Father Yamato looked out the window at the courtyard below. The gates were shut and locked, and two of Father Okawara's brothers stood at the front doors.

"I will find out what is happening, and diffuse the situation, Mayor. Have no fear," Father Okawara said, then hung the phone up. In a somber tone, he said, "She is coming. The real battle is at hand, Father. Gather all the brothers in the sanctuary. These devils have a big ego, I imagine she will come right through the front door."

Father Yamato frowned and asked, "Aren't two brothers watching the gates?"

"Yes, and I am sure they will die bravely for God. Their death cries will alert us to her presence. I know this one well from the island facility reports. She will not be stopped by so little. It will take all of us here to stop her," Father Okawara said grimly.

Father Yamato turned, surprised at this news. "But, Brother Samuru defeated their leader by himself," he said.

"Their leader, yes. Not the most powerful one. This Lady Lucy has a long history of violence, and has survived massive attacks against her. She is the key, Father. If we can bring her down, then the others will see they have no choice but to submit or die. If we loose against her, then all is lost. The fate of Japan and possibly the world, will be decided here today."

"Your six Brothers that remained in the church are the most powerful holy men we have. Surely you don't think she can stand against all of them," Father Yamato said with a wave of his hand. "My Brothers also have a rifle up on the third floor with instructions to shoot any sect member they see."

"That rifle will be useless. Those six Brothers, the four you have and us must stop her, Father. And yes, it is still going to be a hard fight. Men will die for God today," Father Okawara stated. "We should pray while we have the chance."

"Brother Junso and the mountain devil are missing," Father Yamato said sadly. "I only have three brothers."

"Any idea where he went?"

Father Yamato shrugged. "He was badly bruised, I can't imagine him going very far. That is, unless he had taxi money to return that devil to her family."

"Then I pray Brother Junso has not turned completely to darkness and told our plans to the mountain devils."

.

Mariko hung on the side of the church peeking into windows. Luckily, Mama Lucy hadn't arrived yet. So far, Mariko found two monks outside the doors into the church, four inside their meeting hall, and the two more heading down to the first floor. She had yet to find any of the Brothers she knew. That was still a lot of monks against her mother. Mariko came to stand beside her mother and kill if she had to. She knew there was no hope that she could fulfill the police's request for her to stop a fight before it happened. That hope was gone when those men lobotomized her sister.

Gripping the eaves above and swinging along the side of the church towards the front, Mariko noticed a barrel sticking out of an open window. She gripped the wall and crept closer. She heard Brother Yasou speak.

"What I don't understand is, why they would attack us? Haven't we been getting along with them?"

"And to shoot ... this gun at them. That does not seem right at all," Brother Hiro said.

Coming up to the window from the side, Mariko peeked in to see the three Brothers standing around the large rifle, but not one touched it. "I would say that is wrong, also," she said, poking her head in.

The startled monks backpedaled, then quickly looked back at the door.

"Lady Mariko! You shouldn't be here." Brother Yasou said firmly.

"Why does the sect want to attack us?" Brother Hiro asked.

"Have you seen Brother Junso?" Brother Tanaki asked.

Slowly, Mariko said, "Brother Junso is at the community center. He brought Kanae back from this church. Your Father Okawara lobotomized her. Mama Lucy is on her way right now, and she's very angry. All of you should leave. Once Mama Lucy arrives, many will die."

After the gasps of disbelief, Brother Hiro asked, "Why would Father Okawara do something like that?"

"Lady Mariko, that is just too ... cruel to even be considered truth."

Mariko felt the weak presence of another sect member, and the feeling was growing. She looked out over the city. Mama Lucy was coming. She grabbed the rifle with a mind hand and pulled it out the window to her. She told the monks, "You can believe me and go while you can, or verify what I've told you. If you stay, there is a very good chance you'll be killed. Either way, you're not going to shoot this at my mother. Are there any other guns?"

"Just that one," Brother Yasou said.

With a shrug, Brother Hiro said, "We weren't sure how to use it anyway."

"Please go, I like you guys and I don't want to see you get killed," Mariko told them, then disappeared.

Brother Yasou stuck his head out the window and looked around. "She's gone," he said.

Brother Hiro winced and said, "We should probably tell Father Yamato she took the rifle."

"You can do that, Brother. Be my guest," Brother Takaki said.

Brother Yasou turned to them and said, "We will all go and tell the good Father what happened. We will also ask if what Lady Mariko said is true."

.

Mariko deposited the rifle on the roof, hooking the strap to a vent. She then went to the back of the building where she'd found another open window to get in.

It was some kind prayer chamber Mariko entered. Going to the door, she opened it slowly to find the hallway beyond empty. She moved along as quietly as she could, keeping her senses sharp. She didn't want anyone to know she was inside. At least, not until Mama Lucy got here.

.

Lucy leaped from rooftop to rooftop, circling to come at the church from the side. She felt the presence of another in back. It felt like Mariko. Once she made the church roof, she went to the front. Seeing a rifle laying on the roof, she picked it up. It was loaded. She pulled the bolt partially back to see a round in the chamber. A grin crossed her face.

From the edge of the rooftop, the courtyard below looked empty. Lucy lowered herself down the front and noticed a pair of monks bracketing the doors. Shooting out two mind hands, she reached into their skulls and spun her hands around, scrambling their brains inside their heads. The bodies jerked, but Lucy retracted her mind hands enough to grab their hair and lower them to the ground.

