hurt. Satisfied, she ducked down out of the way of Hiei's aim.
"I need to take out the helicopter. You guys back up the old man! Do not stop this vehicle until Nightraven gives you the signal!" Victoria instructed. Aoshi and Eric could only nod. Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" began playing as they raced towards the helipad. She sang the first soft verses as she hung off the door. Eric slowed a smidge and their teacher once more leapt off the vehicle and hit the ground running. Aoshi thought she looked every bit the Wonder Woman she played on TV back in the seventies as she bashed and smashed her way through one after the other guard. They were simply no match for her and her silver shield.
Her smile never faltered…
-0-
Seto was at the edge of his seat. The room was hushed as Aoshi painted the tale of their teacher leaping, punching, kicking and smashing her shield into bad guys' faces. The story had absolutely been worth the wait! He had never been sorry he sold out Kanryu and Gozaburo to the Shadow Broker. Now this story made it so much more satisfying!
'I'm so glad I invited them in!' thought Seto as he listened amazed…
-0-
"Yusuke and Kazuma are gonna be so pissed that they missed this!" called down Sano as he laid down cover fire, they all laughed. Aoshi laughed as she paused every now and then in her gleeful destruction to dance and sing. They reached Night and he was the exact opposite of their Sensei. He calmly walked around the launcher pulling open access panels and yanking wires. He worked with such a relaxed attitude you would think he was in his garage on a Sunday morning working on his car. He pulled out his gun almost lazily and shot a guy sneaking up behind him without even turning to look at him.
"Tokio! Are you keeping your head down?" came his gruff voice on the radio.
"Yes sir," came Tokio's reply with an all suffering sigh.
"Good girl!" he replied. "Are you boys taking care of her?" he added gruffly.
"What the hell do think I'm doing standing up here with this rifle?" Sano snapped back. To prove his point he shot a man driving a forklift towards them stopping it in its tracks.
"Good! Make sure you don't get too distracted by the show the other one's putting on! Sheesh, it's like I'm the only grown up around here!" Night grumbled between amused and annoyed.
"Oh you're such a killjoy!" Victoria teased and her laughter on the radio carried over the pandemonium that now gripped the base. The men who weren't trying to fight Victoria were busy trying to fight the various fires that raged out of control now all over the base. Night chuckled.
"Alright! You kids can come park it over here now. Shuura's on her way, she'll be here any second," Night replied calmly. He waved them over and their Sensei finally materialized next to him on the missile launcher. Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins came over the PA system which was miraculously still functioning.
The engine of a large aircraft sounded and Aoshi looked up. A military cargo plane came twisting out of the canyon instead of Nightraven's helicopter. Aoshi's heart dropped as he saw the bristling weapons on the craft but he had barely started to worry when the large craft became huge fireball in the sky raining fire and debris down on the runway.
"Just like Beggar's Canyon back home!" shouted Shuura over the radio as the Huey blasted past the smoke and fire of the now defunct enemy plane. Aoshi surprised himself when he found himself cheering loudly with the guys as Shuura made her pass through the base, the guns on the helicopter raining fire on the remaining resistance.
The chopper came to hover delicately a few feet off the ground and Aoshi could see Kaoru disengaging herself from the co-pilot seat. He was not surprised to see Kurama fully in armor and desert camouflage, jump out of the helicopter and race towards them as they all tried to clamber out of the jeep. Kurama did not have anything to do with Oniwaban or the missions against Kanryu but he was very protective about his twin and his feelings for Hiei had always been very clear.
He was shocked to see Prince Marco jump out with him and race towards them. Aoshi figured he must have been the one firing the gun in the helicopter when Shuura made her pass through the base. Kurama embraced Hiei and his brother and helped Kenshin hold up Hiei. Between the two they hurried Hiei to the waiting escape vehicle. Aoshi and Sano frowned as Marco practically threw himself into Tokio's arms.
"Are you ok?" he asked obviously worried. Tokio blushed fiercely and smiled shyly at him saying she was fine. Sano rolled his eyes as the Prince didn't take his arms away from Tokio. He quickly pulled her away towards the helicopter. Victoria chuckled as she put her arm around Aoshi and helped him limp towards the chopper quickly.
Night had run ahead and jumped in the helicopter. He helped Kenshin and Kurama get Hiei into the chopper and joined Shuura at the co-pilot seat. Kenshin couldn't take his eyes off of Kaoru, as she helped him and Kurama strap in Hiei. Sano and Prince Marco jumped on the chopper at the same time. Sano helped Aoshi up as Prince Marco helped Tokio into the helicopter. He rolled his eyes annoyed as the prince once more pulled her close and held her longer than was needed. Aoshi paid them little attention. His mind still reeled from everything he had seen his Sensei do! He knew his teachers were strong but seeing just how strong with his own eyes was something else all together!
As Tokio strapped herself in Prince Marco grabbed a couple of grenade launchers. He handed one to Victoria who was still smiling joyfully as she now hung out the side of the helicopter. Shuura made a pass around the base and Victoria and the prince took turns blasting first the missile launcher, then the launcher supply shed, then the main building. The deposed warlord – one of Kanryu's lieutenants – had managed to survive the madness. Victoria called out to him and waved smiling beautifully. He glared up at her with absolute venom in his eyes.
Victoria waited until Kenny Loggins finished singing then fired the last round at the control tower. Shuura – now with Night as her co-pilot support – made her way back through the pass with ease. Kaoru and Prince Marco secured the guns and Victoria helped them close the doors as they all strapped themselves down.
"You owe me a new player!" Victoria said to Aoshi still smiling.
"I'll buy you ten!" Aoshi promised right away. Everyone laughed as they headed now back to Valeria…