Chapter 26
Takami leaned back from her desk, sighing as she rubbed her eyes. Things had been hell for the past two weeks, and it had all started when that teen, if that was even the right word to use, Dante Price had contacted her. Even after that time had passed, she still couldn't get those intense, focused eyes out of her head. Or what he had known.
To say she had been shaken would be technically correct, but it didn't capture how shaken she had been. Her mind had been reeling and she couldn't have been more shocked if she had been hooked up to the city's entire power grid. He had known about her relationship with that idiot Gamemaster, which she had hidden and burned to the ground. He had known about her daughter and son and that the Gamemaster was their father. And he knew about the nanobots in the Sekirei. All impossible to know without some incredibly extensive research and connections.
Things had also changed when he had rescued her daughter. She had found out that when her daughter had called her and told her about a "silver eyed hunk" she had met. Takami had asked how she had been the past few days to discreetly make sure she was alright after being Higa's captive for a while. She had said she was fine and had been taken by some perv, but he wouldn't be bothering her again. They had talked for a while but Yukari never mentioned or hinted at the Sekirei Plan. All in all, she had been fine, and, as she later found out from news reports, rescued in broad daylight.
The rest of the week had been relatively normal, if stressful. Keeping track of 216 living people in a city of millions and then picking up deactivated Sekirei was hard no matter how effective a system you had set up. Not to mention keeping the plan hidden from the public and international community. Of course things had turned interesting when a Sekirei and Ashikabi had tried to leave the city and they had been forced to send out the Disciplinary Squad to keep them in. But even that had turned into a headache when they had found out the pair had gone into the north and lost track of them. They knew they were still in the city, but they couldn't figure out where in the north they were.
Takami was distracted by her phone buzzing softly on her desk. She picked it up and looked at the screen. It was a text, but instead of having a number or the words blocked number, there was a bunch of garbage. Symbols and some random blocks of black in the from column. Curious and feeling some deep sense of dread, she opened the text.
I'm calling in that favor you owe me. Deactivate them. Now.
Takami stared at the text, not understanding for a second. Then it clicked on what the text meant. And who had most likely sent it. Her sense of dread deepened. She couldn't help feeling something was going to happen.
"Man this is boring." The guy complained as he shifted his rifle. "Why the hell do we have to stand here all day?"
"Stop complaining. It's what we signed up for. Besides, it's easy money."
"Maybe."
It was late and the sun was starting to go down as the two military dressed MBI guards stood near the bridge they had been assigned to. The bridge in question was a railway suspension bridge set over the northern river which MBI had taken over when the city was locked down. It was rather boring work just guarding it and the station all day. Both of them were tired of this and couldn't wait for their shift to end.
"Excuse me?"
Both men looked at the voice and they both saw a pretty blonde girl dressed in a green shirt and camo pants walking towards them.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm a little lost. I was wondering if you could help me?" The girl stopped in front of them and tilted her head innocently.
"Sure, where were you going?" One of them asked while the other felt slightly uneasy. For some reason this girl seemed familiar. He took out the phone MBI had issued them while his partner tried to help the girl and opened up a file. Several pictures showed up and he scrolled through them until he saw one.
"Wait a minute. This girls in the file, she's an Ashikabi!"
"Whoops. Jigs up I guess, time to move."
The girl grabbed the man's arm and spun, throwing him off balance and over her shoulder as he hit the ground hard. She then kicked him in the chin, knocking him out before hearing a click and looked over her shoulder to see the other one had his gun up and safety off.
"Don't move."
She chuckled as she turned to face him. "I'm not the one you need to worry about. Kagari, now."
He felt a hit to the back of the head and blackness crawled across his vision.
"Dante, we took them down and everyone else is in place here," Jenny said as Kagari, in his defender of Unwinged Sekirei uniform, caught the soldier he had just knocked out from behind and set him at the side of the road. "Just waiting for everyone else."
Jenny looked up at the building across the street. On the roof Akitsu and Yahan were both watching and, seeing Jenny was looking, Yahan sent a thumbs up at her.
"Seo and the twins should be starting in a minute. Where is everyone?"
"Kagari and I are in front of the bridge, Yahan and Akitsu are on a rooftop across the street to keep a look out."
"Got it. We'll be there in 10 minutes once the signal is sent."
"We'll be ready." Jenny responded before bending down and grabbing the rifle the soldier in front of her had. She checked the clip before putting it back in and clicking the safety to make sure it was on.
"Don't kill anyone with that." Kagari warned as he grabbed the other soldier, threw him over his shoulder and walked to drop him beside his comrade.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Testing, one two, one two, can you all hear me?" Dante said as he tapped his earpiece.
"Yeah, we hear you Dante." Tobias responded as he shot him a look. "We heard you the first three times you tested these before Jenny and the others left. Cut it out."
"I concur with that assessment. You've tested the earpieces enough already." Kazehana said in an irritated voice.
"Sorry, habit."
Everyone who was going onto the bridge was standing in the courtyard and waiting for Seo and the twins to call in with the go ahead. Uzume was in her Sekirei uniform while Tobias was checking to make sure his sword was secured to his belt. Musubi was dressed normal, but she also had some black gloves Dante had provided and treated to be harder and more durable than regular ones, while still being comfortable and flexible. Everyone else was dressed normally, if a bit on edge. Haruka and Kuno looked more nervous than the others.
"Matsu, how much longer on Seo's end?" Dante asked.
"They're just approaching the power plant now. Any minute."
Matsu, Ku, and Miya were all up in the hidden room and Matsu was typing away rapidly at the keyboard, eyes flickering between scrolling screens of data, camera feeds, blueprints, and wave length analyzers of MBI broadcasts. She had on headphones with a mouthpiece to speak in while Miya and Ku were watching everything unfold.
Seo and the twins stopped in front of the gate around the power plant Dante had directed them to. It looked like any average one you could find, but on a larger scale, as it supplied most of the power to the north section of the city. Dante had given them one objective. Take it down.
"Ready girls?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with." Hikari said with a scowl and slight blush on her face. Seo grabbed both and kissed them on the lips, causing wings to burst from both their Sekirei crests and spread as they got ready. Seo let go of them both and stepped back as they clasped hands with each other and closed their eyes in preparation to use Norito.
"We're the pledged thunderclap. No disaster will hit our Ashikabi," They chanted as the sky over head rumbled and a black cloud started forming. They then pointed their right clasped hands at the building and shouted, "Kaminari (God's song)!"
Another rumble and loud crack followed, before a thick and powerful lightning bolt shot from the cloud. It struck the power plant and the electricity began thrashing as it followed the power lines to and from the power plant. The sudden burst of power caused the buildings around them to begin flickering in spasms as the electricity forced it's way into them. Just as sudden as the energy struck, it stopped, as the grid was overloaded and shut down. Resulting in a domino effect as everything electric and connected to the grid shut down and darkness replacing the street light.
Seo touched his ear. "Dante, we took down the grid."
"Good. Pull back and wait for any calls. We'll let you know when it's done."
"Gotcha. Let's go girls." Seo and the girls turned and walked away, leaving the darkened area behind.