Lowering herself to the ground, Lucy pondered briefly how to open the doors. Bust them down, or slip in? While it would be very satisfying to destroy the doors, that would alert everyone inside that she was here. She pulled on a handle, and the door came open. She stepped inside.

To either side of her in the last benches, two brothers sat. Two more sat halfway down the isle, and another pair were at the alter. The two closest ones looked as she came in. She shot her mind hands through their heads as she raised the rifle.

SPLAT SPLAT

The gore was still flying from the exploding heads as the two on the middle stood up. She shot them with the rifle. Chambering another round with a mind hand as she aimed at Father Yamato, the gun jammed.

In front of the alter, fists came down on open palms as the monks glared at her. Lucy used a mind hand to throw the rifle like a spear. It flew up to the alter with the speed of a giant bullet and impaled Father Yamato, driving him back into the alter. He went limp around the rifle that was also driven into the alter behind him, holding his body up. The other monk spoke his word.

Lucy launched herself to the side. The blast of energy from the bearded monk destroyed the doors. He followed her movements and send out another blast. Lucy shot up in the air and jumped off a wall to land in the middle of the rows of benches as the blast send bits of wall flying. She dropped to the floor and crawled.

"Father, what's happening?" Brother Hiro cried in a wail as he and his fellow brothers piled in from a side door on the raised platform the alter was on.

"The devil is here! Two of you go down that side, you, go down the center. Flush her out!" Father Okawara commanded.

"Father, what happened to Lady Kanae?" Brother Yasou asked firmly.

"She had been pacified, another one is here now. GET HER!" Father Okawara yelled.

"What do you mean pacified, lobotomized?" Brother Yasou asked.

"Yes! Now GET HER!" Father Owawara barked.

A twenty foot long bench catapulted into the air and sped at Father Okawara. He dove for the floor. The bench sailed over him to hit the alter. Wood boards, splinters, and bits of altar, bench and dead monk exploded out from the impact. The loud impact startled the brothers, making them backpedal into the wall.

On the floor, Father Okawara saw hands and feet a few rows down. He made his gesture and shot his energy. The blast ripped through the long benches, blasting them apart the full length of the church. Regaining his feet, Father Okawara didn't see the mountain devil. Catching a streak of reddish pink on the other side of the isle, he moved to do his gesture again. Something flew into the air, he shot his blast, and destroyed a few hymnal books that had been tossed, as well as the large stained glass window beyond them..

"Try again," Lucy said in a low growl as she eyed him only fifteen feet away.

"Father, you must stop!" Brother Yasou yelled.

Father Okawara grinned, he had her! Standing in the isle with nothing around her, the mountain devil was wide open. Leveling his aim onto Lucy he spoke his word and the energy shot out.

The blast raced at Lucy, then as if hitting an invisible knife, it split to the sides to wreck more benches in either side of her. Lucy grew a sadistic grin. "My turn," she stated.

Father Okawara set himself to try again. His hands flew apart and something pulled up on his wrists and yanked him up off the floor. He struggled as he was raised to hang by his arms.

"Enough!" Mariko barked from the other side door. Walking out, she announced "I have him, Mama Lucy."

Lucy shot out two mind hands and chopped his arms off.

Father Okawara fell screaming. He struggled to rise, and Lucy chopped his legs off above the knees. He fell wailing out his agony.

"And this is for my daughter," she growled. Holding his head still, Lucy slashed at his forehead. His forehead, skull and frontal lobe of his brain flew away. The gore splattered in a long streak on the floor.

Father Okawara's eyes turned vacant as he screamed.

Lucy looked up at the three Brothers who were staring at her in horror. "Your turn," she growled as she glared at them with her red eyes.

Father Okawara's arms dropped to the floor as Mariko launched herself over to the Brothers. She landed in front of the men who were frozen in fear. "NO!" she screamed as she stood between them and Lucy.

"Move!" Lucy growled as she approached.

"Not them! They didn't do anything," Mariko cried.

"Did you see your sister?" Lucy roared at Mariko. "She has been reduced to a drooling idiot! The only thing that moves her body is spasms of pain. They ALL need to die!"

"Please, NO, not these men! Mama, they didn't now anything about it. They had no part in it," Mariko wailed in her pleas. "Junso brought Kanae to the center for help, didn't he?"

"If he knew, THEY knew! Now move aside!" Lucy yelled.

"I CAN'T!" Mariko screamed as tears ran down her cheeks. "These are our friends, they are INNOCENT!"

"MOVE!" Lucy bellowed.

"PLEASE, NO!" Mariko screamed and spread her arms out to the sides. She also spread all eight of her mind hands to the sides in a fan. She didn't think she could stop Mama Lucy's mind hands, but she was hoping that she could at least deflect a killing blow.

Mariko's heart raced in fear and her knees began to quiver as she watched Mama Lucy approach. Those red eyes seemed to grown incredibly large. Mariko could see no sanity there. She prayed Mama Lucy wasn't too far gone to hurt her own daughter, but those eyes told her otherwise. She then felt Mama Lucy's mind hands grip her upper arms hard. In a flash, she remembered that at one time, Mama Lucy had ripped Mama Nana's arms off.

"Please no," Mariko whimpered.