The Heist, Part 5
Monday. 2:10 PM
With an animalistic snarl, Annabelle Lee lifted Kyoko's body up with one hand and shoved her back against the broken window. Bits of glass fell to the street below as Kyoko's upper body was slowly forced outside. Her boots scraped and kicked against the floor, but that was little use against someone who did not have or even need legs.
Kyoko grabbed at the hand squeezing her throat and tried to break its grasp, but it was no use. Annabelle Lee wasn't especially strong for someone who had taken an Incubator's contract, but Kyoko was nearly running on fumes, even with Charlotte's earlier administrations. She had too little rest, too little food, and her fight with Brooklyn had sapped nearly all of her magical and physical reserves, with the last five minutes taking the rest. Plus, she had died at least twice in the last hour. Nifty sci-fi medicine or not, that sort of thing takes a lot out of a girl.
And at that point, Annabelle Lee had the strength of madness. Her violet eyes were flecked with bits of red, and bits of foam dripped from her bared teeth. It was disturbingly similar to the look of Brooklyn's face as her mind had collapsed, but in this case drugs had nothing to do with it. Desperation alone had caused her to snap.
As Kyoko tried and failed to break the hold on her throat, Annabelle Lee lifted her other arm. Two shining blades slid from the sheathe on her wrist, their razor-sharp points looking hungry. "You knew it was going to come to this!" she shouted. "You're going to Oblivion even if I have to hack you apart and carry the pieces there myself! And when I do, I hope she skins you alive!" She cackled. "She can do that, you know! Microlasers. They just fry away the skin a single layer at a time!"
Kyoko believed her. She also believed that when Annabelle Lee drove those nasty blades at her face, there was nothing she would be able to do to stop-
Annabelle Lee struck.
…
Monday, 12:16 PM
Forget caffeine. Forget shots of adrenaline. Desperation made for the best motivational drug.
Charlotte bolted her way through Marsters' dark and dank underbelly, moving faster than anyone in her condition had a right to. Her whole body was still wracked with pain from the fall and those gunshots, but she barely noticed. Even the slight limp she was fighting through didn't keep her from running faster than she ever had healthy.
It wasn't fast enough.
She had no idea how long she had been out, which of course meant that it had been too long. Hell, even five seconds would have been too long. Because Mami was alone with that sociopath Annabelle Lee and probably her batshit little sister as well, if Nie's unannounced marksman display was any indication. Granted, they had been banking on some kind of doublecross and had already planned to beat the Void Walkers to the punch, but if Ticky Nikki really was backing her sister up, then Mami would be caught unawares. And if The Twins were on their way as well, then she didn't have a chance. As strong as her wife was, Mami was going to be outnumbered, if not exactly outgunned. Charlotte had great faith in her abilities, but it was only going to take one lucky bullet to end things.
And she would be damned if she let that happen.
In one hand she had a copy of the tunnel network's map, and she prayed that it would not lead her astray. So far all the twists and turns were where they were supposed to be, but Charlotte knew full well that it would take an obscene amount of luck to not only get all the way to the Brothel's hidden entrance on her first try but also make it in time to do anything useful.
In her other hand was a small semi-automatic pistol. Though she wasn't really sure if she believed in God or not, she found herself thanking Him or Her that her wrist-mounted light was still working, as sacrificing her weapon for a flashlight would not have been desirable.
Okay, right turn. Skip the next two tunnels, turn left. Another right, and-
Then, as she made the turn, Charlotte found herself coming face-to-face with a terrified looking black girl with spiky orange hair. The two of them both screamed at the same time, and Charlotte reflexively brought her pistol up to start shooting.
And then her heel hit a wet patch and she slipped.
Everything from that point on seemed to happen in slow motion. Charlotte fell backward, her view rising from the other girl's face to focus on the tunnel's curving metal ceiling as her back descended to meet the ground. This is it, she found herself thinking, somehow managing to fit the entire thought in the scant milliseconds before she hit metal. I'm done. We're done. It's over, it's really-
Then she landed badly on her still-sore hip.
Charlotte waited to the end to come. A bullet to the head, a knife to the chest, some magical doohickey with way too much glitz and glitter for something so lethal, it didn't matter. She was down and helpless. It was over.
Then the other girl sidestepped her entirely and took off running. Moments later, four other pairs of shoes passed by as well, and Charlotte was alone.
Charlotte lay still, stunned more by the other girl's complete disinterest in her than the actual fall. But so long as no one was shooting at her, she wasn't going to question her good fortune. Shaking away the dazedness, she rolled over the best she could and stood up. The pain from her hip brought tears to her eyes, but she was able to push it from her mind and keep limping forward.
Well, hey, she thought as she stumbled around another corner. I should be almost there, and if those girls were running from this direction, that means I am going the right way. She just prayed that the thing they were running from wasn't anything she couldn't handle.
Charlotte made it to the last tunnel, which was supposed to be a straight shot right to the hidden door. Then she stopped.
She didn't know if the sight that greeted her was the thing that those girls had been running from, but it was gruesome nevertheless. A body lay on the ground, one dressed in jeans and a zipped-up grey hoodie. Its features were impossible to make out, mainly because it didn't have any. In place of a head, it just had a pink, fleshy mass that heaved in and out like a paper bag filled with maggots. Lying next to it was another sickening lump, this one in the process of melting away like butter on a skillet. However, she could still make out the dissolving traces of green eyes, lips, a nose, and what was probably its hair, the latter of which had sort of liquefied into a green puddle that formed a halo around the repulsive thing.
Charlotte had to admit, she had seen some incredibly disgusting things since this nightmare began and would probably see many more before it was over, but this just about caused her to lose her breakfast. She knew what it was, of course. Some unlucky sap had gotten her head cut off, and was in the process of growing a new one while the old model melted away. It was a perfectly natural process, or as natural as the afterlife was probably ever going to get. That didn't make it any less horrific.
Though there was no way the recovering corpse could hear her, Charlotte still instinctively gave it a wide berth as she passed by. She wondered if she should just shoot the thing. It would probably make sense. She didn't recognize the outfit, which made it a hostile by default. And adding a few more minutes to its regeneration time would probably be the smart thing to do.
Charlotte lifted her pistol. She glanced at the nasty, heaving thing and bit her lower lip.
Then two pale blue lumps formed, pressing their way out of the oily flesh to bulge out. They twitched this way and that as they darkened and contracted, their rims lightening to white.
Charlotte had to gag. The thing's eyes were growing back before the eyelids. And below them slimy slits were opening up, forming nostrils and a lipless mouth.
That did it. The cocktail of fear, desperation, anger, and growing horror that had been swirling in Charlotte's gut sudden spilled out, and she screamed as she opened fire. She kept screaming even as the regenerating head was blown to bits and her bullets shredded the attached body, making it twitch and jerk as slivers of pale blue mist rose into the air. She kept screaming long after her pistol ran out of ammo and kept clicking as she squeezed the useless trigger over and over again.
Finally her mind resurfaced, and Charlotte stopped shooting, though she still couldn't bring herself to lower the pistol. By then the body was a ruined mess and wasn't likely to come back any time soon. She stared with wide eyes at her handiwork, part of her horrified at what she had done while the rest admonished her for wasting time and ammo over something so trite.
A bit more of her sanity returned, and she turned her gaze to her gun. A couple more clicks confirmed that it was indeed empty. Oh, that was not good. That was not good at all. How was she supposed to have even a smidgen of a hope of rescuing anyone with an empty gun? Her wires would only take her so far.
Then she glanced to one side and found her answer. There were a fairly large number of assault rifles spread about, and the leaking corpse had a handgun strapped to its leg. They were all sleek, black, and looked absolutely lethal. What was more, there was also what appeared to be a miniature First Aid kit hanging from her belt, likely full of MedGel syringes. Obviously they hadn't done her any good, but Charlotte was going to need every edge she could get. She still had a couple stashed away, but if another fight was waiting for her, she was going to need far more than that.