"All right, get ready." Dante called as everyone prepared to leave.
Uzume directed two of her clothes to wrap around Haruka and Kuno at the waist. They looked nervously at the thin and weak looking cloth.
"Don't worry, it's stronger than it looks," Uzume reassured them, seeing the looks. "Just don't thrash too much or you may slip loose."
"Thank you for that lovely image." Haruka said as he picked himself falling from the top of a building. He didn't have time to dwell on it before Dante shouted, "Go!"
Everyone shot out of the garden at high speed, Uzume waiting a split second before following behind them. They all free ran across the roofs at high speed, none of them doing any fancy maneuvers or flips this time. This time they poured in pure speed into their running, rapidly moving towards the bridge.
"Sir!" A man ran onto the roof the MBI tower where the Gamemaster Minaka Hiroto spent most of his time. Nobody knew why, and at the moment nobody really cared. They had more pressing matters at the moment. "We just lost contact with the guards at the bridge and a large group of Sekirei are moving towards it."
"I already know." Minaka responded, smirking as he looked out at the city. "A very bold move, and completely against the rules. You have a interesting group, Ashikabi of the North."
Dante sneezed and the action almost made him lose his concentration and crash into the roof top he was heading towards. Thankfully he managed to land right and keep going.
"You ok?" Tobias asked alongside him.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Matsu, how we doing so far?"
"MBI is mobilizing, but I estimate 5-10 minutes before they deploy."
'I'm estimating 2-5,' Dante thought, but he kept that to himself. Instead he said, "Got it. Is there chatter about Sekirei or Ashikabi's they might be sending after us?"
"No. They're ordering several soldiers from their private army to be deployed along with 4 Black Hawk helicopters though. All in the northern sector, but they're mobilizing in the other parts just in case someone else tries to escape in the confusion."
"Ok. Jenny, you hear all that?"
"Yep, we heard all that. All setup and ready to defend here."
"Be careful with the machine guns this time please. Or need I remind you what happened on Zeta?" Tobias asked.
"Hey, I only hit your pants leg." Jenny retorted.
"Yeah, and grazed my inner thigh!" All guys who heard this winced at the implications in that sentence.
"I still missed you, stop complaining."
"Yeah, and you also shot Rivers' hair."
"She did what?!" Dante shouted in shock.
"Ok! How about we focus here, please?"
"I have to agree with Jenny, is this really the place to talk about this?" Uzume's voice asked, too far behind them to shout to them.
"Fine, fine, but I'm getting that story later." Dante said.
All other talk ceased as they kept heading for the bridge. Another minute or two and they will have arrived.
Matsu kept typing and keeping her gaze moving between the monitors. So far everything was going according to plan. MBI was taken by surprise and was slow to mobilize despite their efficiency, giving the other time to get to bridge. And thanks to Dante activating her Norito before he left, she was able to knock out their satellites, leaving them without the all seeing eyes in the sky. Because they were focused on bringing them back up, it also gave her a nice chance to poke around in their database without too much resistance.
"Matsu, what's that?"
Matsu looked down at her side to see Ku had moved there and was looking at one particular screen.
"What's what Ku?"
"That there." Ku pointed at a file that, oddly, read Bridge Plan. Curiously roused, Matsu brought up the file on the main screen and breezed past the firewall on it. She then started reading and with every line her eyes got wider. Miya noticed this and asked, "What is Matsu?" She used her serious voice instead of her normal, cheerful voice.
"Trouble. A lot of trouble." Matsu responded before typing away faster than ever before.
Dante and the others arrived at the bridge and stopped at the end of it where Jenny and Kagari were waiting. Jenny with the machine gun slung over her shoulder and Kagari with his arms crossed.
"Took you long enough." Jenny said.
"Lot of people to move, can't move as fast as I normally do." Dante explained as Uzume joined them a split second later with Haruka and Kuno, both of whom didn't look all that great. Kuno was actually green. "Any trouble here?"
"No, and that's got me worried." Jenny admitted as she looked up and down the road. She hadn't seen any patrols or MBI soldiers at all. But also no people, no running cars, not even a dog barking or cat meowing. Nothing but the wind blowing.
Tobias looked around and murmured to himself, "Something's not right." He fired off an Air Pulse to check the surrounding area and found no body in any of the surrounding buildings. "There's nobody here. Yahan!"
A split second later his Sekirei slipped out of his shadow and said, "Yes?"
"Have you noticed anybody leaving or anything since you arrived?"
"Actually, now that you mention it I haven't."
Dante was about to comment when his earpiece shouted "Dante!"
"Matsu, what's wrong?" He asked, noticing her panicked tone.
"It's a trap! They knew about our plan, they're sending in more then was sent over the transmissions!"
Everyone's head snapped up as they heard the distinct sound of helicopter blades and vehicles rumbling. Tobias shot up to get a better view and looked in the direction. They heard him swear over the ear piece.
"We got 10 Blackhawks and at least 10 military modified Hummers coming our way, plus 6 soldier transport vehicles coming from north of us! Their splitting up to surround us!"
"How'd they get that much ready so soon?" Jenny demanded.
The Gamemaster smirked as he looked towards the north.
"The players may make moves that break the rules, but so can the Gamemaster."
"Doesn't matter. Matsu, ETA?" Dante asked while Tobias dropped back to the ground to join them.
"2 minutes and counting Dante."
Truthfully, Dante had fully expected something this the second they had arrived. With everything so quite,something had to be up with this. So while annoyed, he wasn't anywhere near off guard.
"All right, new plan. Uzume, get out of here, your cloth isn't going to be any good against that many targets and I don't want you caught in the crossfire."
"But..."
"No buts. Go, now," Dante said firmly, pointing down the street to the right, away from them. "Move fast or you'll be caught."
Uzume hesitated for a second longer before saying, "Good luck." She then turned and ran the way he pointed.
"Tsukiumi, I want you to stay here and help the others, your water will be a good defense and offense against them."
"It will be done husband." She nodded.
"Kazehana, Tobias, Musubi, you're all with me. We're getting Haruka and Kuno out of here."
"MBI isn't going to let us go without a fight. And strong as Sekirei are, even single numbers can't get out of this." Tobias pointed out while casting a concerned look at Yahan.
"Minaka wouldn't want any Sekirei killed or deactivated, that would ruin the whole game. If I had to guess all the soldiers are equipped with some sort of machine guns modified to fire tranquilizer rounds. The helicopters may be a different story, but they won't aim to kill".
They hesitated before all nodding.
"Good. Jenny, you're in charge, direct them as best you can."
"Will do."
They were about to split but Tobias stopped them from doing that by taking Yahan's face in his hands and kissing her. She blinked in surprise, before closing her eyes and enjoying the kiss while her Sekirei crest glowed and wings, with feathers glowing black, spread from her back and stretched outwards. They lasted for a few seconds before seemingly melting away like ink. Tobias pulled back with a blush on his face as he said, "Thought Norito would be the best I could do to help you."
Yahan nodded, also blushing. "Thanks."
