Sara coughed slightly as she stood up from where she had landed, ignoring the thin trickle
of blood that dribbled from her mouth. She then screamed as she brought her right arm forwards,
popping the shoulder joint back into alignment, effectively cancelling out the dislocation the joint
had suffered when she had slammed into the now-tilted tree. Dropping to one knee from the pain,
Sara sheathed her knife, deciding to get the fight over and done with as soon as possible. Looking
up, she saw the four Ideas getting ready to charge her, so she stood up, and pulled out the magnum
on her right thigh.
Sara noticed her sword's more insistent demand to be fed, mentally reassured the weapon,
and fired six shots. Three of the Ideas dropped, gaping holes in their torsos or heads. All three
disappeared a few seconds later, leaving one Idea and Jess.
Sara looked at the Idea, holstering her pistol as she swung her sword around one-handed,
letting the long blade rest against her back as she crouched down into a cat-like posture, balancing
on the balls of her feet and the fingertips of her right hand. Sara let the sword rest mostly through
gravity, instead of using her own energy to maintain the position of the long blade, thereby
conserving her energy for the activity that she was going to go through soon enough.
The last Idea charged, thinking that it could win, but its thought were suddenly ended when
the razor-edged tip of Sara's sword punched through its skull, neatly impaling the Idea's brain on the
end of the sword. The Idea's neural functions did not fail however, as Sara had aimed the blade so
that the hapless victim would not die from the injury, but from blood loss. As Sara watched, her
sword pulsed greedily, absorbing the fluids from the Idea's body, and sating its thirst on the life of
another being.
The sword gorged itself, restoring its own energy reserves, and, as an odd measure of
appreciation, also restored Sara's own energy, making her feel stronger and healthier than she had
in a long time. By the time the sword had finished feeding, the Idea was a desiccated husk, literally
skin and bones. The body did not flare away into nothingness, as it had been so completely drained
of liquids that even the cellular reserves of sustenance had been taken.
Sara grinned as she pulled the sword from the now-fairly wide hole in the Idea's forehead,
and she looked at Jess, who was staring at the desiccated corpse. "So, are you next? After all, the
baby here might be feeling kinda peckish, and you look to be the right size for a dessert."
Jess' response was to flip the middle finger at Sara, calmly walking over to where a seat was
placed underneath a tree. "I have no desire to be killed by you. You've already killed or disabled a
half-dozen Fixed Ideas in just under thirty-seven seconds, including your recovery time from when
you were hit into the tree over there. Besides, I'm unarmed, as my assault rifle is propped against the
wall next to the back door of this place. Now, just go out and do what you came here to do, then
leave and never come back."
Sara grinned, about to speak, when she heard something behind her. Spinning, and bringing
her sword up, Sara barely deflected the overhanded slash that, if it had hit, would have left a
four-inch deep slash down her front. She stared into the burning gold eyes of the girl she had come
to take, and mentally cursed as she noticed the razor-edged katana the girl held. Outwardly, she
laughed, a short, clipped noise that set Jess' nerves on edge. "Well, this will be interesting. Western
rules or Eastern?"
The girl didn't respond, instead snapping her sword up into a transverse slash that could have
easily taken Sara's head off if she hadn't followed the move and blocked with the flat of her own
blade. Sara's sword neatly deflected the primary force of the blow away, and Sara shoved hard,
knocking the girl's sword out and away, opening her up to a kick to the knee. The impact didn't even
faze the girl, so Sara nodded. "Eastern it is."
Sara kicked outwards again, barely avoiding the edge of the katana as she forced the girl to
dodge back a foot or two. Sara then hopped backwards herself, leaving an eight-foot clear space
between the two women. Nodding, Sara then bowed towards the girl, dropping easily into her two-
weapon stance, her free hand ready to grab, deflect, or otherwise make the girl regret getting in close.
________________________
"What do you want?" Jacinta yelled at the stranger grinning at her. *Ugh! This was getting
irritating!*
"I already told you," Sara said calmly. "I'm here to collect my bounty. So are you going to
be a good little girl and come with me, or are we going to keep this up and not get anywhere?"
Jess watched, amused, as Jacinta charged again and soon the two were moving so fast it
became almost impossible to tell who had the advantage. Jumps, twists, blocks, flashing blades, and
always the ringing of steel on steel...she could barely keep up. Well, better them than her.
*Collecting a bounty?* Jacinta thought as she deflected another blow. That must mean
someone was looking for her. Her eyes widened in sudden epiphany. Her mother? Did her mother
send this woman to "rescue" her? But this didn't seem like something her mother would do. No...it
wasn't right...but, who else would have done this?