Charlotte took a deep breath. Then she tossed aside her useless pistol and dove at the corpse to snatch the handgun out of its hostler. She quickly checked the chamber and found it full. Then after sticking it into her jacket, she quickly undid the corpse's belt, though her shaking fingers made it difficult. As expected, the kit contained five syringes of MedGel, along with three of SolBlanc. She stored it away, snatched up two of the rifles and rushed toward the door.
Fortunately it was open, and Charlotte soon found herself navigating through metal hallways with steel mesh floors. The lights were dim, red, and pulsed in and out, indicating that the power had yet to come back on. It didn't look like anyone was home, which was both good news and bad news. On the one hand, no one was shooting at her. But it also meant that everyone had probably cleared out, which in turn meant that Charlotte was too late.
Fighting back the panic she felt rising, Charlotte pressed forward. No, they couldn't be gone. She couldn't afford to even think that. She just had to keep pushing forward, and sooner or later she would find-
Then there was a loud hum, and the halls were flooded with white light.
Charlotte froze. The power was coming back on. Oh no, that could not be good at all.
…
Monday. 12:54 PM
"See?" Annabelle Lee said, gesturing toward the unconscious acquisitions like a merchant displaying her wares. A very desperate, very terrified merchant. "See? They're all there!"
The Matriarch stood before her, her sightless eyes sweeping over the still bodies of Mami Tomoe, Oktavia von Seckendorff, and most importantly, Kyoko Sakura. Well, maybe the word "stood" wasn't really accurate, as no one had ever had really confirmed whether or not she had legs beneath that flowing gown of hers. She always did seem to simply float around without needing to walk, the inky black hem moving with her like an extension of her being. Next to her stood Elite Guard Mato Kuroi, who had apparently judged the small room as safe enough for the Matriarch to make her entrance.
"I see," the Matriarch said, despite being physically unable to do anything of the sort. "But again, I must point out that they are not 'all' there."
Annabelle Lee shot a furious look over to The Twins. "Yeah, but-"
"Having even one remain loose presents an unwanted risk, one that could jeopardize everything we're working toward."
The back of Annabelle Lee's neck was already prickling with sweat, but this made it burst forward anew. "L-look, I know it ain't perfect, but given the circumstances-"
"You approached us with this deal," the Matriarch interrupted. "To move against the Alliance while a loose thread yet remains could spell disaster. It makes far more sense to cut our losses, which I should point out are none at this point, and have nothing to do with it."
No. No, it was not going to end like this. She was too close and suffered too much. "Then…then maybe we can work something out?" Annabelle Lee said hoarsely.
"I think not," the Matriarch said. Though she had given no signal, Mato suddenly strode forward, her enormous minigun held in a threatening manner.
"Hey, what's this?" Annabelle Lee demanded. "This wasn't-"
Then she shut up. The minigun was now pointed directly at her forehead.
"We will of course be leaving with Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff," the Matriarch said. "No sense in letting a gift horse go to waste. But the Withering Lands will honor the New Life Compact, and if the persons known as Mami and Charlotte Tomoe have indeed conspired to violate the Compact and move against our sovereignty, we will accept that they acted alone, and their actions do not reflect on-"
And then the lights went on.
Everyone froze as the dark, pulsing red of the emergency lights was consumed by a flood of blinding white. Machines hummed to life as they were once again fed power. Sparks flew from the places where that power was disrupted. All around them, the wrecked headquarters of the Brothel was struggling to return to life.
"What is this?" the Matriarch said. Something was wrong with her face. It kept twisting in odd ways, like she was fighting off a sudden hangover and was utterly bewildered by its existence.
Annabelle Lee took a deep breath. Despite the change, Mato's aim had not wavered in the slightest, which was more than a little distracting. "W-well, if I had to guess, that would be the power coming back on."
"Power?" the Matriarch said, her head twitching as if she were being dive-bombed by flies.
"Yeah, we had to shut it off to break in here, because there's a gnarly security system and-" Annabelle Lee shut herself up before she accidentally let slip that she had attacked a Brothel stronghold. Given the close ties between Reibey and the Madam, that probably wouldn't win any points in her favor.
Sure enough, the Matriarch instantly turned her focus toward her, her cheeks tightening in a strange way, like she wanted to seethe in fury but had forgotten how. "Security system?" she said hoarsely. "What…what kind?"
"Uh, a CRO-TX 101-AG?"
The Matriarch's nostrils flared, which was as good as a profanity-laden rant when coming from her. "A CRO-TX? Do they not specifically design their systems to block out unauthorized magical energies coming in and going out?"
A few seconds ticked by, and then Annabelle Lee's shoulder slumped when she realized what that meant. Oh crap. That meant no teleportation out. Which meant no one-way trip back to the Withering Lands. Which meant that even if they had kept the deal, no one could do anything about it. Which in turn meant that they had accidentally trapped the fucking Matriarch in the middle of the next best thing to a war zone. And she had Mato Kuroi with her.
The Matriarch's face kept twitching, her mouth moving around multiple syllables, only a few of which she actually spoke. "I can't…I can't hear him anymore. The master. I can't hear his voice."
Annabelle Lee gaped. "Wait, you mean-"
"Disable it," the Matriarch said. "The security system. Do it now."
Annabelle Lee blinked. "Er, I don't know how, not from this-"
"DO IT!" the Matriarch screeched, the force of her voice sending debris flying and causing everyone living and not named Mato to all but throw themselves out the door and scramble down the hall to obey.
"What do we do?" Arzt all but screeched as they tore through the abandoned criminal hideout.
"Oh, so now you want to listen to me?" Annabelle Lee snapped back. She shook her head. Damn, but she did not have time for this. "The control room! If there's any way to bring the power down from inside, it's there."
"And do you know how to do it? Because we sure don't."
"Shut up and run!" Annabelle Lee shrieked back. She didn't need this, didn't need to be questioned or challenged. Everything was again falling apart, and all they could to is scramble to regain some measure of control over the situation and pray that they hadn't forgotten anything else important.
…
Monday. 1:02 PM
There was no question that death was the best thing to ever happen to Mami.
Death had brought her freedom and had brought her truth. It had liberated her from the machinations of the Incubators and meant that she no longer would have to act as their butcher. It saved her from a life of slaughtering other victims of their cruel system and stopped her from ensnaring others in their trap. In a way, death had been her redemption.
Death had also brought her a life that would not have been otherwise possible. Through dying, she had found her soulmate, the love of her (new) life. Through dying, she had found support and friendship, an end to the horrible loneliness that had so defined her previous miserable existence. Through dying, she had built a new life, one of love and laughter. She had finally been allowed to rest and heal, and all that it required was for her to die.
Truly, death was the greatest thing to ever happen to her.
Now dying again, well, that was a little more problematic. Granted, it didn't carry the heavy weight of permanency anymore. You just experienced a few short moments of nothing while your body repaired itself, and soon you would find yourself groggily waking up again, good as new. But given that the nastier bits of the afterlife meant that there were so many awful things that could kill you, you never really knew where you were going to wake up. Because more often than not, you might find yourself waking into a situation that death might have been preferable to.
Mami's own situation wasn't quite that bad, but it still was a problem. First she had been stabbed in the back, both literally and figuratively, and then Annabelle Lee had put a bullet through her head, effectively "killing" her. Things after that had gotten pretty murky and disorienting, but when she finally started to come to, she was not in a position that she wished to stay in.
For one, she was lying on the floor of a room that had seen better days. It looked like it had once been an office, but all the furniture was thrown this way and that, and it looked like it had been done so in a hurry. In her groggy state, she really had no idea where the office was, what had happened to it, or why she was on the floor, she just knew that she probably did not want to remain there for long.
She slowly blinked several times, trying to clear away the fog. With a pained sigh, she rolled onto her back. It was still sore from when those knives had hit it, but her protective undershirt had spared her the worst of that, and those sorts of injuries would have closed up by now anyway. She squinted at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Somewhere nearby, someone was speaking, but it didn't sound like it was to her.