Tobias nodded before kissing her forehead and said, "Be careful." He then let go of Yahan and turned to see everyone staring between the two, most looking surprised while Jenny's mouth was slightly open in shock. Tobias snapped, "What? You've never seen a guy kiss his girlfriend before?"
"Not you, no." Jenny said, closing her mouth. Tobias snorted before responding, "Things change. Now, MBI is almost here, so shall we go?" Sure enough they could hear the helicopter and trucks much better now, indicating they were much closer and, looking at the streets, they could see headlights rushing towards them. They could also see a few helicopters now, above the trucks.
"Yeah, we need to go," Dante said. He turned to everyone and nodded. "Let's give them hell before we go."
Tobias smiled very wide as he brought up both hands. "I like that idea." He faced north towards some of the forces and concentrated air into the palms of his hands. He then clenched his fists and pulled back. "Double divine punishment."
He thrust both forwards, firing two shock waves that roared towards them, merging into each other to make one larger than both had been. The helicopters started pitching unsteadily as they approached and peeled off as the shockwave hit the vans. The result was them being pushed or throw back by the attack, tumbling over themselves while the people inside were shaken like beads in a rattle. They all came to a rest after a half minute and three blocks back, all dented and damaged beyond repair. The people inside were battered to, but none dead and nothing that couldn't be fixed by a doctor and pain killers.
Dante whistled at the destruction. "Remind me not to piss you off."
"Will do. Now, shall we?"
"Let's. Be careful everyone." Dante told them before nodding at Tobias. Said teen concentrated and made platforms underneath everyone they needed, freaking out Haruka and Kuno in the process, before carrying them off to the bridge. Jenny watched them go before turning back to look at the vehicles still approaching. She flicked off the safety as all the other Sekirei got ready to fight.
Tobias set them down on the bridge a third of the way across and let the air flow back to normal. They'll all dropped and staggered slightly from the support suddenly vanishing but quickly recovered. Well, most did...
"Never, ever do that again. That was the worse..." Haruka said, pointing at Tobias and looking sick. Kuno looked worse than her Ashikabi did, wobbling on her feet and taking shaky breaths as she looked around.
"It's not the bad once you get used to it. Now come on, we still got a ways to run." Dante said. This made everyone remember MBI was still chasing them and they started running down the bridge. They went for about ten minutes, making it a little more than halfway across when Dante spotted someone on the bridge. An outline hiding leaning on a bridge support, arms crossed.
"Wait!" Dante shouted, making everyone slow to a stop along with him, all wondering why until they looked where he was. The more serious ones looked at the person with narrowed eyes, Musubi curiosity, and the two runaways with fear.
"Well, it's about time you guys got here." A girls voice called as the person pushed off the support and walked out before stopping and putting a hand on her hip. "Do you have any idea how boring it is staying here all day?"
The girl in question was wearing what looked to Dante like a self made Disciplinary Squad uniform. A black kimono-like shirt with white highlights and Sekirei crests on both shoulders, one sleeve missing, a large pink bow tied to her side, and pink hair in a side ponytail with two daisy clips, thigh length leggings and a pair of knee high pink heels. She was also wearing fingerless red gloves that went a bit farther than her wrist. All in all, she was very pretty, but Dante knew this girl was anything but harmless.
"Well, I didn't expect you to already be here. I figured at least ten minutes before MBI was organized enough to send out you."
"Well, you're not as subtle as you think. Besides, I been wanting to meet the person who apparently gave the Black Sekirei pause."
"Who are you?" Musubi asked, tilting her head in confusion. The pink haired girl seemed to find the question amusing as she snorted.
"I guess she was right about you to. You're a scatter brain."
"Who said that about me?"
"The black Sekirei." The girl responded, looking irritated now.
"Black Sekirei? I don't know anybody named that." Musubi said out loud, looking up and putting a finger to her chin.
"Jeez, how stupid are you!? Karasuba!" The girl shouted at the fist type, a tic mark on her head. Musubi's eyes cleared and d a fist into her hand.
"Oh, Karasuba! Wait, I'm not stupid!" Musubi glared at the girl while puffing her cheeks out.
"Ok, getting off track here," Dante intervened before the conversation could carry on. He really didn't need them to start fighting. Yet.
Tobias was tuning out the talk at the moment while keeping his eyes on the girl. To most, she looked harmless, but River had always told him never judge a book by its cover. And keeping a close eye on the girls movements and body language, he could tell...
'She's strong...'
"Now, can we get your name please?" Dante asked once he had calmed down Musubi enough she wouldn't just attack them. "And the name of the person on the beam above and behind us?"
As soon as he said that everyone but Dante turned and looked up. Haruka gasped and Kuno did as well, grabbing onto of Haruka's arm and pressing close to it, looking scared.
Standing in a crouch about them was the person Dante was talking about, with her arms hanging by her side. It was a slender female whose bandage-wrapped form was covered by a tattered dark kimono that hung loosely off her shoulder. Around her neck was black studded choker, disheveled grey hair hanging over narrow eyes; giving her a wicked, daunting appearance. Her arms only completed this appearance. On them were a pair of modified and personalized gauntlets, the fingers were all covered with gleaming scythe-like and barbed-tipped claws, and metal bracers that shielded her arms up to the elbow.
"Impressive. I didn't think you noticed me." The new gothic girl said, tilting her head.
"Oh, I'm very good at noticing things. And honestly, I already knew who you two are, I just asked to be polite. You, are the Disciplinary Squad, numbers 104, aka the blue Sekirei, Haihane..." He pointed over his shoulder at the goth. "...and number 105, aka the red Sekirei, Benitsubasa."
Benitsubasa smirked. "Good mind. Let's see how you're reflexes are."
She vanished at the same time Dante did and with a thud they reappeared in the space between their previous positions.
Benitsubasa aimed a punch at Dante's head, which he dodged around to the side. He planted his right hand and let his monument carry him into a kick at her head. She blocked with a crossed arm guard, and Dante pulled his leg down, aiming the other to kick her again. Benitsubasa saw this and ducked her head down while clenching a fist and punching Dante's stomach. He whoof'd as the air was knocked out of him before being sent flying back. He felt like he had hit something soft and looked over his shoulder to see Tobias had his hand out, having made a soft air barrier to catch him. Dante then fell to both knees and took some deep breaths to get his air back.
"Is this all you can do? Karasuba must've exaggerated your abilities." The pinkette snorted. She then paused as she heard Dante start laughing gently and grow louder as he got his breath back. "What's so funny?"
"Oh nothing." Dante said as he got to his feet, clutching his side as he did. "I just got one question for you."
"What?"
"Are you missing something?"
Dante held out his other fist and opened it, allowing a pair of lacy pink panties to drop and dangle from his hand. Everyone blinked and wondered where on earth he had gotten those. Then Benitsubasa realized she wasn't feeling any on her. She instantly shrieked in embarrassment and crossed her arms over her chest while falling to her knees and blushing pinker then her hair. Haihane started snickering into her hand.
"Dante...how did...?" Tobias couldn't even ask.
"Y-YOU PERVERT! GIVE ME BACK MY UNDERWEAR! HOW DID YOU EVEN GET THOSE!?" Benitsubasa shouted at Dante in rage and embarrassment. Seriously, what the hell? They hadn't exactly stood still long enough for Dante to do that, and she was still fully clothed, and embarrassed as all hell.