"Who-sent-you?" she snarled, putting emphasis on all three words, as she swung again,
missing due to an overhand block that sent the taller woman staggering back a step or two.
Sara's smile turned cold as she riposted, sending the tip of her sword out in an attempt to
remove Jacinta's right kneecap. "Your father."
________________________
Sara pulled back from a vicious transverse slash, leaping backwards as the girl's sword
embedded itself into a foot-thick tree, easily carving a six-inch deep gouge into the solid wood. The
response from her own blade was almost instant, slamming down on the embedded katana, with Sara
hoping that the Asian sword would shatter against the supernatural power and durability of the black
blade she had used for the last four years.
The katana didn't even bend. Sara's arm ached from the impact, but the girl shouted in pain
and let go of her sword, which was vibrating madly from the impact of the two swords. "Now that
you're unarmed, should I dis-arm you as well? After all, it's only your father who wants to talk with
you. He said he hasn't seen you since you were a little baby, and now he wants to rectify that mistake
in his life."
The girl stood there, looking at Sara from seven feet away, just inches out of the maximum
arc Sara's sword could reach. Sara sighed, reached around with her free hand, and wrenched the
Katana free from the tree. Shaking her head, Sara tossed the katana back to the girl, who caught the
hilt easily. "So, in order for this to be over and done with, I may as well knock you over the head
with something blunt, make sure you're unconscious, and then drag you over to where your dad is,
just so you two can talk. Either that, or you give up now and just come with me. Besides, that way,
we're both happy, and you won't have a lump on your head the size of a chicken's egg."
Sara looked at the girl, whose expression was still one of profound shock, and smiled again.
"Besides, this fight is getting kinda boring. Despite my willingness to pound the tar out of you, much
less Jess over there, I'm getting kinda tired. We've been fighting for almost three hours now, and I'm
beginning to feel my age."
________________________
Jacinta slammed the katana's blade into the ground with an air of finality, the look on her
face stating that she was unwavering in her resolve. "My father?" she said coldly. "I don't *have*
a father. I don't know who set you up to this, but you are *not* taking me away."
*Oooo...* Jess thought, hiding a smile behind her hand. *I wonder what she's going to do
now?*
Sara shrugged nonchalantly and gave the girl an almost humoured grin. "Fine. Have it your
way."
________________________
Sara frowned as she nonchalantly pulled her magnum, aiming at the girl's right kneecap. "I
regret doing this. I really don't like explaining why I had to cripple someone just because they didn't
like coming home."
She then squeezed the trigger, firing a single bullet. The bullet, however, was deflected by
the girl's sword, which had swept to the side, angling the bullet away from her flesh. Sara fired a
second shot, aiming at the other knee, just to see if the girl's reflexes were as good as they seemed
to be. The second bullet suffered from the same fate as the first, also being deflected away with a
sweep of the sword.
"Well, it seems that I'm going to have to use something I didn't want to. Cheers." Sara
holstered her now empty gun, dodging a slash as she did so. Raising her sword, she beat back the
girl, shoving hard with every parry and block, trying to knock the girl off balance. Sara finally
succeeded by positioning and force, making the girl fall, butt-first, into the empty swimming pool.
As the girl recovered from the fall, Sara finally pulled out her weapon of last resort. A small,
blue card rested between two fingers, tiny sparks crawling over the edges of the card and over Sara's
fingers. The girl looked at the card, surprised that Sara would pull out something that looked so
harmless. "That's it? That's the weapon you've decided to use at this time? Hell, I could have pulled
a better weapon out of my back pocket, and all I have there is some lint."
The girl derisively sneered as she stood up, and was completely unprepared when the card
was nonchalantly flicked at her. The girl reached up to bat the card out of the way, thinking it would
do nothing, but that changed as soon as she touched the card. An expanding globe of electrical
energy surrounded the girl, flashing outwards in a dull 'whoomp' of electric discharge.
Sara grinned as the portable EMP promptly scrambled the girl's motor neurons, knocking her
down onto her back again, and this time keeping her from getting back up again. "Don't try to move.
You'll only hurt yourself. I know you're still conscious, and I know what you're feeling right now.
The EMP that hit you has shut down all your motor neurons, so you won't be moving for at least ten
minutes. Now, as I said, you're coming with me."
Sara then reached down, picking up the katana and its sheath, scabbarding the sword before
slinging it over her left shoulder. Her own sword was also slung before it could influence her any
more, and then Sara pulled out her basic capture gear. Two minutes later, the girl was firmly
wrapped with high tensile wire, preventing her from moving, as the wire would slice her to pieces
if she tried to struggle. Sara sighed, nodded at Jess, who had stood up and retrieved her assault rifle,
and then hoisted the girl over her right shoulder, leaping off towards the city.