Mami inclined her head to look. There was a woman nearby, one both tall and beautiful, or would be if she weren't crouching down and clawing at her head while her mouth kept working itself around an endless torrent of distressed mutterings. Her skin looked like it had been bleached, and she wore a flowing black dress with tresses that spread out around her like a puddle of ink and an incredibly long neckline that displayed a scandalous amount of cleavage. Her raven hair was done up in a tight bun, and a filmy veil rested over her face. Through it, Mami could see that her eyes were completely covered by a black blindfold.
Now, wasn't that odd? What good did a blindfold do? Did she not have eyes under that, and wanted to hide the fact? Weren't their treatments to help with that sort of thing? Her brow furrowing in puzzlement, Mami glanced to the right, where another girl was standing. This one had the same bone-white complexion as the first, and her hair and outfit were also all black, and if anything even skimpier. Bikini top, booty shorts, boots, some kind of cape, and not a whole lot else. She had her hair tied in two incredibly long twintails, looked small enough to fit in Mami's pocket, and was carrying a minigun that nobody of her slight stature had any business hefting around with that much ease. Her back was to Mami and her face toward the door, apparently standing guard.
Mami stared blankly at the strange pair, one impassive and the other in the middle of some kind of breakdown. She had no idea who the smaller girl was, but the blindfolded one looked familiar.
Letting her head fall back, Mami sighed and rolled it to the other side to see if she could see anything that would make sense of her strange surroundings.
She found Kyoko staring at her, their faces mere centimeters apart, their noses were practically touching.
Several things happened all at once, most of them unfortunate. The events of the past several days came crashing through the post-death haze to slam into Mami's mind, and she let out an involuntary gasp. That was bad enough, but Kyoko actually sat up with a cry of alarm before Mami could stop her.
Those two things were directly responsible for the next two things. The short girl with the long hair that was standing guard reacted with all the efficiency of a well-oiled machine. Showing no sign of surprise, she spun around and brought the barrel of her minigun directly down at the pair and started firing. At the same time, the blinded girl snapped out of her private breakdown and turned her face toward Mami and Kyoko with a rather strange look on her face. Then her brow rose in a manner that conveyed widening eyes and she started shouting.
That should have been the end for them, whether through some chance miracle or because Kyoko's reflexes, even as dulled as they had to be, were really just that good, when the bullets shot forward they found not soft flesh waiting for them, but three layers of red, diamond-shaped shields, all connected together to form a thick barrier.
Her hands held out in front of her, Kyoko shot a desperate look to Mami. "I can't keep this up for long!" she yelled over the metallic pings of the bullets' impacts.
"Five seconds!" Mami yelled back. Her hands started to glow. One Tiro Finale, coming right up. "Just give me-"
Then a wave of invisible force hit Kyoko's barrier and ripped it into sparkling shrapnel. Mami and Kyoko were bowled over and sent crashing against the far wall.
"What's happening?" Mami heard someone cry out as she tried to pull her senses together. However, it wasn't her voice, nor was it Kyoko's. Blinking, she saw Oktavia sitting up on the floor, propped up on her elbows and looking around in utter bewilderment. Apparently the blast had been focused enough to take out Mami and Kyoko, but had missed her entirely.
"Sayaka!" Kyoko cried out, again forgetting not to use that name. She staggered forward. "Hang on, I'm-"
Another wave hit. Kyoko's voice was cut off. Oktavia let out a brief gurgling cry, and then fell silent.
Mami was considerably luckier. Again her back hit the wall, but it must have been a particularly weak patch or already damaged. Either way, she found herself crashing right through into the hallway on the other side. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, and it taught her a variety of new ways that her back might be hurt, but she was free. Technically.
Pushing the pain and panic from her mind, Mami rolled onto her feet and took off running. Immediately the shorter girl started tearing apart the hallway with bullets, and she was forced to throw up a shield to defend herself. It was barely enough, and more than one punched through to zing right past her.
Already she knew that there was nothing she could do for Kyoko and Oktavia. If she tried to fight she would be cut down in seconds. Better to disappear now and then double back and hit them from a more strategic point. Still, despite the incredible danger she was in, Mami was fueled on by a fresh surge of hope. Her friends were still there. She wasn't too late.
Calling on old instincts, Mami ran blindly through the halls, snagging corners with her ribbons to help with the turns and leaping down entire flights of stairs without bothering with the steps. The small Void Walker had to be far out of her league if she was defending someone like the Matriarch, but if Mami could somehow catch her unawares-
Then as she swung around a corner, Mami ran smack into someone coming the other way. Their foreheads collided and they both were sent tumbling back.
"Ah…" Mami groaned as stars filled her vision and her mind registered a fresh new pain to add to the others. Blinking, she sat up, her hand instinctively summoning up a musket in case the other person was a threat.
She wasn't. Against all odds, Charlotte was lying on her back right in front of her, staring at Mami with open shock.
Before Mami could fully process the presence of her beloved, Charlotte had bounded forward like a pouncing cat and tackled her back down.
"Mami," Charlotte breathed, conveying oceans of relief in that sigh. She wrapped her arms around Mami's shoulders and hugged her tight enough to make something crack. And yet Mami didn't mind one bit. "You're okay. Thank God," Charlotte murmured as she softly planted small, desperate kisses around Mami's mouth.
At any other time, Mami would have been more than happy to reciprocate. However, a fresh spray of gunfire from somewhere else in the facility put an end to that plan. "Charlotte, not now," she said, pushing her wife away. "We've got-"
"Trouble, right," Charlotte sighed. She stood up in a manner that obviously favored a hurt leg and helped Mami up. "Okay, skip all the why's, just tell me the what's."
Mami was already moving, trying to put distance between them and the Void Walker. "Kyoko and Oktavia are here, but two Void Walkers have them, the Matriarch and one I don't recognize. She's the one shooting up the place."
"Great," Charlotte growled as she fell into step behind her. "Wait, Matri-"
"Reibey's second in command," Mami told her. "You know, from Nautilus Platform?"
There was a pause, and then Charlotte said, "Right. The doll with the dress. What about our wayward buddies?"
Mami sighed. "I haven't seen them since I woke up, but they're probably still around somewhere."
"So, that makes it six to two then? I mean, assuming Oktavia and Kyoko are out of the game?"
"Yes. There may be others though, to say nothing of any gangsters or Brothel members still lingering about."
Charlotte was silent for a time. Then with a sigh, she said, "Well, it's not like we have anything to lose." She pumped the assault rifle she was holding. "Okay, let's take care of-"
Then the hallway behind them was literally shredded as a spray of bullets shot out from the junction they had just emerged from. The Void Walker had found them.
Mami and Charlotte ran.
…
Monday. 1: 14 PM
Sweat prickling at her brow, Annabelle Lee frantically typed away at the only working console they had found in the Brothel's control room, methodically working her way through one security barrier after another while trying to rein in the rising impulse to slash everything near her to bits.
"Okay," she growled out, her voice hoarse and ragged. "Next one."
Nie read off one of the pages of Lily's information on the Brothel that the wayhouse had provided them with, specifically the one detailing their computer network's security passwords. How that bitch Lily had gotten her hands on them Annabelle Lee neither knew nor cared. So long as they kept working she would take them gladly.
"'Horseshoe Gravity Toilet 34 Rules,'" Nie read.
"Thirty-four. Word or numerals?"
"Numerals."
Annabelle Lee hastily typed it in. It was rejected. "Damn it, gimme another!" she growled.
"Okay. Uh, try this. 'Armadillo Second Water-" Nie made a short choking sound. "Uh, 'Butt Sex?'"
Annabelle Lee paused. "What, really?"
Nie showed her the page. "That's what it says! 'Armadillo Second Water Butt Sex!' And that's 'Butt' as if in 'Ass.' Two 'T's.'"
