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Disclaimer: I do not claim nor own anything. All rights are reserved to their respective owners and no copyright infringement intended. This fiction is for pure entertainment only and not for commercial purposes.
After the first sign of explosives, chaos spread across the sectors of the underworld's utopia. The gambling den was not the only one that was in disarray, as other sectors erupted in flames, smokes, and explosions spreading throughout the oval architectures. All the architectures in this utopia were in rage and war as people screamed for their lives, but bizarrely not dying.
The fear was very real however, as the bubble shook from the force of the torpedoes blowing up at the surface of the protective sphere. Submarines surrounded the protective shield, firing rains of torpedoes to shake the interior. The torpedoes did nothing to damage the invincible shield, but it certainly caused the desired affect for the people to tremble and quiver in fear. The guards were doing their best to guide the people to shelter, whilst chaos waged on with the help of some friends.
"I thought you didn't need violence!" Mai shouted, ducking her head to the side and then swiftly catching the attacker's wrist to throw them over her shoulder.
"They'll have a taste of the real underworld like this!" Haruka cackled, after she slammed her fist down onto the back of the guard who was clumsy with his haymaker.
The people were in pure panic, and the guards of the utopia, 'Ulix Guardom', were forced to protect the people instead of turning their attention to the many attacks across the architectures. Haruka grinned as she caught the glimpse of one stray group, looking at her with fear and terror. That was what Haruka and Yukino desired; a true underworld that was not pictured as a 'haven', 'warzone', 'school', 'playground' or 'tourism'. The group was immediately led away when one of the guard caught Haruka's gaze.
Mai blocked an incoming punch going for her ribs with her elbow. Mai quickly pressed her elbow down and forced the arm to lower as the guard raise a foot to kick her. The kick missed and Mai pulled the guard's supporting leg to topple them down to the floor. The guard grunted as he harshly knocked his head to the floor and fell unconscious.
"I want to hear the whole story from the two of you after this!" Mai quickly said as she faced two guards charging at her.
Those two guards were down and out as Haruka threw a table at the two of them. The table hit them hard and brought them down to the floor, and then it spun over them to hit one more guard who was slow to get away.
Haruka cackled boisterously, "Don't worry! We're not apologising for the construction we've made across the underworlds!" She said with glee in her voice, ignoring her incorrect use of word 'construction' instead of 'destruction'.
Mai groaned and immediately dropped to the floor, sweeping her foot to the heel of the guard's supporting leg who tried to roundhouse kick her. The guard fell and then another jumped over to slam her fist down onto Mai's head. Mai swiftly leaned to the side and shot her palms up at the guards' abdomen. The guard flew to the side with a spin. Mai quickly got up and shot her elbow to the back, hitting at the centre of the guard's chest who taught could have surprised her. The guard croaked as she swayed to the side and thudded to the floor.
"Please be safe Mikoto." Mai mumbled, realising that she had gotten herself into a declaration of war.
The run through the corridors and room was tough and winding, but thankfully, Mikoto and Yukino have yet to be spotted. They have passed several of sub-securities in order to get a card that opened the main doors to the core security. Their quick progression was thanks to the stellar tactics and gadgets that Yukino used to subdue the guards. Yukino had amazing hand-to-eye coordination and reflex, even if she wore the high-tech spectacles to find their way around the corridors. One side of the lens displayed the blueprints and map towards the security room, while the other was the tactical display that had all sorts of statistics and numbers.
Mikoto was waiting for Yukino's word to enter with a simple slide of the card in her hand across the slit of the panel. Yukino had it all under control with a gun in her hand, while Mikoto barely lifted her hand and foot to attack the guards. Mikoto was more surprised that the gun had the ability to paralyse any living beings, and then drop them unconscious. It bothered Mikoto as to why she was needed in the core security room instead of the gambling den helping Mai. Yukino teased and hinted that it was better to let her handle the weaker guards, while Mikoto saved energy to deal with any elites soon.
"We are fortunate to have one elite in the room, but focus only on that guard Mikoto. Let me handle the rest." Yukino lowered her hand from the button at the side of her glasses, and looked at Mikoto with a meticulous and certain look in her eyes.
"How does Mikoto find the elite? And are they tough?" Mikoto asked, as she pressed her back to the wall with Yukino leaning on the other side of the wall by the double-doors.
Yukino grinned, "They'll be wearing an atrocious cloak on their shoulder with excessive 'U.G.' letters on it, and I think that you can handle seven or more." She answered as she took out a pair of paralysing pollen grenades in her hand.
Mikoto quirked a brow, "Won't those and your gun work on the elite?" She earned a giggle, a shook of Yukino's head, and then a wink as Yukino signalled Mikoto to open the doors.
