- Chapter 20 -

Changes

Author's Note:

Again, graphic violence warning. This chapter is not for the squeamish.

"Y'know, for someone who's not here to kill me, you're certainly making an effort to try," Saya deadpanned as the puncture wound in her belly finally sealed up completely.

"Dr. Collins said he wants you alive," Joshua replied, raising his right hand. "He didn't say that I couldn't have a little fun with you first."

With that, his right hand morphed into a long, steel-like blade reminiscent of Solomon Goldsmith's trademark move. Saya drew back, finally beginning to put the pieces together.

He's got James' armor, Karl's spikes, and Solomon's blade, she thought, a note of shock and horror creeping across her mind. That means...

But Saya didn't get to finish that thought before Joshua darted forward in a blue blur and grabbed her by the throat with his left hand, yanking her up off the ground with the effort it would take a ten-year-old to peel a banana.

"You're finally getting it," he said, as if he was reading her mind. "Cinq Flèches didn't just collect samples of Diva's biological data. They got samples from all of her chevaliers, including Amshel himself."

"So you were-" Saya choked out, but Joshua cut her off by slamming her into the side of a building with bone-shattering force.

"That's right," he continued. "Collins created me by using the blood and DNA of Diva's chevaliers. James, Amshel, Karl, Solomon... everything they could do, I can do better. I am the ultimate chiropteran!"

"You're a freak of nature!" Saya spat out. Joshua's face darkened, and, with his arm-blade, ran Saya through the chest with such force that the blade sank deep into the hard brick of the wall behind her, getting more screams of pain out of the red-eyed queen.

"Freak?! You're calling me a freak?!" he snapped. "You're the freak. Not only that, but you're a disgrace to our entire species!"

With that, he let go of Saya's neck and yanked his blade out of her chest, a stream of blood gushing out along with it. Saya landed on her feet, just barely managing to stay on them as she held a hand to her blood soaked wound.

"What the hell are you... talking about?" she wheezed. Joshua shifted his blade-arm back into a hand, and then threw a punch, his hand having hardened again. Saya just barely managed to dodge before Joshua's fist pulverized her skull, instead shattering the wall where her head had been a second earlier.

"You constantly go on about how chiropterans aren't allowed to exist and constantly try to act like an equal being with humans," he snarled. "We live forever, only require one, infinitely-reusable resource, are stronger in both constitution and strength, have the same if not greater mental capacity as them and we don't need to surround ourselves with technology just to survive… and you have the audacity to think we're the same as all these goddamn monkeys?! What. A load. Of bullshit!"

Joshua punctuated that last statement by swinging his armored hand at Saya again, this time catching her in the stomach. Saya couldn't suppress a cry of pain as she felt several ribs break.

"Not only that, but you tried to commit genocide of our entire race just because of a little sisterly spat!" he continued.

"Genocide?!" Saya exclaimed. "The chiropterans I fought were dangerous!"

"Dangerous?" Joshua echoed, his voice distorting. "Tigers are dangerous! Bears are dangerous! Sharks are dangerous! Does that mean they deserve to be hunted to extinction, just because they're only doing what they need to do to survive?!"

Despite her usual stubbornness, Saya couldn't help but acknowledge that he had a point. But she would not give him the satisfaction.

"And what you call a 'sisterly spat' happened because Diva destroyed my home and killed my father!" she yelled. "Not only that, she raped and killed my little brother!" Despite her rapidly softening feelings and sympathy for her twin sister, Saya would never forget everything Diva had done.

"But even you have to acknowledge that you were in the wrong as well," Joshua shot back. "You know full-well that Diva didn't know what she was doing was wrong. How could she? If your positions were swapped and you were 'raised' by a mad scientist, you'd most likely be just as fucked up as she is!"

Saya actually winced. She was starting to weaken, and Joshua could see it.

"It was you who hunted Diva, not the other way around. Was there ever a duel that you didn't start? Did she ever try to kill you when you weren't trying to kill her? No, not at all. And let's not forget the Vietnam incident. You killed hundreds of innocent humans. Face it: no matter how much you deny it, you're just as bad as the rest of us! You might actually be worse than Diva!"

"Shut UP!" Saya screamed, having had enough of his psychological tactics. She promptly threw down her sword and grabbed him by the head, her nails digging in. Joshua's bravado immediately faded to uncertainty as he saw the sheer rage and hatred, intermixed with pain and sorrow, in Saya's crimson eyes.

"You're right, I've done plenty of bad things, hurt plenty of people, and I chased after Diva for decades without even bothering to understand what she went through," she snarled through clenched teeth. "But no matter what, I'm going to make things right! I have a job to do, and I'm gonna see it through!"

With that, Saya activated the mechanisms in her bracers, causing the blades to pop out. With lightning speed, she jammed the blades into Joshua's mouth and tore open two identical gashes in his cheeks, extending from the corners of his mouth in a gruesome Glasgow smile.

Joshua howled in pain and swatted Saya away, clutching his torn face for a few moments before his hands fell away, his cheeks beginning to heal as he glared at Saya with the twisted face of a devil.

"You bitch!" he yelled. "How dare you damage my face!"

With that, he morphed his left arm back into its spike formation and fired another spike, this one running Saya through completely and pinning her to the wall. Joshua made his way over as Saya tried in vain to free herself, drawing a pistol-shaped jet injector from his pocket. He roughly grabbed Saya by the hair and jerked her head to the side so that her carotid artery was exposed.

"Dr. Collins sends his regards," he said as he plunged the needle of the injector into Saya's neck and pulled the trigger.

No sooner did he finish the injection than Saya's eyes snapped wide open, her pupils so dilated that they almost completely eclipsed her red irises. A burning sensation filled her veins as her entire body was wracked with unspeakable pain. She convulsed and spasmed while Joshua looked on, enjoying her suffering.

Then, without warning, Saya's convulsions stopped, and she fell limp. Confused, Joshua stepped forward to investigate when Saya's head snapped up, her eyes glowing so bright that it hurt Joshua's own to look at them, and an expression of pure rage and hate on her face.

"That's it," she spat, her voice distorted. With incredible speed, she grabbed the spike and jerked it out of her body, not even registering the barbs on it. Still holding the spike, she jumped forward and impaled Joshua through the stomach with it. Joshua snarled and tried to punch her, but Saya easily caught his fist and proceeded to casually break his wrist. Joshua let out another howl of pain and staggered back.

The injection worked too well! he thought in horror as he looked at Saya. She let out a low growl, and her hands suddenly morphed into monstrous claws reminiscent of Haji's. She was done playing around.

"Joshua," she snarled, "get ready for a world of pain!"

Author's Note:

I believe that this situation can be summed up quite well in a two-word sentence that starts with "oh" and ends with "crap."

Please R&R. Until next time...