Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Six: Information Operations

"Well, what is it?"

"We've found all of your brother's records," Anubra said. The Warlady of Cruelty stood before her mistress, giving her report. Save Trulpa's best Nether Spirit, Nabashi, Trulpa, and Anubra, the throne room was devoid of sentient beings. "As you well know, my colleagues and I have been scouring through the ruins of Talpa's castle to find anything of use. We found all of his records and recordings of his previous battles. As you can see, my lady, this is huge. Once we have Talpa's records, we can use his information to our benefit."

Trulpa thought this over. Yes, she had sent her Warladies out to collect this information. After all, it could contain ANYTHING that she could use- battle strategies, records of espionage on the Ronins, even the recipe for their grandmother's foot fungus and spider web cookies!

"Where are the other three?" Trulpa asked.

"They're in one of the studies sorting through everything."

"Take me there."

"Yes ma'am." Anubra bowed, then straightened herself to lead her mistress to the study where the other Warladies were busy digging through the other Dynasty leader's personal records. Once she was certain her mistress was following her, Anubra grasped her wrist behind her back and began to lead the demon woman.

Anubra was a serious, practical woman. She never wore make-up because she felt it was a waste of time. When she wasn't in armor, she wore comfortable pants and boots so she could move around easily and, if necessary, fight with ease. Anubra despised kimonos and only wore them when Trulpa gave her no other choice. The Warlady of Cruelty never went out of her way to gain pleasure for herself and declined invitations for tea or other social meetings. Anubra spoke in a formal, almost emotionless voice. When there was emotion, it was usually contempt, anger, or morbid amusement if she was given the task of watching over a prisoner. Her hair was straight and, aside from the obvious washing and combing, was never given any particular treatments despite what it appeared- her honey-brown hair was lined with thick, blonde highlights that were so straight and even that no one believed them to be natural.

Behind the two women was Nabashi. Once, she had been Badamon's wife, though now that her husband was killed, she was a very bitter widow. Now that Nabashi wasn't bitter beforehand- bitter was perhaps the best word to describe her. Save for when she was around Badamon, she always seemed to be upset about something, usually directed at the Warladies. She considered them to be incompetent prima donnas and rarely dealt with them if she could help it. Some of the residents of the castle- minus the Ronins, who had bigger problems to worry about- sometimes wondered if this bitterness stemmed from Nabashi's unusual skin color- lavender- and her hair, which was very soft, curly, and pink. She was actually a very beautiful spirit, but because of these differences, she may have been alienated because of them. That would explain her bitterness.

And she had married Badamon, a balding, teal-gray Nether Spirit. . .

Anubra stopped just before a large door leading to one of Trulpa's larger studies. "In here," she said. "There was quite a lot to go through, so we selected this study to give us enough room to work. I will warn you, my lady- the study is in disarray right now, and the four of us are spread very thin."

"That's fine," said Trulpa. "As long as you're finding the information, that's all that matters. There is bound to be something in these records that I don't know about yet." Anubra pressed her hand into the door, causing it to disappear. The three stepped into the study as the door materialized behind them.

The study, as Anubra had stated, was quite messy. Tall stacks of parchment, books, and artifacts were placed in several different locations. A few Nether Spirits floated around the room, carrying materials to a from other areas. At first glance there was no organization to this system until one spotted the two large urns in the back of the room- one was labeled "useful", the other "useless".

"Impressive setup," Trulpa said dryly.

"There is more organization to this than what it looks like. We're broken up the work- I, for example, am working on battle records. Daria is working on Talpa's personal notes about things that went on inside of the Dynasty. Vanessa is looking into records your brother made when he sent his Warlords or other minions to spy on several different generations of Ronins. Cara is working with some artifacts we found- mostly armors and weapons, though there are some talisman and jewels mixed in. We also have some miscellaneous records that Talpa had labeled as 'Top Secret', which we decided you should be the first to look at."

Trulpa nodded, noticing the unoccupied desk in the far corner. It was the only neat and tidy part of the entire room- undoubtedly Anubra's workspace. There were three stacks of materials, which Trulpa guessed contained materials that Anubra deemed useful or useless and materials she hadn't looked at yet.