"Magicians secret," Dante said with a smirk while twirling the article of clothing on his pointer finger. "But I will say this, you have good taste, and you seem to take that 'red Sekirei' thing pretty seriously." He added as he looked at the underwear. Benitsubasa turned even redder with the comment and her right eyebrow started twitching dangerously. They all heard laughter and looked to see Haihane was laughing her ass off now, holding her stomach while laying on the metal beam.
"Shut up Haihane, it's not funny!"
"Yes it is! Oh, I can't believe he did t-that! I can't stop laughing!" She said, wheezing as she did. She then rolled off the beam and fell the ground with a yelp as she crashed to the ground. She got to her feet then, looking sheepish.
"Haihane, that pervert is mine! Take the others!" Benitsubasa shouted, getting to her feet again and in a battle stance with only a small blush on her face while looking furious.
"Dante..." Tobias said warningly
"Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking," Dante muttered, looking between the two Sekirei on either side of them. "Ok, Tobias, how much did River teach you about battlefield tactics."
"A lot. Why?"
"Castling."
Eyes narrowing, Tobias drew his sword and held it in both hands. "Got it. I'm going up."
"And I'm going behind." Dante activated the Ultramatrix and twisted the dial until, he found the power he wanted. He sighed as he raised his hand. "Oh, this is going to hurt."
He slammed the dial down and the typical red flash of light happened, blinding everyone temporarily before fading just as quickly. Dante shook his arms out before cracking his neck twice and got into a stance. Noticing this, both members of the Disciplinary Squad tensed up with Haihane raising her claws in preparation, Kazehana and Musubi readying to fight.
"Any last words?" Benitsubasa asked cockily with a condescending smirk.
"Yeah. Two."
SNIKT
SNIKT
All of a sudden, three metallic foot long claws shout out both his hands, in between the knuckles. All gleaming, thin, and clearly razor sharp. Everyone who saw them looked at them in shock before looking at Dante's smirking face.
"Jump now."
Tobias crouched before jumping upwards, flipped, pushed off a air barrier at the pink haired Sekirei while Dante spun on heel and blasted off at the claw wielding Sekirei. Both looked surprised at this but both had the presence of mind to dodge as they were attacked.
Tobias slashed downwards at Benitsubasa, who jumped backwards as the blade sliced into the concrete like a knife through soft cheese. Tobias landed on both feet and pushed off after her, slashing and cutting as he did. She dodged each one with remarkable flexibility.
"Hey, what the hell!? I didn't want to fight you!" She shouted in anger as she leaned back from a slice at the chest.
"Life's full of little disappointments," Tobias responded as he skidded to a stop and reared a fist. "Divine punishment." He fired off the shockwave at the Sekirei and it collided, pushing her back. She stopped looking pissed as she got back into a stance and cracked her knuckles.
"If I have to get through you, then let's go."
The red Sekirei vanished in a blur and Tobias narrowed his eyes before ducking forwards, dodging a spin kick from behind. Not stopping, Benitsubasa planted the foot she just used to kick and spinning into another, this on aimed at Tobias's legs, which he jumped over and away from. This lead to a game of catch, the teen with Benitsubasa pursuing him relentlessly. With each attack that missed and hit the bridge, the concrete cracked and shattered in places. As Tobias dodged and landed from one particularly hard kick, a fist sized piece of debris managed to catch him on the arm. The sheer force behind it knocked him off balance enough to drop to his knee.
"Aha!" Benitsubasa shouted in triumph as she rose her leg to deliver a axe kick. It descended and was about to hit before she was blind sided by a blast of wind and skidded to the side a ways, winded and stunned. Both looked to see Kazehana with her hand outstretched and for the first time since Tobias had known her, she looked angry.
"I'm afraid I can't let you hurt my Ashikabi. He's the best thing I've had in my life for a long, long time." She said with a calm voice that hinted at the pure anger she was feeling.
Benitsubasa sneered at her while Tobias got back up. "You really think you can beat me?"
"Alone? No. But she's not alone." Tobias answered her question while flexing his arm to make sure it was in working order. Other than a large bruise and some soreness, it wouldn't hinder him.
"Kazehana, try for some long range attacks, I'll get in close and personal, ok?" He asked. Kazehana nodded and then said, "Be careful."
"Always." He muttered before Benitsubasa charged at him and he went to meet her in the middle. This was really going to suck.
Meanwhile, Dante had been having "fun" crossing claws with Haihane. The gothic girl was limber all right, and her finger claws were dangerous. A prime example would be when he had dodged a slash with his back to a metal beam, and turning to see the beam had been sliced clean through. When he had seen that he whistled.
"I'll give MBI this, they make good weapons for Sekirei." He said before blocking a left slash with his own claws. He then tried a right upper hook, but missed again as Haihane leaned back. She then heard something and looked to see a black gloved hand coming at her head. Eyes widening in surprise, she tilted her head enough so it simply grazed her cheek before smashing the bridge. She let go of Dante's claws and flipped over her attacker for some breathing room while the attacker in question pulled her fist from the crater she had just made, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Thanks for the hand Musubi." Dante said gratefully. Musubi nodded in response, jumping on her feet.
"Well, Karasuba certainly wasn't wrong when she said you two are just full of surprises." Haihane complimented as she watched them.
"Thank you. You're not a bad fighter yourself, and those claws are excellent weapons."
Haihane bowed her head slightly. "Though I do have to ask about your own. They must be very durable if my own claws can't cut or bend them."
Dante held up a fist to look at his own claws. "Yep. These took a lot of time to make, due to the rarity of this metal, the refining, and then having said metal grafted into these. Hurt too. But shall we keep going?" He asked, looking back at her with a concentrated gaze.
"Sure." She charged forwards with the response, heading for Musubi this time. The Sekirei was annoying and while Karasuba said not to kill or deactivate her, that didn't mean she couldn't...hinder her.
Musubi jabbed at the Sekirei's head as soon as she was in range, but Haihane ducked to the side while thrusting up her right hand with the fingers straightened. Musubi wasn't quite fast enough and took a slight cut on the right shoulder. Seemingly not noticing, Musubi punched down with her left fist in response. Haihane bent her chest out of the way and did a cartwheel, slashing at Musubi's arm as she landed on her feet. Musubi took the hit, 5 shallow cuts going across her forearm. Wincing slightly, Musubi kicked at the Sekirei only for her to dodge yet again. She took the chance to try and slash through the arm before a gleam out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Eyes widening again, she was forced to jerk her head down as three metal claws swiped over it, slicing off a few strands of hair.
Dante kicked up at Haihane, forcing her to block with her arms and leaving Dante an opening he took as he slashed across the left guarded forearm. He sliced through the specially treated metal easily, leaving behind 3 cuts. Hissing in pain, Haihane grabbed Dante's arm with her right hand while swiping the other hand across his face. His head whipped around and she smirked, knowing she had hit. He slowly turned back with a blank face as she saw two cuts across the cheek, 2 inches apart and fairly deep. The smirk on her face faded as she saw the wounds close swiftly like zippers closing, leaving unmarked skin.