Annabelle Lee paused for a bit to process this. Then she typed it in.
It worked.
"We're in," Annabelle Lee breathed. She swallowed and steadied her shaking fingers. Okay, she was familiar with the operating system. Which meant…
A few clicks and input commands later, the lights when out and the red emergency glow returned.
"It worked!" she said, pumping her hands into the air. "It worked, it worked, it worked! Security's down, so that means-"
"Shhh," Nikki said suddenly. The little psychopath was crouched on all fours on top of a pile wreckage. Her head was tilted to one side, her face wrinkled up in puzzlement.
Everyone watched her in apprehension. As crazy as she was, Nikki still had the sharpest senses of all of them. If something was about to go down, she would hear it first.
"What is it?" Annabelle Lee said hoarsely.
Nikki scowled. "Nikki hears-"
Then the air filled with sounds that they didn't need enhanced senses to hear: loud gunshots and shouting. Everyone instinctively dove to the floor, hands over their heads in what would have been a pointless reflex to protect their heads from zinging bullets.
They needn't have bothered though. The bullets weren't aimed at them. In fact, they weren't in the room at all, but somewhere else in the facility. Once she figured that out, Annabelle Lee slowly rose up and listened.
The gun was probably Mato's. As for the shouting, well, it didn't take her long to recognize Mami Tomoe.
Well.
Gritting her teeth, Annabelle Lee slowly turned to where The Twins were cowering. The two nincompoops were so preoccupied with shielding the other from stray bullets that they failed to notice the deathly glare being sent their way.
"Hey," Annabelle Lee said. "Twins."
Startled, they released one another and turned toward her, unconsciously doing it in perfect unison like they always creepily did. "What?" they said at exactly the same time, in exactly the same tone.
Though she was mad at both of them, Annabelle Lee directed the majority of her ire toward Arzt. "Hey, Arzt. Tell me. When you got back and reported your miserable failure to capture Charlotte Tomoe, did you at least remember to drug the three acquisitions we already had?"
Arzt blinked at her. Then her eyes went wide.
"You fucking idiot," Annabelle Lee growled. "Mami Tomoe is awake, and probably Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff as well! They're attacking the-"
Then she inhaled sharply. Another alarmed voice had joined Mami Tomoe's shouting, this one noticeably higher and a bit more nasal. It was unmistakably Charlotte Tomoe's.
Annabelle Lee's head swam as the situation made itself clear to her. No, this was not a disaster, it was not a setback, it was a possibility only now just making itself know. The security sytem going back on had bought them valuable time, and Mami Tomoe's resurrection was now sending the wheels moving again into something they could salvage. After all, Charlotte Tomoe was here, and if they managed to subdue the pair before Mato then…
"Come on," she said hoarsely as she flew into motion. "That's Charlotte Tomoe. We can still salvage this."
Thankfully they followed her without question. After all, for all of their complaining, they wanted to be released almost as badly as she did.
The four of them cautiously made their way through the halls, moving toward the sounds of fighting but careful not to rush into it. It wouldn't do to come so close only to be accidentally torn apart by Mato Kuroi's bullets. Hell, it probably wouldn't be an accident. Annabelle Lee seriously doubted that their presence would cause her to show any regard for their wellbeing.
"This is suicide," Nie whispered, her thumbs nervously running over the handles of her pistols. "Suicide. You know that, right?"
It was all Annabelle Lee could do to keep from dissolving into giggles. "Yeah, that's exactly what it is," she said. "That's what this whole thing's been about. Now shut up. They're coming."
They waited tensely near an intersection, listening as the interior of the Brothel's headquarters was torn to bits. Annabelle Lee gritted her teeth. She had tactfully left out who exactly owned the stronghold they had "retrieved" Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff from. Since the Matriarch had declined to ask, she had seen no reason to explain that they had sort of covertly infiltrated the property of one of Reibey's most valuable allies. Truth be told, Annabelle Lee was sort of surprised that the subject hadn't come up. She wasn't about to ask why, but she couldn't help but wonder. With any luck, the disorientation the Matriarch was experiencing would prevent her from noticing any telltale signs of ownership. Granted, they would probably figure it out sooner or later, but with any luck, the four of them would no longer exist by then.
With any luck.
That was the rub of it all. Annabelle Lee's luck was horrible. Oh sure, she was tough and cunning and did not lack for determination. But it didn't matter how much she planned, how hard she fought, or how long she pushed, something inevitably always went wrong. Forces beyond her control conspired to ruin what she was trying to accomplish, and nothing she did left her with anything but the bitter taste of ashes. Failure. That's all she had ever know. Pointless mediocrity or miserable failure, and rarely was it ever her fault. She was cursed.
Except once.
For some reason, whatever foul gods that saw fit to bring her to ruin had been napping during their time with the Etherdale Wayhouse. That was strange. At first it had seemed like her incredibly bad luck had been holding steady. After all, stuck in an improvioned wayhouse in a forest full of covens about to be attacked by a well-armed army of brainwashed leechers sounded like a no-win scenario no matter how you cut it. Indeed, they had all come insanely close to ending up as a gas bag, strapped to a table in the bowels of the Persephone Protectorate's fortress, their very souls being constantly drained away.
But something had changed. They had not beaten the odds and survived, they had unquestionably won. The wayhouse had come out as the undisputed victors in that fight, and it had been directly thanks to the efforts of Annabelle Lee and her companions. There should have been absolutely no chance of them overcoming someone like Lily, but they had done it. They had used the chaos of battle against her and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. And in the process, four little rejected would-be Void Walkers had become heroes.
There was something about that that frankly bothered Annabelle Lee. Why was it that they had been able to take on a well-armed and well-trained army like the Persephone Protectorate and win, but couldn't put down four civilians? How could they save countless lives from a hellish existence, but couldn't liberate their own from this one? Hell, they hadn't even been trying to save the day. Most of it had been simple self-preservation. But save the day they had. And yet, once they had gotten back on track and returned to hunting those that held the key to their release, things again went sour. The foul gods had woken up, and once again everything was falling apart.
Gritting her teeth, Annabelle Lee banished that thought from her head. No, it wasn't over yet. They had turned chaos into victory once before, and now they could do it again. So long as things were moving, it meant that the game was still going. They just had to act.
And speaking of which…
The sound of boots pounding against steel drew ever closer. Annabelle Lee tensed up. She waited, counting under her breath. And then she pounced.
At first it worked beautifully. Mami Tomoe's face lit up with shock when she saw her treacherous partner swing into view, too close for her to bring that silver musket of hers into view.
"Surprise," Annabelle Lee growled as she seized it by the barrel and forced it up. As she did so, her three companions leapt out behind her, ready to tear the pair to shreds.
Of course, that wasn't how it turned out. Instead of resisting the hold on her weapon, Mami simply let it go and rolled to one side, and Annabelle Lee then realized that Charlotte Tomoe had somehow managed to acquire two Brothel-make assault rifles. And given the circumstances, she was more than a little trigger-happy.
Annabelle Lee took the first few shots in the torso. Fortunately she was still wearing her protective undershirt, so they didn't do much more than knock her back. It hurt, but fortunately it provided enough of a distraction for Nie to roll into a markswomen's crouch and fire back. At the same time, Mami Tomoe already had a new musket in her hands and was taking aim.
Another shootout might have erupted then, but with the numbers on their side the odds favored Annabelle Lee's party of death-seekers for once. Unfortunately, that was when the real shooting started.
Heavy shots tore up the hallway behind the Tomoes, and everyone fell back. Mami threw up some sort of shield, but it was quickly shredded. Annabelle Lee tried to rise up, but then the metal wall directly over her head was ripped to shrapnel and she decided to stay down.
Unfortunately, that gave the Tomoes just enough time to slip past them and take off running. Nie managed to get off a few shots, but unfortunately only one managed to hit Charlotte in the shoulder. And wouldn't you know, she was also wearing a bullet-proof shirt. It made her stumble but not much else.