"The only materials we've dubbed useless are things that we know ourselves- even the most trivial things could be considered useful, especially if we wish to outsmart those little Ronin brats. I'm finding more useful files in my records, especially as I enter more recent battles. I have not reached the generation of our special guests yet, but I'm hoping to spot patterns in the ways the Ronins fight that we may have overlooked."

"Excellent, Anubra," said Trulpa. Anubra bowed, returning to her desk. Nodding to Nabashi, Trulpa glided towards the next nearest workstation. Unlike the other stations there were very few books and papers to see. Pendants, daggers, breastplates, and even something that Trulpa guessed was what humans called a "spork" lay about the Warlady sitting in the middle of the pile.

Cara, the Warlady of Darkness, Corruption, and Decay was not quite what Trulpa wanted in a Warlady. Despite her virtue of Obedience, the empress did not have very much faith in this one. This was mostly because the foolish girl- Trulpa purposely chose to never declare her as a woman- had joined her out of pure emotional distress. Cara was the living embodiment of an emotional roller-coaster. She was also handicapped with blindness, which was probably why she was dealing with the artifacts.

Cara sat on the floor in the Indian position, running her fingers along the edge of a blade. Her face seemed to stare blankly ahead of her, her eyes now covered by thick, maroon goggles. Trulpa had given these to Cara almost immediately apon her enlistment- her eyes had been so badly scarred from the incident that even Trulpa couldn't bear to look at them. The goggles also gave Cara partial vision, but the Warlady said it was hardly vision- it was just enough for her to get a general idea of her surroundings.

Since she needed her fingertips bare, Cara had opted for a kimono and sandals instead of the subarmor the other Warladies wore, thought it had been tied very messily. Her soft, fluffy violet hair had been pulled into a loosely, untidy braid to keep it out of her way. Once, Trulpa had wondered if this was due to her blindness, but eventually she realized Cara just didn't care. Her room was rarely clean and she didn't do very much unless she was told to.

Lazy girl, Trulpa thought.

She did, however, need to commend her on one thing- she was a very skilled warrior. She relied on her other senses in battle, which had slowly evolved to near perfection. Cara could tell when an attack was coming nearly three times as fast as the other Warladies, often being prepared minutes beforehand. She was also very violent in battle, screaming and slashing wildly at any Ronins or other mortals who stood in her way, particularly at Halos. Yet when she wasn't in the heat of battle, she was quiet, reserved, and unsociable.

"These are all very fine weapons," said Cara, placing the sword she was investigating down on the floor beside her. "Spirit- take this to the useful pile." Immediately, a Nether Spirit rushed forth, grabbed the sword, and rushed over to the urn marked "Useful". Cara thanked the spirit and grabbed the next sword, a huge broadsword with a jagged blade.

"Hmm. . . that's an unusual piece," said Trulpa.

"I feel a lot of magic inside of it," said Cara. "This weapon was forged using a lot of dark magic, but its source feels different." She laid the sword down in her lap, beginning to feel for textures. "My lady, I feel that this blade served some great purpose for your brother. Perhaps you should ask Anubra about it?"

Trulpa picked up the blade for herself and gasped. "I can feel the power source, Cara," she said. She twirled the sword around in her hand. "The sword was undoubtedly forged with the help of my brother and his Nether Spirits, but it stems from three specific young men."

"You don't mean. . . the three Ronin Warriors?" asked Nabashi.

Trulpa grinned and nodded. "The very same. I'm sure of it. Listen carefully- you can hear their screams of agony in the sword. The screams of their pathetic friends. Don't you get it?" Trulpa stabbed the sword into the floor and leaned against it, her elbow resting on its cross-bar. "This sword belonged to Daala. I heard of that battle- Talpa drained our guests' powers to make this sword and gave it to Daala so that Wildfire and Strata would, theoretically, be struck down by the powers of their own friends. Of course the plan failed miserably- who would've thought those boys still had enough strength to help Wildfire form the Inferno?- but it was a brilliant idea." She snapped her fingers and the sword disappeared.

"Trulpa? What do you plan to do with it?" asked Cara.