"That hurt."
Musubi took advantage of the opening and delivered a spin kick to the Sekirei's head, sending her flying and skidding across the bridge before stopping and simply laying there for a minute.
"Ow." She muttered weakly. She slowly sat up to see the two fighters standing a ways away, though it took a minute to sort out the three different perspectives dancing across her vision from being kicked in the head with the force and toughness of a anvil being dropped. Blinking to get back her sight, Haihane slowly got to her feet. "What gives? I saw those cuts..."
"Oh you mean this?" Dante pointed at his cheek. "Healing factor. I can actually regenerate limbs when using it to this degree, but you would not believe how much it hurts." He then heard a small explosion behind them and looked over his shoulder to see Tobias having dodged a punch and Benitsubasa pulling her fist from the bridge, looking mad before getting hit from the side by a shockwave fired by Kazehana, who was standing a ways away. "Hey Musubi." He didn't get a answer for a second and looked to see Musubi was watching the other fight with a slight pout while still looking excited. How that was possible, he didn't know. "Musubi?"
"Hhmm?" Musubi seemed to realize Dante was talking to her and looked to him. He chuckled. "You want to fight her instead I take it?" Musubi's response was a very enthusiastic nod of the head. "All right then. Tobias!"
"With you in a minute!" Tobias shouted back before blocking a jab with the flat of his sword and punching at Benitsubasa's head, firing off a shock wave that sent her skidding back, snarling in irritation. "What do you need?!" Tobias asked, not taking his eyes off his own fight as the pinkette wiped her mouth.
"Want to switch?"
Tobias cocked an eyebrow before looking at the pair, then Haihane. He then considered Benitsubasa and shrugged. "Sure, I'm good with that."
"Musubi." She looked at Dante who smiled and nodded his head. "Have fun."
Musubi squealed as she hugged Dante before running to take up the fight from Tobias and Kazehana. Everyone sweat dropped at the action before Musubi stopped a fair distance from Benitsubasa and got into her stance. "I'm number 88 Musubi!"
Benitsubasa looked irritated and replied, "I already knew who you were, and I don't want to fight you." She then glared at Dante. "I want to fight you."
"Sorry, can't do that." Dante replied casually while his claws slid back into his hands, the holes closing at they did. "See, I told Musubi to have fun, and I know for a fact that she has the most fun fighting on her own. And I hate making Musubi unhappy because she always pouts then, and while cute, I can't resist the pout."
"Whipped." Tobias coughed loudly but was largely ignored except for a chuckle from Kazehana.
"No, I think I'll just let Musubi handle it until she needs help. That ok Musubi?"
"Yep!" Musubi said with her normal, pre-battle enthusiasm.
"Well, there you go. Can't deny her what she wants. So..." He blurred and reappeared near Haruka and Kuno, both jumping as they saw him leaning against the support next to them with his arms crossed. "I'll keep these two company until anyone asks for help."
Benitsubasa was getting furious. First this guy stole her underwear, which she still had no clue how he had, then made her fight some weirdo with wind powers instead of him, now he was just letting his Sekirei fight her because he wanted her to have fun!? That did it!
"You're dead!" She appeared in front of Dante with her face twisted in anger and punched directly at his head, not holding back. Dante leaned in fast enough to avoid the punch and got nose to nose with Benitsubasa , who looked shocked at the speed while Dante looked calmly at her.
"Trying to kill me by punching me in the head. That's not very nice."
He didn't get a response as the pinkette apparently realized their position and instinctively reared up her other fist to punch. She didn't get a chance as she felt something hit her right side in the ribs and throw her away from Dante as she landed. She held her rib cage while looking to see Musubi was lowering her left leg from the kick she just delivered. Benitsubasa growled while getting to her feet.
"You're annoying."
Tobias and Kazehana watched as Musubi started fighting with Benitsubasa . So far it looked fairly one sided, Musubi dodging blows from Benitsubasa while dealing some glancing blows in return. But Tobias wasn't too worried. If there was one thing he had learned, it was that Dante always had a plan when it came to any fight.
Speaking of fighting, Tobias looked at their own opponent and saw she was...sitting on the ground with her legs crossed? She wasn't even looking at them, but rather past them at the fight between the two fist fighters.
"Okay..." Tobias drew out the word. "Hello?" He waved his hand in the Sekirei's line of sight, drawing her bored look at him.
"Yes?" She asked. Tobias cocked an eyebrow.
"I figured you'd be itching for a fight."
"Nah, to be honest I'm not really a big fighter." The girl said, raising a hand to scratch her head. A hand covered in hooked claws.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!"
Haihane stopped. "What?"
"You were about to stab yourself with your own claws."
"Hhmm?" She looked to see her claws and it clicked. Haihane blushed slightly and said sheepishly, "Oh. Right. I forget about those sometimes."
"How do you...know what, never mind. I don't want know." Tobias shook his head. "So what, you don't want to fight period?"
"Truthfully? No. If I had a choice, I'd rather just spend my time annoying Benitsubasa rather than fighting every Sekirei that tries to get out of the city, but Natsuo is always telling us to go stop 'em."
"Uh-uh." Tobias was finding this really weird, and coming from a guy who had a time traveling adoptive mother who was raised to be a psychopath, that was saying a lot. "So, you're just going to sit there?"
"Haihane! Don't you dare just sit there!" The banshee yell from behind interrupted them, the loud voice making everyone wince. "Natsuo will not be happy if you just slacked off again and let them get away!"
Haihane sighed in irritation before getting to her feet. "All right, all right, stop shouting so much...washboard."
"What did you call me!?"
Benitsubasa wouldn't have heard the answer if she had gotten one, since Musubi took the lapse in concentration to punch her face in.
"So, same as before?" Kazehana asked as Haihane rose her claws.
"Yep." Tobias gripped his sword in preparation. This...was going to suck.
Jenny ducked behind cover as several bullets chipped the concrete barrier at her back. So far things had been fairly moderate for the time being. After Tobias had taken out the forces coming from the front street, the soldiers that could had climbed out of the disabled vehicles and attempted to approach them while the ones on either side had come roaring down at them. Kagari had given them a minute of breathing room at the beginning by making a wall of fire to stop them from getting too close, but that hadn't stopped them from firing.
Dante had been right about the soldiers behind armed with tranquilizer guns, but the weren't the normal kind. They fired off bullets that had a weak covering strong enough to take being fired, but weak enough the shock of hitting something caused them to break, releasing a special liquid tranquilizer that numbed any flesh it hit and stopped the nerves from firing enough to move. Jenny had found out that little fact when she had gotten some of the liquid on her right shoulder from one of the bullets hitting behind her. Not enough to stop her, but the shrapnel it had resulted in had stung before the affected area was numbed, and reduced her reflexes and aim a little.
In any case, the fire walls had eventually died down and now they were barricaded in the station with Jenny firing tranquilizer bullets at the soldiers while Kagari was firing and destroying the cars and anything else they were using for cover.
Kagari dropped beside her and she asked, "How's it going?"