"No!" Annabelle Lee snarled. She moved to claw her way after them, but that was when a pair of high black boots covering half of two very pale legs moved into her view.
Annabelle Lee's gaze slowly moved up a silent statue of white flesh and black leather. Mato's burning blue eye regarded her impassively. Though her facial expression had not changed in the slightest, Annabelle Lee got the feeling that she was mad at her.
"Mato, I-" she started to say, but then the Elite Guard's hand closed around her throat, and Annabelle Lee was yanked off the ground.
Mato held her high for a moment, just long enough for their gazes to become locked. Neither of them said anything: Annabelle Lee because she was being strangled, and Mato because she never said anything, ever. But the message was clear.
Don't get in my way again.
Then she was hurled aside like a bag of trash. She landed among her cowering companions and did not dare get up.
Mato Kuroi spun on her heel and ran after the Tomoes without another word.
Annabelle Lee stared at her retreating back as mixed emotions raged war inside of her. She was afraid and intimidated, of course she was. One did not offend one of Oblivion's Elite Guards and not dissolve into a quivering wreck. They were personally selected for that very reason, and despite her small stature, Mato Kuroi was unquestionably one of the most feared of the bunch.
But she was also angry. She had spent the last several grueling decades living in fear of those assholes, knowing that they could do whatever they wanted to her, and she was helpless to resist. She had been pushed around by their ilk plenty of times. Everyone who served in Twilight's Crypt were. And now one of them was pushing her around again. Mato would bring down the Tomoes and she and the Matriarch would depart with their prizes, and all of Annabelle Lee's hard work, everything she had suffered and stove for, would be for nothing.
Hell with that.
"Come on," she said as she righted herself. What she needed was nearby. Hopefully it was still there. "Let's go."
Nikki fell into place without question, but The Twins were a little more hesitant. "Go where?" Arzt asked.
Annabelle Lee answered her question with one of her own. "You can make MedGel, right?"
"Huh?"
"MedGel!" Annabelle Lee jabbed a finger at Arzt's medical hand. "With those, can't you?"
Puzzled, Arzt lifted her syringes and flexed them. "Of course I can!"
"Then get to it," Annabelle Lee said as she took off flying. "We're going to need a lot of it."
"For what?" Nie said as she ran after her.
"We're pulling out the big guns. I figure if we cause enough chaos, that'll be enough for us to sneak in and bag the prize for ourselves. And no one will be the wiser."
"Big guns? Annabelle Lee, what are you-"
The thing Annabelle Lee was after was still there. Nie stopped talking when she saw it. She just stared. Everyone did.
"Ew," Nikki said, wrinkling her nose.
"This is insane," Arzt said.
"Yeah, I know," Annabelle Lee said.
…
Monday. 2:52 PM
The scene was already one of pure chaos when the giant arrived. Mami was lying flat on the ground as the mystery Void Walker straddled her back and choked her out with her own ribbon. The Martriarch, one of the most powerful and influential Void Walkers in existence, was busy trying to suck two unconscious girls into the floor, one of which was half fish. But if there was one lesson that every magical girl is doomed to learn sooner or later, it's that there is no situation so bad, that it cannot get worse. The explosive arrival of a two meter plus monolith of muscle and rage wielding a hammer that no human being had any right lifting at all was living proof of that.
In a rare display of good luck, when the giant came smashing through the wall, things actually improved for Mami. Oh, they certainly got a lot crazier, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. For one, the giant immediately went after the Matriarch. And unlike her earlier unfazed reaction to Mami's poor attempt at a surprise attack, this time she honestly seemed a little surprised by the bellowing meaty mass charging straight for her.
The giant got nearly within swinging range when the Matriarch snapped out of her trance. She held up a hand, and suddenly the big girl suddenly seemed to be moving forward in slow motion, her momentum slowly grinding to a halt. She growled and grimaced and gritted her teeth as she fought against the resistance like a marathon hiker fighting against the force of a gale, the head of her hammer thrust out in front of her like a lance, but the will of the Matriarch was too much for even her.
Then violet sparks suddenly erupted around the head of the hammer, and it shot off like a rocket. Maybe the Matriarch had been focusing her will on the giant herself while neglecting to suppress her weapon. Maybe there was something special about the hammer itself. Either way, it flew the remaining half of a meter between them and hit the Matriarch right in the stomach.
All of a sudden the pressure against Mami's throat and the weight pressing against her back was gone. Her upper body fell forward as she gulped down great mouthfuls of air. She blinked away the spots in her vision and looked up to see the most encouraging thing she had witnessed all day.
The Matriarch was lying in a dazed heap against one of the walls. It looked like the wind had been knocked out of her. However, the giant was unable to press her advantage, mainly because the mystery Void Walker had apparently judged her to be the greater threat and thus had abandoned her fight with Mami to attack her instead. From the look of things, she was doing a good job of it too, despite the obvious size difference. The giant roared and swung her mighty fists, but the mystery girl coldly blocked, dodged, and countered one blow after another, all the while raining an endless torrent of strikes and kicks to her opponent, methodically chopping her down bit by bit.
Well, as unexpected as this might be, Mami was not about to question her good fortune. She staggered up to the feet. Then, once she was reasonably vertical, she took a deep breath, popped the cap off a syringe of SolBlanc, and jabbed it into her arm.
A sickly feverish wave surged through her moments later. She stumbled a bit, but quickly shook it off. As nasty as the side-effects might be, they did provide her with power, and she was going to need a lot of it for her next trick. Ribbons rose up out of the ground around her.
By then, the giant had fallen to her knees, but she was still fighting. The mystery girl continued to punch and kick, this time focusing on the neck and face. She chopped at the base of the giant's neck with both hands, making her gag. Then she hopped back and spun around, her leg slicing through the air to deliver a crushing blow to the temple.
Then the giant blocked it.
It almost seemed impossible that someone so big could move so quickly, but even as dazed as she was, she still managed to snap her meaty forearm up into the way of the mystery girl's foot, stopping the momentum cold. Then she swung up with her other hand, catching the mystery girl under the knee and lifting her into the air.
The giant had scored a lucky hit, but the mystery girl wasn't taken off guard for long. Instead of resisting the momentum of the giant's strike, she used it, flipping her body up and around. Her minigun somehow appeared in her hand, so even as she was spinning around, she was already bringing it to bear at the giant's head.
In response, the giant thrust her hand out. Two black cords, each tipped with a round metal ball, shot out of her palm. They wrapped around the mystery girl's waist before she could finish taking aim. A tug, and she was yanked forward to where the giant's fist was waiting.
They might have continued brawling like that, trading punches and kicks and throwing whatever magic they had at each other until one of them fell, but Mami was in a rush, and she needed them out of the way now. Fortunately, their fight had provided her with the time to pull one last trick out of her hat, metaphorically speaking.
Mami's ribbons were extremely versatile. While those who knew her often associated muskets as her weapon of choice, the truth was that she could mold them into just about anything, provided that she understood how they worked. Muskets and other older types of firearms were her go-to in combat because they were both simple and effective, though they had taken several hours in the library and three afternoons of practice to get them working right. She had always planned on working her way up to more complex weapons such as machine guns, but had never been able to find the time to do the necessary studying. And once she had died, she had stopped caring.
Still, in this situation, her old standbys would work just fine. After all, a cannon wasn't all that different than a musket, it was just bigger. And Mami had managed to get four of them up and working.
She didn't say anything, didn't call to get her targets' attention or yell out any sort of battle-cry. There was no time to risk something like that. She just watched as the giant and mystery girl continued to punish each other and waited until the Matriarch had staggered into their general area.
Then she fired.
When the smoke cleared, all three of them were gone. So was the wall that had been behind them. And the wall beyond that, and the wall beyond that, and so on for a fair while.
Mami smiled in satisfaction as her cannons dissolved around her. She felt more tired than she cared to remember, but that had felt good.