"Though it isn't nearly as powerful as it once was, I may be able to use it. Remember, I have the three its powers came from. Whether they like it or not they are a part of that sword and it is a part of them. Perhaps we'll have some fun with it a little later. I'd like to keep it until that time comes, however," said Trulpa. With a snap of his fingers, a sheath for the sword appeared on her back, and with a few simple tosses into the air, the sword was in its new resting place. "Even if it won't help me formulate a plan, I'm sure I can have a little fun mortifying out guests, ne?"

Cara smiled weakly, then went back to work as Trulpa moved across the room to where her Warlady of Venom, Vanessa, was seated. With one her snakes draped over her shoulders, the woman was lazily flipping through papers, all of which were formatted in a neat, organized fashion.

Vanessa was another odd Warlady. A buxom beauty with piles of soft purple hair and full red lips, Trulpa knew many men who would give their right arm just to see her naked and sell their souls for a mere night in her bed. However, this would probably not come to fruition- Vanessa's lips were coated with a very potent poison that killed on contact- even if the kiss wasn't planted on her lover's lips. The only person immune to this treatment was Sehkment, with whom Vanessa actually HAD shared a bed with several times. Of course her promiscuous activities had given Trulpa no other choice but to hex her with a barren womb, a spell that she didn't like to cast even on her worst enemies. Despite all the Senshi she had killed, tortured, and waged war against, Trulpa had an odd respect for a woman's ability to bear children and would never do anything to impair a girl's ability to do so. Still, if Vanessa ever became pregnant. . . no. Trulpa wouldn't think about the consequences.

Trulpa decided that Vanessa was fine on her own- that information she would need to look over later anyways. Espionage reports bored her, as they were usually dry and useless, though a few were mildly amusing or intriguing. After all, it had been such reports that led her to the capture of the three Ronin Warriors, Lady Kayura, and the remaining Dark Warlords.

That left Daria, who Trulpa felt was more well-rounded than the others. She fought well, came up with intelligent plans, and was always a hit at social gatherings. Out of the four Dark Warladies, Daria wasn't as strong in terms of combat, but she was an EXCEPTIONAL sorceress- her illusions were downright deadly.

The peculiarity about her Trulpa couldn't explain was the tattoo. Sure, many people had tattoos or body piercings, but Daria wasn't "many people". Her tattoo was a black spider web that reached across her face. Trulpa had no idea why she had it or how she'd gotten it, but it was something that was never discussed.

"Your brother kept stupid notes- half of this is contact information on women and demons who provided 'special services'," Daria said. Trulpa nodded. "I have found some interesting notes on his last two wars with the Ronins. . . including the ones we have. There's quite a bit of information on those torture sessions that I'm sure you want to investigate."

Trulpa's eyes widened. Yes. . . this is what she wanted. Brining her pinkies to her mouth, she blew. All four Warladies looked up, confused as to what their mistress wanted. The Nether Spirits stopped flying, a few dropping items or parchments when they turned to look at her in curiosity. "You are all dismissed- I want to look through these things myself. BY myself."

No one argued with Trulpa- no one was stupid or bold enough to do so.

With the room cleared, Trulpa walked towards the pile of papers that her brother had deemed as being Top Secret, a grin on her lips. No doubt about it her brother had something of interest here. Now, it was just a matter of finding out what these secrets were so she could use them to her benefit.

The papers were wrapped in brown parchment and string, which Trulpa quickly rid herself of. These were important. She could feel it. A more serious tone in her body, she began to search through the documents and files, desperate to find something good. There had to be something there- she refused to believe otherwise.

Not too deep into the packet, Trulpa saw a swirling silver, green, purple, and blue sheet. "A Memory Page," she said aloud. "This must be important if Talpa kept a Memory Page for it." Memory Pages were records of visual recordings that were made only for the most IMPORTANT documentation. Trulpa herself had only used one once, and she hadn't heard of her brother doing so very often. This was important, indeed.

Trulpa placed the paper on the floor, and activated the visual.

~

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

"I am pleased, Sehkment," Talpa said as he followed his Warlord of Venom down the Dynasty corridor. Sehkment had just recently returned to the castle with news of a very important prisoner. Cye of the Torrent was HIS. "I did not expect you to be back so quickly with the boy. Tell me, how much trouble was he?"