Mikoto immediately slid the card down the panel and shifted further away from the double-doors. The double-doors hissed opened and Yukino quickly threw in the grenades, shifting further away from the after they were thrown inside. The grenades flew through the air until it reached the centre of the room and exploded. Thousands or hundred thousands of tiny green orbs filtered the room and touched many of the unguarded guards inside. The guards were paralysed in place, save for a few who quickly reacted and ducked into cover to avoid touching the green orbs.
The shimmering sounds of the pollens died soon enough, signalling Mikoto and Yukino to enter. The two women entered instantaneously as the last of the orbs fell to the floor. The few remaining guards not paralysed and have just came out from their cover, were dealt with instantly thanks to Yukino's quick and precise shooting. However, the one elite that Yukino was aware of was running dangerously fast outside of Yukino's firing arc.
Mikoto rushed around to Yukino's side and intercepted the elite's charging knee; pulling the knee towards her and turning the momentum at a bad angle as the elite's leg lifted off the ground. However, the elite took another attack at Mikoto as she spun around to deliver a sweep kick across Mikoto in the air. Mikoto immediately delivered her own kick at the elite. Their blows clashed and the two women reeled back to fight again.
Meanwhile, Yukino was already at the central computer to do her work. Yukino would have fired on the elite, but there was tracer on should the elite be unconscious. That would alert more guards to the central security room and distract Yukino from the computer. Yukino trusted that their accomplices were doing their jobs to cause as much chaos and havoc to pull as many guards and elites away from security. Yukino smirked at the thought of the masterminds' laziness and operation of these 'save havens' of the underworld. The screen flickered on the computer to reveal several walls of digital defences Yukino has to hack.
"Keep her busy! And don't knock her out!" Yukino yelled and started typing across the keyboard.
The elite's eyes widened and realised what they were trying to do, so she changed her attention from Mikoto to Yukino immediately. Mikoto quickly ran after the elite and caught the cloak, tugging it forcefully towards her as the elite grunted in shock. The elite stumbled backward and quickly turned to punch Mikoto. Mikoto used the cloak to wrap it around the arm and tug it to the side. The elite followed the pull and raised her foot to sweep across Mikoto's neck. Mikoto ducked under the kick, but the elite pulled her arm entangled in the same cloak towards the elite.
The elite rolled over with her back to Mikoto's back as she pulled Mikoto's arm over. Mikoto quickly spun around as she dropped to the floor, untangling her arm from the cloak to avoid twisting her arm. The elite quickly rushed over to slam her fist at Mikoto's abdomen. Mikoto rolled to the side away from the attack, but the elite feigned the attack to proceed towards Yukino. Mikoto got up after rolling away and chased after the elite, hopping over the desks to intercept the elite's path.
The elite nearly closed the gap, but Mikoto was over the desk and throwing a foot down vertically in front of the elite. The elite stopped immediately and tried to evade to the side, but the space crammed her and slammed her hips to the edge of the desk. Mikoto quickly thrust the back of her elbow at the elite. The elite laid her back to the desk and whirled her legs like a tornado. Mikoto's arm was caught in a scissor-hold between the elite's legs.
As the elite spun her body to the side and off the desk, Mikoto extended the captured arm just before being spun around with her. The elite's legs shot out towards Mikoto's face, grazing the heel of the elite's boot across Mikoto's cheek. Mikoto would have had her face smashed in from the elite's feet had she not stepped aside at the last second. The elite rolled forward and evasively avoided the desk toppling over her. Mikoto flipped the desk to the side in order to trap the elite, but seeing as it failed, Mikoto hurried over to the elite with light-footed steps across the fallen desk.
The elite turned in time and widened her eyes in surprise at the speed Mikoto travelled over, barely allowing her a chance to react. Mikoto hopped and wrapped her legs around the elite's waist, capturing the arms in her hold. The elite fell backwards and could not move her arms with greater strength, even though Mikoto looked lighter. Before the elite could use her legs, Mikoto had her pinned using the knees on her arms and incapable of making a move, as fingers pressed at the veins of her neck. Mikoto smirked evilly as the elite's eyes quivered in fear.
"So you know what would happen to you? Then stay still and keep quiet." Mikoto said intimidatingly, and the elite responded with a muted nod, wincing as the fingers lightly pierced from the subtle movement.
Mikoto would not kill the woman pinned beneath her anyway, as she was just tired of prolonging the fight. Mikoto should have thought of subduing the elite instead to save more of her energy. Regardless, Mikoto kept her gaze on the elite's eyes to show she was not joking, should the elite choose to resist and continue fighting back. Hearing the keys being tapped, Mikoto hoped that was the only sound she would hear. Time was the only thing Yukino needed along with no distractions.
Whilst Mikoto was fighting with the elite, Yukino found out many suspicious things about the 'havens' of the underworlds. It appeared to be that the government situated these underworlds as breeding grounds to produce 'AOCs'. Yukino had suspected about it before, but finding the evidence right in front of her and on the computer angered her.