"They keep coming. Akitsu took out all the air units though and Yahan seems to be having a ball."
Said Sekirei were currently on the roof and taking cover behind an ice barrier that was slowly being chipped away by all the soldiers firing, but it was thick enough to not be a problem. Akitsu was an enormous help with providing cover and immobilizing the soldiers with Yahan taking out soldiers by teleporting to and fro dropping them from above or below with devastating punches and kicks while slicing others weapons to bits with her knife. Of course she didn't kill any of them but did cut up a few of them as warning to the others. Whenever she needed a breather she'd teleport back into the building or behind Akitsu's ice barriers.
Yahan took that moment to slip out of Jenny's shadow and appear in front of them, a massive grin on her face, though panting and sweating.
"Well, glad someone's having fun then." Jenny grunted before firing a few shots off, hitting the exposed neck skin of soldiers of face shots, causing them to drop limp as they were paralyzed. She ducked back as they returned fire. "How's it going out there Yahan?"
"Pretty good. I took quite a few out on this run and from what I can tell from vantage points, MBI doesn't seem to be sending out any of their Sekirei after us. And those idiots keep trying to shoot me when I show up, but they just end up shooting each other. Really, this is fun." She finished cheerfully, making Jenny look at her.
"You've got a sadistic streak don't you?"
"Eh, I like making MBI look like idiots. Who doesn't?" She shrugged.
"Touché. By the way, where's Tsukiumi?" Jenny asked, realizing she hadn't seen the blond Sekirei for a while now.
"She's being smart for once and attacking from a distance. She's jumping buildings while..."
"Water Celebration!" said Sekirei's voice rang out before following a cry of suprise from a group of soldiers as a orb of water landed in their midst before exploding with the force of a grenade. It knocked them off their feet and disoriented them before the soaked soldiers bodies froze over with a thin sheet of ice. Apparently Akitsu was taking advantage of the confusion and water to stop them for now.
"Doing that." Yahan finished.
"Well, that's useful. Dante, how are things going on the bridge?" She pressed a finger to her ear piece. She was getting concerned they hadn't heard from the others, since they should've dropped off Haruka and Kuno already and called in.
"Hey, Jenny! How's it going over there at the station?"
"Fine. Why do you sound so happy?" She asked nervously. When Dante was happy in the middle of an operation like this, people got nervous. For very good reasons normally.
"Oh, no real reason. Just watching Musubi... Musubi, duck right! Left straight! There you go! Sorry about that, uh, just watching Musubi fighting Benitsubasa while Tobias and Kazehana are taking Haihane."
"While Musubi and Tobias are fighting who now?"
"Oh, right, never told you their names. Uh, the blue and red Sekirei of the Disciplinary Squad."
"What?! Tobias is fighting a member of the Disciplinary Squad?!"
"What!?" Yahan shouted. She turned on her own ear piece. "Dante, what do you mean Tobias is fighting a member of the Disciplinary Squad?!
"Yahan! Hey!"
"Don't you 'hey' me, what do you mean Tobias is fighting?!" Yahan shouted.
"I mean right now I am watching him and Kazehana fight Haihane of the Disciplinary Squad, and doing a decent job of it too. Oh, hang on."
They waited a few seconds before Dante said, "Sorry, I got to call you back. Musubi, dodge!"
The next thing they heard was a massive CRACK followed by a rumble from the direction of the bridge.
"What the hell was that!?" Kagari yelled while running to the window. when he saw what had happened, his mouth fell open, not that anyone could tell with his mask on. "Uh, Jenny, can you please come look at this?"
"What did that idiot do now?" Jenny went to the window. She groaned in exasperation when she saw the sight. "Oh Dante..."
The reason she was upset was because a large chunk of the bridge, a little more than halfway across, had crumbled and collapsed into the river below. The gap looked to be around 30 feet across and there was now no way across it.
Jenny didn't have time to be upset by this turn of events as she heard several gunshots from outside and heard Aktsu over her ear piece.
"Ah...I need some help out here."
Jenny shook her head and turned. "Come on, we need to push those guys back and give them time to get away."
"How are they going to get over a gap like that?" Kagari asked.
"Dante has a plan. That idiot always has a plan." Jenny grumbled before firing out the window.
Haruka winced as Dante shouted, "Dodge!" next to him, promoting Musubi to dodge another right straight from the pinkette and hit nothing but air. "Now left high kick!" Musubi did just that, hitting the girl in the shoulder and knocking her to the side. Musubi led up the attack with a one two combo to the chest before knocking her legs out from under her. "There you go! Good job Musubi!"
Musubi smiled at him before flipping back to avoid a low punch to the midriff from the pissed off and downed Benitsubasa , giving her time to jump up. "Stop helping her! You said you wanted her to have fun, so you wouldn't interfere!" She shouted at Dante.
"I said I let her fight you on her own. Physically. However, I never said I couldn't give Musubi tips on what to do, and she seems to enjoy them, therefore, I am letting Musubi physically fight alone and Musubi is having fun at the same time." Anyone who had ever met Dante agreed one thing. He talked and explained himself like a lawyer. And everyone hates lawyers.
"You sound like a lawyer." Haruka commented nervously as he watched the fight between the two fist fighters carry on.
"Hardly. I'm only human. Lawyers are escaped convicts from hell in my opinion. Hhmm, maybe I should see what happens when I use that power on them." He muttered thoughtfully before hearing a body hit the ground in front of him with a "oohhf" of exhaled breath. He glanced down to see Tobias laying there arms outspread and his sword next to his right hand. "Problems?"
"Oh no, I'm perfectly fine after being hit in the ribs by an alien woman from another planet that can slice through metal," was the response he got as Tobias stumbled back to his feet, clutching his left side with one hand and his sword in the other. "Anytime you want to jump in is just fine. Really."
"Thanks but I'm good." Dante said with a cheerful wave and grin.
"Ass." Tobias muttered before sending a Divine Punishment attack at Haihane, who was playing a high stakes game of catch me with Kazehana and her claws. Said attack hit her in the side and sent her flying towards the other end of the bridge. She flipped in midair and landed on her feet, skidding back a few feet before pushing off and charging towards them. Tobias blasted off with his own blast of air to clash blades in the middle.
Dante turned to Haruka and Kuno, who were both watching the battles with nervous eyes. "So, how are you liking this so far?"
"I'm thinking that some of the rumors I heard about you are true." Haruka said before covering his eyes from dust blown up by a attack fired by Kazehana which missed Haihane by inches.
"Such as?"
"That you were a world class nut job to avoid at all costs."
Dante tapped his chin thoughtfully before shrugging. "Eehh, to each his own I..." He paused as apparently heard something and put a finger to his ear. "Hey Jenny! How are things going at the station?"
He waited before replying, "Oh, no real reason. Just watching Musubi... Musubi, duck right! Left straight!" He shouted as he saw another attempt to punch her in the head from Benitsubasa . Musubi did as he said and scored a hit deep into her stomach, sending her skidding back. "There you go! Sorry about that, uh, just watching Musubi fighting Benitsubasa while Tobias and Kazehana are taking Haihane."