"Not much at all. He destroyed Red Torrent, but it can't be helped," said Sehkment. He stopped before a door leading to one of the smaller dungeons. "I have him in here for the time being. Shall we go in? You can see for yourself what we have. So young and innocent. . . you'd enjoy cutting him, wouldn't you, Master?"

"I have no intention to harm the boy. . . yet," said Talpa. "That comes at a later time. As for the 'we' comment? I want to be alone with the littlest Ronin Warrior. I want to have a one-on-one conversation with the child, a conversation that you will take no part in. Understood?" Sehkment nodded, slinking backwards to find something else to do. After all, a war was going on- surely he was needed SOMEWHERE, especially considering Anubis had disappeared.

Talpa slowly creaked the door open, hearing sounds of frustration from inside. Fully opening the door, the emperor grinned (well, his eyes lit up at any rate). Currently, Torrent was chained to a wall wearing all of his armor save the helmet, which was lying several feet away. Several small gargoyle like creatures were welcoming the boy to the Dynasty. Torrent wasn't quite appreciative of all the hair and face pulling. The creatures didn't seem to care and laughed whenever he cried out in pain and anguish.

"Enough!" Talpa said, raising a hand. The creatures all stopped and looked up at Talpa, made high pitched shrieking noises, and scampered away. The boy before his was frozen, his body shaking slightly as he realized exactly who was in the room with him. Talpa stepped forward while Cye of the Torrent turned his head away.

"Don't be a foolish boy, Torrent. Admit it- I've won this battle. I've won YOU. YOU and your armor belong to ME," Talpa stated. Cye closed his eyes, scoffed, and turned his head. "I would recommend you refrain from those actions, boy. Your life may be cut tragically short if you practice such unsafe habits."

Slowly, Cye turned to glare at Talpa. "Go away."

Furious, Talpa grabbed his chin and slammed his body into the wall, causing him to cry out. Cye looked into Talpa's eyes, fear painted across his face. He paused, looked thoughtful for a moment, and shook his head. The motion stopped to reveal a much more determined expression. "You may have captured me, but I'm not going to stay here!"

"That's what you say," said Talpa. He looked over Cye. Though the boy was flapping his jaw at him, it was obvious Sehkment's poison was still having an affect on him. For one, he wasn't really rattling his chains or kicking and screaming at him, which Talpa would have expected. The boy also looked a little worse for wear, small, shallow cuts on his exposed face and neck that probably came from the gargoyles.

"I'm going to put you in your place now," Talpa said simply. Though not a talented sorcerer, Talpa wasn't a complete klutz when it came to magic. In an instant, Cye was suddenly nude and the armor was no where to be seen. The bearer of Torrent gasped, wondering what had happened. "Unfortunately, your armor isn't permanently in my possession- I only made it disappear."

Now Cye was struggling against his bonds, which had become much looser. Underneath the thick material the armor was forged from was a thin, smallish body. A well-maintained body, but nothing overly incredible. It was very obvious that the boy was still very young, naïve, and probably virginal. "Give me my armor back!"

"What's the matter? Are you uncomfortable when you're exposed?"

By this time Cye was on the floor, his knees and legs curled up to his chest. "I swear, Talpa, you're not going to get away with ANY of this- taking over Toyama, trying to kill us, kidnapping me. . . when Ryo and the others find me and rescue me you won't be so cocky. You're going to DIE! And we're going to make sure that happens you low-life bastard!"

Talpa's eyes glowed in furry. Cye realized this was a bad thing- sure he could take some tough hits in his armor, but here we was completely unprotected. He made a small yelping noise before curling into a ball, his arms crossed over his knees and head. Despite his position, Cye knew his chances of surviving such a blast were slim to none.

Energy formed in Talpa's hands, ready to strike the boy down. He raised his arms, but then paused when he noticed the backs of Cye's hands. He lowered his hand and focused on the smooth appendages that were now beginning to pulsate with magic. Talpa was slightly confused by this- what did it mean?