"Tiro Finale," she whispered. Then her legs buckled and she sank to the floor with a groan.
Everything hurt. Her back ached in several different places, her head was throbbing, her legs and arms were sore, she felt woozy and feverish chills were sweeping through her. Mami missed very little from her days as Kyubey's slave, but she had to admit, there was something to be said about using grief seeds to cleanse one's soul gem and replete spent magic. Having it translate to physical weariness, as Kyoko would have put it, just plain sucked.
Still, she had gotten the job done. Against all odds, she had driven off the Void Walkers. And now…
"Holy guacamole!" she heard Oktavia squeak. "Remind me never, ever to piss you off!"
And with that, Mami found a new burst of energy.
She turned around to see that Oktavia and Kyoko were both awake and staring at her, their jaws hanging open in amazement. "Wow," Kyoko said. "Okay, I take back everything I ever said about you calling out your attacks. All of it. Because goddamn!"
"You…" Mami whispered. Her vision misted up, and she scampered over on all fours to grab the two younger girls and bring them close into a crushing embrace.
"You're all right," she whispered as she held the prodigals close. The tears were now streaming freely and her voice was fully choked up, and she didn't care one bit. They were there, free and warm in her arms. "Thank God. You're all right. We weren't too late."
Oktavia started laughing as she threw her arms around her as well, her face streaked with tears of joy of her own. "Almost was," she said. "Boy, you like to cut it close."
"Yeah, come on, Mami!" Kyoko said. "I mean, we were bored to tears, waiting here for you!"
Mami tried to fire off a joke of her own, but found that she could no longer speak. But it was okay. They understood.
Then there came the sound of booted feet rushing very quickly in the hallway beyond. Moments later, Charlotte came rushing into the room, the end of her rifle searching wildly for any potential hostiles. "Mami!" she cried. "I heard gunshots and-"
Then she saw her wife and friends entwined in an exhausted but very happy group hug on the floor almost seemed to choke. "What?" she said, looking around for the bad guys. "Wait. Tavi? Kyoko? You're…"
"Hey, Char, you made it," Kyoko said tiredly. She and Oktavia shifted to one side, freeing up Mami's front. "Jump on in, we saved a seat for you."
Charlotte gaped. She glanced over to Mami. "It worked?"
Mami nodded. "It worked. We won."
There was a very long pause. Then Charlotte bellowed out "WOOHOO!" and swept all three off the ground into her long arms and started swinging them around while crying out, "We did it, we did it, I can't believe it, we fucking did it!"
"Right! Easy, easy!" Kyoko said as she squirmed out of Charlotte jubilant celebration. "Jeez, you're going to pop something out of place there!"
"I don't care!" Charlotte said happily. She dropped the trio back down, only to grab Mami's face and plant a great big kiss on the lips. "MMMPPPHHH! That's my insanely badass hot wife!"
Mami laughed. Then it was her turn to tackle Charlotte to the ground.
The next few moments were lost in a desperate, passionate, and very wet blur. However, the feeling of Kyoko's foot lightly tapping them in the sides finally caused Mami and Charlotte to break apart and stare up at her in a daze.
"Hey, sorry to be such a wet blanket, but we're not out of this yet," Kyoko said. She pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the door. "No telling when those three will be back. We gotta leave."
"What?" Mami blinked at her through a veil of mussed golden hair. Then the severity of their situation returned to the forefront of her mind. "Oh, right." She tried to stand up. "Okay, let's…"
Then her legs gave out again and she collapsed.
"Mami?" Charlotte said as she sat up. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
Mami sighed. "Spent. Used up everything I had."
"Right, right." Charlotte pulled out a small box. From it she withdrew a bunch of medical syringes, which she started distributing to the group. "All right, medicine time. These'll make you feel nasty, but they'll keep you running for a bit longer."
Kyoko grimaced as she injected hers into her arm. "I hate syringe. Though hey, even with the boost, we still gotta haul fishbait out of here too." She put her hands on her hips and let out a low whistle. "Man, this is gonna be a problem."
"Ha!" Oktavia said with a cheeky grin. "Not when super-hero Oktavia the wonder mermaid is on the case!"
"Super who of the huh?" Kyoko said, staring at her. "What are you going on about?"
In answer, Oktavia pointed to one corner of the room. There, sitting alone amidst the dust and ruin, was her wheelchair.
"Are you serious?" Kyoko said. "That thing is still around? God, what's it made out of, adamantium?"
"I don't know what that is, but it's our ticket out of here!" Oktavia said. Then, before everything's shocked eyes, she lifted off the ground on a glowing train wheel. It carried her over to the wheelchair and deposited her neatly and comfortably in the seat. Oktavia then pressed her palms tightly together in front of her chest, her eyes closed and head bowed. Then she suddenly thrust them to both sides in dramatic fashion. Two more glowing wheels appeared, superimposing over the steel and rubber ones of her chair.
"All aboard!" she called out.
Charlotte just blinked. "Okay, I'm gonna skip over the 'since when could you do that?' part, and just point out that there's kind of only one seat…"
"Oh, stop whining and let's go," Kyoko said as she limped her way over to the waiting mermaid. "Mami in her lap, we get the armrests. Wire us together, and let's go!"
"I…" Charlotte sighed. "Fine. No time to argue."
It was a rather tight fit, and took more than a little adjusting before all four bodies were in place and tied in securely using Charlotte's wires. Mami's ribbons would have been more comfortable, but she was moments away from passing out, so they made due with what they had.
"This is a bad idea," Charlotte said as she tried to figure out what to do with her legs. She glanced down at Oktavia. "And watch those eyes. Those are mine."
Since she was sitting in Oktavia's lap, Mami had to tilt her body to one side so that the mermaid could see where she was going. Unfortunately, her ample breasts made this somewhat difficult, and Oktavia had to crane her head to see over them. She shot a glare over to Charlotte. "Hey, I can't help it if they're right in front of my face!"
"Guys, please don't," Mami pleaded. "This is uncomfortable enough as it is."
"I agree with the boobs," Kyoko said, squirming in her seat. She formed a gun with her fingers and pointed it forward. "So haul asses already!"
"Right!" Oktavia said. The wheelchair started to move forward a bit, but then she stopped. "Uh, wait. Where do I go?"
That was a problem. All of their maps had been lost, and none of them knew the way back to the secret exit. "Just keep going up," Charlotte suggested. "That'll take us back to the city sooner or later. Keep an eye out for windows."
"Staircases and windows, got it!" Oktavia said.
And with that, she hauled asses.
By that point, Mami had started to nod off from fatigue. A couple more seconds and she might have fallen fully asleep. But when Oktavia sent the wheelchair into motion, she was instantly wide awake and screaming.
It was fast, yes. It had to be. It also took turns badly, but that didn't seem to convince Oktavia to slow down. They zipped and zoomed through the halls, wheels kicking up sparks across the metal flooring, the wheelchair tilting so badly every time they turned a corner that only Charlotte's wires prevented them from falling out. And every time they encountered a staircase, they shook so badly all the way up that Mami wanted to vomit.
It was not an experience that Mami would soon forget. Or forgive, for that matter. She was not a vengeful person. But Oktavia was getting a stern talking to after this was over, at the least.
Well, that and a great many grateful hugs. But a lecture would find its way in there eventually, she would make sure of it.
"How many levels high is this place?" Oktavia called as they finished mounting another staircase.
"Six, I think," Charlotte yelled back. "Four of them underground. No idea which one we started on, so-"
"Window!" Kyoko cried. She pointed.
Sure enough, at the end of one last hallway, was a glass window. Beyond they could see daylight.
"All right!" Oktavia whooped as she swung the wheelchair around and started to accelerate. "Pedal to the-"
She didn't finish the sentence. Mami was so eagerly focused on their freedom that she didn't notice at first. But then Oktavia's head slowly drifted to one side and slumped against Mami's chest. Puzzled, Mami glanced down to see what was wrong.