"What are you...?" Kuno started asking but was stopped by a "one minute please" finger from Dante as he carried on his conversation with Jenny on the other line.
Meanwhile Benitsubasa had had enough of this. At first she had thought fighting Musubi would've been quick and easy, considering she had her strength restricted while her powers were enhanced, making her stronger despite her lower number. She figured she'd finish off Musubi enough to stop her then go after that idiot that humiliated her and take some sweet revenge. But instead, she found Musubi fighting with her on almost even footing, making up for a lack of strength with insane footwork and speed that rivaled her own. And she kept getting tips on what to do from Dante, landing solid hits that hurt and hard ripped some of her clothing. Time to change the game.
"ENOUGH!" She shouted in a pissed off voice, drawing everyone's attention to her, her head down and shadowed from her hair, fists clenched and shaking. Dante said, "Oh, hang on."
"I've had enough of this game. And if you won't fight me..." She raised her head enough to glare at Dante. "Let's see how you like seeing your Sekirei get crushed."
"Sorry, I got to call you back." Dante said quickly as Benitsubasa 's right fist start glowing slightly before she crouched. "Musubi, dodge!"
Faster than she had moved then before, Benitsubasa made a crater in the bridge before appearing over Musubi's head, right fist ready to punch while Musubi looked up surprised.
"Extreme Earthquake!"
The fist descended towards Musubi's head, too fast for her to move out of the way or block. She suddenly felt someone grab her and throw her out of the way of the attack towards the others. She stopped herself and looked up just in time to see Dante kneeling with his arms crossed to block as Benitsubasa 's fist collided.
The bridge was shattered or broken. It was pulverized into dust in an instant while the outer sections were made into stone shards and twisted pieces of metal. Dante took the full brunt of the attack on his arms and his mouth was open in a silent cry of agony before he was launched into the river like he had been fired from a cannon. Benitsubasa jumped away from the bridges collapsed section as it crumbled into the river, leaving a 30 foot wide gap.
"Dante!" Musubi and Tobias shouted at the same time. Tobias ran and looked over the edge, trying to see any sign of him before swearing. "Damn it! I don't see him."
Benitsubasa shook her hand wincing slightly. Punching Dante had been worse than punching a steel wall, she had actually broken her ring finger, mainly the proximal phalanges. That would be irritating until it healed.
"Damn, he was tough. I didn't think I'd break a finger from that." She mused while looking at her hand and flexing it slightly to get used to the pain.
"Divine Punishment!"
Benitsubasa instinctively jumped up and dodged the attack with ease, bracing her feet on a metal rafter above and taking a quick look. Tobias was still standing by the edge of the bridge but he seemed to have lost interest as he had a palm aimed at the river below and his eyes closed. Haruka and Kuno were both slightly scratched from the explosion of force on the bridge, Kazehana was fighting Haihane and keeping her away and Musubi...
Wait. Where was Musubi?
Her answer was a blow from behind her that sent her flying on a collision course with another of the metal beam supports. Benitsubasa quickly maneuvered herself to stop feet first on it and looked to see Musubi in the air with her right left outstretched and for once she didn't look happy or even amused. She looked down right pissed.
"How dare you attack Dante!" She shouted at Benitsubasa before she landed on the bridge and blasted off making a crater. Benitsubasa quickly moved out of the way as the punch missed and made the 2 foot thick beam bend slightly under the force. Musubi went nuts, moving much faster than before thanks to the anger running through her giving her a boost. Benitsubasa was forced to retreat in order to get some reprieve from the attacks.
"Stop!" They all turned to see Kuno, glowing gold and looking determined before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She then began to sing, the sound high and soothing while golden sound waves seemed to emit from her and spread through the air. Benitsubasa suddenly fell to a knee as she felt tired.
"What? What is this?" She looked at her right hand as it shook slightly. "I'm getting weaker?"
"This Kuno's Norito, the Swaying Song." Haruka said from behind his Sekirei, though he was looking tired as well. "This song drains the energy from anyone who hears it until they fall asleep."
"Hhmm, I feel tired. Think I'll take a nap..." Haihane said sleepily as she lay down on the bridge while Kazehana seemed tired as well. Tobias seemed unaffected since he was still at the bridges end in the same position as before.
"Wake up! We're in the middle of a battle you idiot!" Benitsubasa shouted at the gothic Sekirei in outrage as she shakily tried to get to her feet. She only managed for a second before falling back to her knee. "Damn it."
"There you are you bastard!" Tobias shouted, drawing everyone's attention to him as he clenched his fist and yanked it upwards. A few seconds later something was pulled from the river and landed on the bridge with a wet slap before coughing mixed with the song in the air.
"Damn it I hate drowning." The object coughed out along with a good amount of water before it got up on all fours. "And that water is cold as hell!"
Dante slowly got to his feet, hunched over for a second before snapping up right with a sharp and wince worthy CRACK from his back. He groaned. "Oh fuck, that was not pleasant." He then looked around at the scene. "So, what'd I miss?"
"You..."
Dante glanced at the person who spoke, said person looking shocked at him. "How are you still alive? That attack could've turned a semi into a crushed soda can."
Dante chuckled at the look of shock on Benitsubasa 's face. "It would've worked, except for this." Dante brought out his claws. "Right now my bones and these claws are made of a metal called adamantium. It's very hard to find, harder to properly heat and treat. But once you do and it cools, this metal is, quite literally, indestructible. So that punch, while painfully and powerful, didn't even crack my bones."
Musubi looked ecstatic that Dante was ok and this helped counter Kuno's power making it so she didn't feel tired. Dante noticed this, giving her a small smile and nod.
"And it made you heavy as hell." Tobias said, though he was on his knee right now since Kuno was still singing and it was starting to affect him. "You're lucky you still had air in your lungs for me to pull you back up with."
"Oh, so that's how you dragged me back up. I'll have you know that was extremely uncomfortable."
"And it probably saved your life. Bite me." Tobias shot back before getting to his feet and going to help up Kazehana.
Dante shook his head before taking in the scene. "Ok, Haihane and Kazehana were fighting, Haihane seems to be taking a nap due to Kuno's power... speaking of which, you can stop Kuno, before you wear yourself out and blood comes shooting from your mouth. Plus that draining feeling is annoying." Kuno's song slowly wore away into nothing but silence before she dropped to her knees, panting and sweating heavily. Haruka was instantly by her side while Dante looked back at Benitsubasa . "So. You tried to kill my Sekirei just to get through to me and to make it so you could deal with your wounded pride."
Dante allowed his right claws to slowly slide out of their sheaths. "If anyone else tried to kill my loved ones, I wouldn't hesitate to separate their heads from the rest of their body. The only things saving you from that is that MBI wouldn't leave me alone if I did do that, and we have two people we still need to get out of the city. And I don't feel like killing you."
Dante was getting nervous even if he didn't show it. This entire event had to have happened, it was a fixed point in time. Even arrivals like his and Tobias, which had changed the timelines in a very large way by simply being there and winging their Sekirei, weren't enough to eliminate extremely emotional and powerful events. Everything else that was supposed to happen already had, but one event had not yet. And he did not feel like causing time to unravel because one critical event hadn't happened. So much as he hated it, he'd have to manipulate some people to keep the timelines intact.