On Cye's right hand, the kanji of "Trust" was shinning brightly.

But on his left hand, the symbol for "Loyalty" was dully illuminated.

Talpa turned heel and ran for his life.

~

Slowly, Trulpa removed her hand from the Memory Page. Like her brother, she understood what the symbols of Cye's hands had meant. This was no ordinary young man- hell, this was no ordinary Ronin Warrior! Talpa had been damned smart to turn and run away once his hands began to glow.

Cye was being protected by the Torrent and Spring armors.

But that's impossible! No one can have two armors! It's unheard of!

Except for one instance.

"No armor bearer has ever sired a child in the history of both sets of Mystical Armor," said Trulpa. "The first child to be born to an armor bearer will have the powers of a different armor, and protection from their parent's armor. The Child of Destiny can use both his or her own magic in conjunction with his or her parent's armor to launch devastating attacks on their enemies."

This meant only one thing.

Cye was the Child of Destiny.

And Anubis was Cye's natural father.

~

-_-* Why does EVERYBODY have to update their fics or add new stories right after I do?

Just as a side note, some of you may be wondering where the whole "Anubis is Cye's father" thing came about. I'll tell you this much- it was NOT the series. Nothing in the entire Ronin Warriors/YST storyline supports this, including OAVs and Drama CDs. Manga I don't know, but most of it is fan made so it wouldn't count even if every damn one said it. Personally, I like this one where Cale jumps out at the Ronins and Yuli in a Batman costume- uh, never mind, off topic -_-*. Anyways, the idea actually came from a discussion Pathfinder (a close personal friend of mine) and I had some years ago about a series she's (still) developing. In short, one of her characters (Michelle) was going to be both Cye's twin sister and Anubis was her father. Since they were twins, Cye was logically Anubis' son also. Later, we decided that Cye and Anubis did have some similar traits (similar hair and eye colors, similar builds, ect.), enough so that things could be tweaked into this odd scenario. So no, Cye is not actually Anubis' son- it's just a plot device two Ronin fangirls dreamed up one fine day.

This chapter ran kinda long- typically I like to keep all the chapters down to an approximate length and I went over that length this time.

I've decided that, since he's actually a really pointless character, I'm going to get rid of Kamusa. So if there's any mentions of him in the next several stories, they will be found (either through a- my editing process or b- a quick look-though of A Tale of Two Torrents and Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds) and deleted. Also, Brenamon's name has been changed to Nabashi. I figured that Trulpa still needed a head Nether Spirit, but "Brenamon" sounded like a cheap rip-off of Badamon (though admittedly that's what it was).

That said and done, I added more characterization to the Warladies! Though Cara later becomes a more influential character, little was done to develop the other three. Ever. Even in the original MST bait I wrote using these characters. I decided to be liberal with how I played with Vanessa and Daria, as thus far they've only appeared in stories that will be edited shortly. Vanessa is kind of like Poison Ivy on speed. Daria is just. . . odd. I don't know.

Last note, I swear. I looked at the summary I posted for this story on my website (which is more reminiscent of what you'd find on the back of a book cover or on the inside flap), I saw a few points that I wanted to add in. This is probably going to be longer than the original.

Crystal Cat: Thanks! Actually, those dreams weren't all Sage's- the first two were from Kento and Cye. Well, I figured Cye would do something like that. Even if it was a dark moment, it's kind of symbolic. I'm not sure I can put it into words, but it has meaning. Sara? No- her past sticks out too much, despite how traumatic it must've been to live with her freak of a mother (whom is something like a 50's sitcom mother on speed). This is something I kind of want to do, anyways.

Harry: Aw. . . yer makin' me blush. Heh, yeah- I don't play by the rules all the time. Well, this is true. Trulpa hasn't seen anything yet.

Migoto: Thanks! Yeah, I wanted to make Trulpa little more creepy, but she does have that odd, crazy aunt side to her (in the original Armor of the Soul series, she insists on going souvenir shopping, and at other points in the story she gets excited over kind of weird things). I like it when my stories kick ass. More naked Sage? Yes, there isn't enough naked Sage, is there? (Sage: J_- *shakes head*)

~Dixxy