Oktavia's eyes were still wide open, her mouth frozen around that last victorious word. However, there was now a perfectly round hole in her forehead, from which issued a torrent of blue smoke.
Time seemed to slow down. The wheelchair kept going, its momentum still holding. However, it had started to veer sharply to one side, tilting toward the wall. Charlotte turned to see what was wrong. "Hey, what is-"
Then four glistening blades erupted from her side. Her back arched and she tried to gasp, but no sound came out.
The blades wretched sharply to one side. The wires disappeared, and everything and everyone went skidding across the floor. Charlotte hit the wall and collapsed. Oktavia's body went flopping along like a dead fish. Mami tried to catch herself before she fell, to get back up and fight back, to defend her loved ones, to do anything, but her body was slow and sluggish to respond.
Then suddenly, something was obstructing her view, and a small pair of legs had wrapped themselves around her neck. She heard a very familiar and very demented sounding giggle, and then Ticky Nikki flipped her body back, flinging Mami fully to the ground. And with that, she was done.
Through dazed eyes, Mami saw Arzt seize Oktavia by the hair and yank her up and jab her syringes into her neck. She saw Nie slam Charlotte to the ground with a boot to the back of the neck and put a bullet in the back of her head.
And she saw Kyoko stagger drunkenly to her feet, only to be taken down by a nearly animalistic Annabelle Lee. The pair hit the window and shattered it. Snarling, Annabelle Lee grabbed Kyoko by the neck and shoved her back against the opening so that her upper body was tilted out, so close to freedom but having it matter not one bit.
Mami tried to call upon any magic she had left. She needed one shot, just one shot. But she couldn't concentrate enough to do that. She had fought too hard, and all the medicine she had taken was making her head spin. Her strength was gone. And soon, she and all her loved ones would be gone, nothing but prizes for Oblivion.
Then a small, round face ringed by curly blonde hair came down right in front of her. Mad blue eyes regarded her while full, rosy lips grinned widely, exposing sharp and crooked teeth.
"Hello, blondie," Ticky Nikki said, holding one of her knives where Mami could see. "Thank you for letting Nikki stab you again! She didn't get to do it all that much, but today she can do it to you twice, ticky-ticky!"
Then she went to work with just that.
…
Monday. 2:38 PM
"This is insane," Arzt said.
"I know, but we're fresh out of rational options," Annabelle Lee responded.
"Then can you find one slightly less bugnuts? Because this is insane. You're planning on attacking the Matriarch and Mato Kuroi. There is nothing about that plan that isn't stupid."
At this, Annabelle Lee snapped. "Look, I know it's insane, I know it's stupid, but if this keeps going the way it is, it's all over for us anyway! If this goes well, then they'll never know we were the ones to sic her on them. If it doesn't, then it won't change anything anyway. We're up against the fucking wall, desperately need a game changer, and have absolutely nothing to lose! So fucking do it already!"
Arzt bit her lip. She exchanged a look with Nie, who could only shrug. Annabelle Lee could see that they knew she was right. As bad as this idea was, it was the only one they had left.
Lying at their feet was the body of the huge gangster that Annabelle Lee had caught Kyoko Sakura fighting, the one whose face Annabelle Lee had blown to pieces. Her head was still piecing itself together. From the look of it she was a fast healer, but regrowing an entire head took considerably longer than the meager bullet holes Mami Tomoe had needed to repair. Most of it was done, but she was going to need at least ten more minutes before she was on her feet again, ten minutes that they didn't have. Unless, of course, someone were to speed the process along.
Nikki's nose wrinkled. "That thing smells bad."
It did indeed, like sour milk mixed with vomited lemonade and rotting fruit. It was by far the nastiest, ugliest, and probably the most dangerous trump card they had ever been forced to play, but it was their last one.
"Last chance, Arzt," Annabelle Lee said. "You turn away now, we won't get another shot."
Arzt sneered. Then she lifted her hand, the needles of the syringes gleaming. There was a hiss of escaping air, and all five of them filled with milky-white MedGel.
…
Monday. 2:11 PM
The floor beneath Annabelle Lee exploded up in a cloud of debris, and Brooklyn's hammer thrust upward, pressed against the blade of a shining steel sword in an X shape, with Annabelle Lee's stomach caught between the blades of that particular pair of scissors.
She froze, her blades coming to a stop mere millimeters from gouging out Kyoko's neck. Her face remained still as a statue's, though her shocked eyes rolled downward to stare at the rather unexpected situation taking place directly beneath her belly.
The hammer and sword were yanked back into the ground, though Annabelle Lee's eyes didn't move. It was clear that her attention was now very much occupied by the thought of more weapons bursting up to skewer her from below.
So Kyoko did the only thing a person in her position could do. She braced herself against the window frame, bunched up her legs, and reintroduced Annabelle Lee's stomach to the bottoms of her boots.
It was a heartfelt reunion.
She probably ought to have waited though. Just as the legless idiot fell back gasping, the floor beneath where she had been floating literally exploded. Bellowing like an enraged bull, Brooklyn rose up. She was locked in mortal combat with that tiny, twintailed Void Walker that Kyoko had briefly gotten a glimpse of before Mami had Tiro Finaled their asses. From the look of things, it had ruined their clothing pretty bad, especially considering that the Void Walker didn't have much to begin with, but indecency and being blasted into next week hadn't been enough to stop them from beating the crap out of each other. They had to have literally fought their way up through several floors to make it there, no doubt leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
How handy.
At the moment, Brooklyn seemed to have the upper hand. She used her superior mass and reach to lift the Void Walker off her feet and hurl her onto the unbroken part of the floor and leapt upon her, her hammer coming down to crush her head. The Void Walker immediately got her sword in the way, stopping its descent. It was actually kind of impressive. Her arms and frame were so much smaller than Brooklyn's, but they didn't even shake with the effort. Not that it stopped the big galumph any. Gnashing her teeth, Brooklyn continued to press down, intending to crush her.
Unfortunately for her, she was now outnumbered. Annabelle Lee, Ticky Nikki, and those two psycho twins that Kyoko swore she knew from somewhere immediately rushed to their fellow emo's aid. And as big as she was, Brooklyn's skin was unable to stand up to being assaulted by four blades, two knives, five syringes, and at being shot at pointblank range. She froze in mid-bellow, vapor leaking from her many wounds.
Despite the terror she was experiencing, Kyoko always did her fastest thinking in the middle of a crisis. Her eyes quickly assessed the situation. Okay, five Void Walkers and one berserker were now between her and her friends, all three of which were out of commission. In a moment Brooklyn would expire, and Annabelle Lee would be able to pick up right where she left off. sure, Kyoko could just throw herself out of the window, but even if she wasn't chased down and taken out in under thirty seconds, there was no way in hell she was leaving without the others. Who were, as previously noted, all dead and separated from her by five Void Walkers and one soon-to-be dead berserker. Not exactly the best odds.
Brooklyn let out a gurgling sigh and collapsed, her body falling onto the twintailed Void Walker. Kyoko couldn't read much from her expression, given that it seemed locked into a mask of cold indifference, but she seemed none too happy about the situation. As for the other four, they were exchanging looks of relief. And judging by the way they were slowly turning toward Kyoko, they probably were having the same thoughts that she was concerning her odds.
Then there was the sound of a creak. This was followed by two snaps. Everyone looked around in confusion, wondering where it had come from.
Then the floor simply collapsed under Brooklyn's weight, and as they were either pinned beneath her, standing on her, or literally attached to her via stabbing implements, all five Void Walkers fell with her.
The way between Kyoko and her friends was now open.
She didn't hesitate. She didn't have much left, but she wouldn't need it. First she bridged the gap with a floor of shield-plates, ensuring that no one would bounce back up from below or fall in from above. Then she formed another wall of plates just behind where Sayaka's wheelchair had fallen and her friends were lying.