"Tobias. I'm going to need your help." Dante said, turning his back on Benitsubasa while reigning his claws in. "We're getting Kuno and Haruka out of here. Now."
"Um, Dante." Tobias walked back over to him with Kazehana in tow, who looked better and more awake. "I know you were getting punched with enough force to crumple a semi, but that same punch also collapsed a chunk of the bridge. So how do..." Tobias stopped as Dante looked between him and Kazehana. He then smacked his forehead as he got the hint. "I'm a idiot."
"Yeah. So, can you do it?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's easy enough if they don't move too much."
"Good. Kuno, Haruka..." Dante turned to address them. "...you ready to get out of this city?"
Haruka nervously looked at the broken bridge end. "How? We can't cross that, we can't get out of the city."
"Not alone. But I can lift you two across the gap easily." Tobias said while keeping an air pulse eye on the two members of the Disciplinary Squad. Haihane seemed to be waking up, but Benitsubasa was just...watching them.
Dante nodded. "That's right. And once you're across the bridge and past it, you are officially outside the city limits. Now, you still have that phone I gave you?"
Haruka rifled through his pockets before pulling it out. He checked to make sure it was still working and nodded. "Good. Call the number in the speed dial and my friend will come pick you up. Oh, and don't be surprised when he does show up, he's a little..."
"Weird." Tobias suggested. Dante nodded.
"Yeah, weirds a good way of putting it." He then clapped his hands together. "Alright then. Tobias."
Tobias closed his eyes, lifting his right hand palm up while taking a breath. "Hold on."
"To what?" Haruka asked before clutching at Kuno who clutched at him. The reason being they suddenly and smoothly lifted off of the ground and hovered a good foot over the bridge now. They then floated quickly over the gap and in half a minute were on the other side and gently set down. The two looked down, at each other, then back across the bridge where everyone was waving now.
"Bye! And tell Jack I said hi!" Dante shouted over the gap while everyone else shouted or waved their goodbyes as well, Musubi's being the most enthusiastic of the small group. Haruka and Kuno hesitantly waved back before turning and running down the bridge, hand in hand, out of sight.
Dante sighed. "Well, let's head back. Nothing worth staying here for."
Benitsubasa was... she didn't know how to word it. First, she had tried to smash Musubi into a pulp so her idiot of an Ashikabi would fight her and she could pay him back for stealing her underwear somehow. Nobody did that to her! Except maybe Natsuo, but that was different!
Instead she had smashed Dante with her attack and sent him into the river after hitting him with enough force to collapse part of the bridge. She had been a bit disappointed she didn't get to hurt him more then that, only to find he had been alive from getting hit and hadn't even broken one stinking bone thanks to some metal grafted over them or something. He had then threatened her and then said he didn't feel like killing her. Like she wasn't worth his time.
Now she knew how to word how she was feeling as she watched them talking about leaving since there was "nothing worth staying here for." She was mad. She was humiliated. And more then that, she wanted revenge. She slowly clenched her fists, ignoring the pain in her right one, while burning a hole in Dante's head while his back was to her, and everyone else on his right, Musubi directly beside him. She silently lifted her self into a runners pose. Then fired herself off, left fist cocked back and ready to deliver a blow to Dante's skull.
What she failed to notice was Musubi turning her head just as she charged, or the way her eyes widened in shock before she reacted.
"DANTE, LOOK OUT!"
Dante was instantly and violently pushed out of the way by Musubi and went flying just as he heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh before flesh met stone. He stopped himself and turned to see what had happened. His hearts stopped.
Benitsubasa had apparently fired herself at him when his back was turned and had attempted to cave in his skull from behind. Instead, Musubi had taken the blow while pushing him out of the way. Benitsubasa was taking her fist off of Musubi's back while said Sekirei was face down on the bridge and her hair spider webbing away from her and showing her neck. Where her Sekirei crest was fading into nothing.
It had to have happened. It was a fixed point in time. Causing it not to happen would've been catastrophic to everyone and everything. But at that moment...he...didn't...care.
"Divine punishment!"
Tobias had reacted on instinct, and moved far faster than Dante had ever seen him move before. He was now sending Benitsubasa skidding back from Musubi with a shockwave and charging her while shouting at Dante, "Dante take care of her!"
Benitsubasa stopped and snarled. "Get out of my way!"
Tobias did a diagonal right slash at the pink haired Sekirei but she grabbed the blade before it could connect. She then nailed him in the ribs with a left kick, sending him into a metal beam without his sword. She threw it away and over the bridge without a second thought while Tobias collided hard with the beam, but even with a cushion of air slowing him he grunted in pain as his right arm hit, followed by his head. Tobias slid down the beam, stunned and in pain. Benitsubasa decided to take him out before he got in the way again and vanished, reappearing with her fist cocked back.
"Pulverizer!"
It was slow motion for Tobias now as he slowly turned his head. There was a ringing in his head from hitting the metal beam and he couldn't hear anything as he looked. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dante was kneeling next to Musubi's body, shaking slightly. He was hurting from seeing her deactivated, but he couldn't blame her. He then looked forward to see Benitsubasa standing in front of him, a sneer on her face and her fist heading towards him. He snorted inside softly.
'Sorry River. Guess I'm not coming home after all.' He thought as he watched the fist approach, and closed his eyes in defeat. 'But thank you, for raising me. And thank you, Kazehana, Yahan. For loving me and being my Sekirei.'
Tobias heard something hit and was confused when he didn't feel any increase in pain. He opened his to see what was going on. And his blood turned colder than ice.
Kazehana was standing in front of him and hunched over at an awkward angle while Benitsubasa had her fist buried in her stomach. Tobias felt a lot of pain through his link with her, and some emotions. Selfishness, dedication, love. All directed at him.
'I'm sorry Tobias. I couldn't stop myself.' He heard her voice in his head and had a sudden picture of her smiling at him in his head. 'Good bye, and thank you for being my Ashikabi.'
He then felt his link slip away while on her neck, the Sekirei crest faded and she fell forwards, hitting the bridge with a dull and heart stopping thud. Tobais did the only thing he could think to do.
"KAZEHANAAA!"
A/N from lostsoldierS636: Gah-DAMN this took forever to complete. With constant stuff going on and school drawing to a close and me having to work overtime trying to boost my grades, I've barely had time to write. But don't worry about the next chapter. I promise it'll be out ASAP. So tune in bat time, same bat...oh wait wrong show. Anywho see you guys next time!
A/N from Jason Grace son of zues: HOLY COW, ITS FINISHED! First off, let us apologize for the wait, but as lostsoldierS636 said, with school drawing to a close and other crap going on in life, it didn't leave much time to write. But we hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as for the cliff hanger...that was my idea. Yes, I know, we're evil. But being evil is what makes things interesting, plus it's how we get half our ideas for this story. But in any case, next chapter is when a lot of crap is going to happen, and it's going...to be...awesome. Tune in next time.
P.S: Tobias is my OC. Hope you all enjoy him.