The system has played with the lives of the people who have fallen from poverty or scandal to seek resources through the underworld. However, those people were without knowledge of the true criminals that had honour, code, respect, dignity, and pride. Even then, the criminals would take the measures to teach them about the crimes and rules in the underworld, not anymore however.
When the underworlds' utopias were introduced across the world, it was easily seen as the most convenient and competitive locations to earn power. Thus, the criminals had changed their ways and lost their dignity, individuality, pride, and honour to what they once were. Moreover, the disgraceful criminals and masterminds brought the fallen people with them to gain their own rise for the past thirty years.
Yukino, Haruka, and the few remaining malicious but earnest, cunning kingpins, sought to put an end to the systematic underworlds' hubs. Starting right now as Yukino plugged in her laptop to the computer to spread a virus across the hubs. The room suddenly turned red as the alarm blared and warned to evacuate immediately.
"We're done here. Let's go Mikoto." Yukino called out.
"Okay!" Mikoto replied and got up, and the elite scrambled and left the two women immediately.
Mikoto followed Yukino as they ran, "What about the other lives around the utopia?"
"Don't worry; they're safe from inside the shelter." Yukino answered.
"All personal please evacuate immediately! Shield Units: Failed! Emergency Bubble: Malfunctioned! Safety Tubes: Online." The monotone announcer spread across the utopia, causing much more panic and fear.
Haruka and Mai too were leaving, as the rest of the guards had scuttled off for their own lives. The building still shook from the destruction outside the utopia. According to Haruka, the bomb had set off harmlessly and nowhere anybody, but the shield units alone. The submarines attacking at the shield outside were putting cracks on it and should be broken anytime soon. Then, the utopia should be next and bought enough time to allow many people to escape safely, before the first layer of the shield shattered.
Many hollowed tubes slid open from the walls, doors, entrances, arches, and almost everywhere. It was very easy to access for everyone. Instead of entering the tubes separately, Mai and Haruka entered inside a tube together. They pressed their backs at the soft bed of the pod inside the tube, and the pod trapped them inside as a sheet of glass slid up in front of them. Three clicks from inside could be heard, and suddenly, they were sent off along the pipeline across the deep depths of the sea.
The view was dark, save for the gentle lights from inside the pod. It was too cramped for the two women, and uncomfortable for them considering the way their bodies were pressed together. Their shoulder were leaning on the glass and bed with their back leaning onto each other. It was very clear the pod was intended for one person only, but the trajectory the pod was sent along the pipeline was intensely fast. It should not take too long before the darkness behind the glass dispersed.
They felt the change of the pod ascending upwards, as their heads started to feel light while their legs were heavy. The change in pressure was sudden and made them slightly nauseas. Greeted by the brighter blue colours of the sea, they could sense the warmth of the light just above the surface of the water. Then, the pod rocked as it shot out of the surface, slamming on the surface of the sea and rocking it again.
"Buoyancy in ten seconds. Please enjoy the ride and wait for a rescue boat. Thank you for your cooperation." The soft-toned monotone voice said from within the pod.
The two sighed in relief, but took the moment to rest in such a cramped space for their nausea to settle down. Once they felt well and the rocking of the pod was smooth along the sea, the glass slid down and brought in fresh air. The two got up from the bed and rolled their shoulders to ease the tension.
"Wouldn't it be better to have a bigger room when they built these?" Mai complained, standing up and stretching her body on the improvised pod turned into a boat.
Haruka grunted with agreement and pinched the earring on her ear, "Yukino? Are you above surface?"
There was a moment of silence when Haruka did not get a response, which worried Mai too as they looked worriedly at each other. Mai looked around the sea and saw the same pods as theirs were floating along the sea or had just burst out from the sea. Mai hoped that Mikoto and Yukino were not trapped in there and could not make off with their escape. Sure, there was the shelter that Mikoto and Yukino could get to from the core security room, but the shelter was not so much a shelter.
"Maaaaiii!" A very familiar voice shouted across the sea, causing Mai to turn and look there in pure relief.
Instantly, Mai smiled and waved her hand as Mikoto paddled the improvised pod-to-boat over to them. Haruka grinned proudly and knew the crazy amount of preparedness and gadgets Yukino has in almost any situation. Once the two 'boats' were close, Yukino and Mikoto immediately jumped over to hug their loved ones – Mikoto to Mai, and Yukino to Haruka.
Amazingly, the improvised boat barely shook or sunk from the added weight. They would not be sitting or standing there for long with the others who took the safety tubes. Yukino had called in a helicopter to pick all four of them to Windbloom. Haruka laughed a proud laugh and soundly kissed her lover's lips. Mai and Mikoto giggled and chuckled amusedly at 'The Mistresses'.
"Tonight, let's relax and have a great hot ring." Haruka smirked as she wrapped her arms around Yukino's waist.
Yukino smiled despite of the blush colouring her cheeks, "Hot springs, my lovely Haruka." She mumbled over Haruka's shoulder.