Kyoko had no time for care and caution. She kicked away the wall behind her and make a grabbing motion with her hand. The wall of plates surged forward, scooping up everything in its path. And then she, Sayaka, Mami, Charlotte, and that bizarrely persistent wheelchair were gathered up and hurled out of Starlight Motors, out of the clutches of the Brothel, Void Walkers, and gangsters, and out into the open.
It wasn't exactly her most dignified escape ever, but she took it gladly. Even if it did hurt like a bitch on landing.
…
Monday. 2:13 PM
"No!" Annabelle Lee screamed as her prey was swept up over her head. She attacked the ceiling of shield-platers with her blades, cutting and hacking until she made a hole big enough to fit through. Then she bolted over to the window, praying that they hadn't been thrown somewhere out of reach.
Her prayers and supplications fell on deaf ears, and if there was a God, she probably had turned away in disgust. Down below, the Freehaven Four had landed right in the middle of a swarm of protestors, all of them with a bone to pick with Starlight Motors and the crooked marshals that had protected it.
Previously the crowd had been angry and frustrated, but having a runaway wheelchair and four strange people, most of them lifeless, smashing through the second story window to land in their midst had stopped the whole protest dead in its tracks, and everyone, rebel and marshal alike, stopped fight to stare. After all, that wasn't something you saw twice.
Then that bitch Kyoko, the only one conscious, rolled onto her back. It looked like she had messed up her hip in the fall, but that didn't stop her. As soon as she looked around at all the gawking eyes she immediately began screaming. However, she wasn't screaming in fear or defiance. She was screaming for help.
From the crowd.
"STOP THEM!" she shrieked, pointing at the building they had just escaped from. "The leechers, they're in there! They were going to sell us, we barely got away! Please, don't let them get us!"
And with that, every single face in the crowd turned toward Starlight Motors to focus on the broken window, and the pale face staring down from it.
Annabelle Lee had to admit, that had been fast thinking. She also had to admit that watching the rioting mob suddenly come together into a rampaging horde made her pee herself a little. Kyoko Sakura's words had confirmed their fears, and they wasted no time bowling over the marshals to lay siege to the building. The sky lit up with the colors of their artillery.
"No," Annabelle Lee said as she watched. "No, no, no, no-"
Then something more caught her eye. She looked up and felt her chest tighten. Several aircraft were cruising toward the building, all of them sleek and dull green. They bore the local government's insignia.
The marshals had failed. And now the military was here.
Abandoning the window, Annabelle Lee turned and fled back down the hole to where Nikki, Nie, and Arzt where still coming to their senses.
"MOVE IT!" she screamed. "The mob's about to-"
"We are aware," the Matriarch said as a nearby door opened and she floated through. Her dress was in tatters, courtesy of Mami Tomoe. She looked quite put out. "The situation is unsalvageable. We are leaving."
With a grunt, Mato finally kicked the giant's limp body off of her. She brushed herself off and quietly fell into place behind her mistress.
Annabelle Lee sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth. "We?" she squeaked out.
"Yes," the Matriarch said coldly. "Mato and I. Farewell."
Annabelle Lee blinked. Then she all but threw herself at the Matriarch's feet and started grasping at the hem of her dress. "No, you can't!" she screamed. "We did our part, it's not our fault! You can't leave us-"
With one swift motion, Mato seized Annabelle Lee and yanked her away.
"Don't touch me," the Matriarch said. "You have failed in every conceivable way. We have nothing further to discuss."
"B-but the recording!" Annabelle Lee babbled. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the crystal chip that contained the recording she had made of their initial meeting with the Tomoes, back at the Persephone Protectorate's nearly deserted base. She held it out to the Matriarch while saying, "The proof that the Alliance is trying something! You still want that, don't-"
Then Mato's palm came up to smack the back of Annabelle Lee's hand, and the chip went flying. Before Annabelle Lee could react, Mato snatched it out of the air.
"We're done," the Matriarch said as Mato walked back over to her. Wrapping a slender arm around her pint-sized guard's waist, the Matriarch's body twisted around and melted into the floor, leaving a black stain behind. Then the stain retracted into nothingness, leaving no evidence that the two Void Walkers had ever been there to begin with.
Annabelle Lee gawked at the bare patch of floor. No. No, this couldn't be happening. They had been so close, so close to winning, so close to freedom. It couldn't end like this.
Then she slowly looked up to see Ticky Nikki, Nie, and Arzt all standing in a circle around the spot that the Matriarch had sunk into. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were having similar thoughts of despair.
Her teammates looked up, meeting her eyes. No one said anything. There really was nothing to say. There was nothing they could do.
Then they heard the sound of a crash, and the air filled with shouts of rage. The mob had gotten inside. They were on their way.
Galvanized into action, the four rejected Void Walkers immediately fled from the room, bolting down the hallways toward the secret entrance. Annabelle Lee's fingers dug into her palms, the nails leaving marks in the leather. No. No, this wasn't the end. She refused to let it. They were going to escape from this. They were going to get out and pick up the hunt. Then they were going to make it work. They were going to catch their prey, strike a new deal, and leave this little slice of Hell forever. Somehow.
…
Sunday. 2:29 PM
"So," Annabelle Lee said, leaning forward to the monitor in the Persephone Protectorate's communications hub. She tried not to sound too eager but knew that she was failing. "Do we have a deal?"
On the monitor, the image of the Matriarch sightlessly regarded her in a thoughtful manner. Or at least kept her head face pointed at Annabelle Lee while waiting for instructions from her master. Finally she said, "If what you say is true…that Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff are currently within the care of two registered members of the New Life Alliance who are scheming to violate the Free Life Compact…"
"Yes?" Annabelle Lee hissed through her teeth.
Another maddening pause followed. Then the Matriarch nodded. "Should you managed to secure all four and provide indisputable proof of your claims…we would of course appreciate bringing the matter to our attention, and be thankful toward anyone who would assist us in such a way. After all, the Compact must be upheld."
Which meant that they had a deal. Of course the Matriarch wouldn't say it out loud, in the off chance Annabelle Lee was recording the conversation and wanted to use it to screw them over instead. But they had a deal.
"Understood," Annabelle Lee whispered.
The Matriarch slowly nodded. Then she said, "Though before you run off to bumble around like only you can…"
"Yes?"
"Thus far, your actions have caused the Withering Lands no small amount of embarrassment. Your incompetence at Genocide City and outright criminal idiocy at Cloudbreak have not gone unnoticed. Oblivion's patience with the four of you has run out. Redeem yourself, or suffer the consequences." When she spoke the next sentence, Annabelle Lee could swear that she heard the faintest hint of Reibey's voice overlaying the Matriarch's. "Are we clear?"
Annabelle Lee slowly nodded. Then, remembering that she still wasn't certain if the Matriarch could see or not, she said, "Yes. We're clear."
"Good. Withering Lands out."
Annabelle Lee stared at the dead screen for a very long time before she allowed her shoulders to relax. Then with a heavy groan, she slumped over the small workstation. She was exhausted. Her throat ached with thirst. And she was more scared than ever remembered being.
But all of that paled to the furious joy that was burning in her chest. She had done it. There was still a chance.
Her companions were all standing behind her, silently watching the exchange. None had dared to speak while Annabelle Lee had spoken to the Matriarch. And none of them said anything for a good amount of time afterward. But at last, Nie said, "So. It's done then."
Annabelle Lee tried to laugh, but doing so hurt her parched throat. "Yeah," she whispered. "It is."
"Annabelle Lee, this is impossible. There's no way we can-"
"Shut up," Annabelle Lee snapped. "Don't say that. Don't even think it. This is going to work." She inhaled a deep and ragged breath and slowly let it out. "This will work, I promise you. We're getting out of here."
…
This is far from the longest climatic chapter I've ever done. And yet, it was easily one of the most difficult. Like, insanely so. Does that make sense to you?
Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure some of the times don't make any sense at all. I'll put it on my to-do list of errors that need to be fixed.
Until next time, everyone!