Fear Effect: Retribution
A Fear Effect fanfic
By Kristin Renee Taylor

Part Two -

The explosion rocked the night, lighting up the sky and briefly overpowering even the near constant neon glow of Neo Hong Kong at night. The few pedestrians still about looked up, shouting in alarm as one floor of the apartment building suddenly exploded outwards, showering them with glass and debris.

As distant sirens filled the air, a classic '07 Mustang, electric blue, launched out of the underground parking lot. Tires squealed, and it sped down the nearly empty street at breakneck speed.

Rain swiveled in her seat, watching two firetrucks and a number of police cars race past them in the other direction. When the sirens had faded she slumped in her seat. "That was way too close."

Hana made a noise that might have been an agreement. Her eyes were focused intently on the road ahead of her as she dodged the sparse traffic they encountered.

"Where are we going?"

"Away." She put her statement into effect by taking the next freeway entrance she found, leaving both their former home and the speed limit dwindling into the distance. Rain glanced at her, then forward. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about cleaning up all that blood."

Hana remained silent.

Rain huffed in exasperation and twisted in her seat to glare at Hana. "Okay, what's the deal?"

Hana's eyes flicked towards her, then away. "Deal?"

"Yes. You're acting weird."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm not acting weird, Rain."

"Could've fooled me," Rain muttered. When Hana didn't answer, Rain added, "What the heck is your problem? You've been all silent moody ever since you saw that video." She thought for a moment, then said, "Did you know who that man was?"

Hana stared everywhere except at Rain. "No."

Rain frowned. "Hana."

Grimacing, Hana's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "He's... an ex."

"Boyfriend?!" Rain sat up, grinning. "This is new."

Hana's expression wiped the smile off. "I meant ex-client."

"A client? From where?"

"Madam Chen's."

"Oh," Rain said. Then, again, "Oh! So he was-"

"-that kind of client," Hana finished. She glowered darkly at a taxi as she swerved to pass it.

"So, what'd you do to piss him off? Insult his size? His technique? Was he impotent?" Hana glared at her and Rain shrugged, unrepentant. "You had to have done something, Hana."

Hana looked at her for a second more before glancing up at the rearview mirror. Shortly, "I shot him."

"Why'd you shoot him?"

Again, it was a moment before Hana answered. "He pissed me off."

"Well, that explains everything," Rain said, her tone as dry as she could make it. "Hana, are we partners or not?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

Rain folded her arms. "It means that I'm tired of playing Twenty Questions. Somebody's trying to kill us, and I would like to know who and why."

Hana's eyes clouded over. The Mustang's speed dropped, nearly to the speed limit. Finally, she sighed heavily as she reached a decision. "His name is McNorton. Andrew McNorton. He was some sort of Special Forces soldier from the United States, but he got kicked out for some reason."

Remembering the violent destruction of their room, Rain said, "Anger management, probably."

Hana smiled slightly, but her eyes remained dark. "He'd been a client of Chen's for a while, several months at least before I met him. I never knew a whole lot about him. Just that he was big, fairly handsome, and paid really, really well. His girls adored him."

"His girls?"

Hana nodded. "He had a mini-harem. 'McNorton's Girls,' they called themselves. He was going get them out of there, they said. Buy them all and keep them all for himself. And for some reason, they thought he was the best thing in the world."

"You didn't."

Hana's hands gripped the wheel tightly. The Mustang's speed begin to pick up. "I hate him. I hate everything about him. I hope he rots in Hell." She glared blackly at the road.

Rain rested a hand lightly against Hana's arm, feeling the muscles beneath tremble with anger. Hana rarely spoke of her past, and talked even less of her time in Chen's brothel, but when she did was never as furious as she was growing now. The depth of her anger surprised Rain. Softly, Rain said, "What did he do to you?"

"What didn't he do to me?" Hana said acidly. She lapsed into fuming silence.

Rain sighed quietly and leaned back in her seat. This was going to be a difficult night.

Hana's eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. Then her eyes narrowed. "We're being followed."

Startled, Rain twisted in her seat, trying to see behind her. "Where-"

She bit off the question as she spotted a large SUV coming straight at them. It was completely black. It bore no plates. She squinted against the extremely bright headlights, trying to make out more details. The SUV crashed into the rear bumper. Rain braced herself between the dashboard and her door, her seatbelt cinched tightly against her chest. The steering wheel wrenched itself to the right, but Hana kept her grip on it, wrestling the car back into the center of the street. "Damn!" Her earlier mood had broken; The anger in her voice was now directed at the enemy behind them. The SUV slammed into the Mustang again, and they lurched forward. "Rain."

"On it." Rain popped her seatbelt and scrambled into the backseat, bracing herself as the SUV rammed them a third time. She folded back one of the seats to reveal a black attaché suitcase. Rain opened it, and begin to assemble the components inside.

The SUV charged forward. Snarling a stream of profanity, Hana swerved the car to the left. The SUV overshot them. Hana spun the wheel, and the two vehicles crashed together. Metal shrieked, and a cloud of sparks erupted into the air.

Hana fought the wheel. "Rain!"

Rain raised the completed sub-machine gun. A spray of bullets shattered the windows on the passenger's side and put several nice holes in the doors of the SUV. It peeled off to the right. Rain winced as the SUV crashed into the divider.

Gunfire erupted to Rain's left. A second SUV had pulled up alongside them, and a vague shadow pointed an automatic weapon in their direction. She ducked as the windows on the driver's side imploded, spraying the interior of the car with gummy shards of safety glass.

Hana cried out sharply, in pain, and the Mustang swerved sharply to the left. The driver of the SUV braked as they cut him off. Rain returned fire as they passed, blowing out the rear window in the process. Then, she glanced at Hana. "Are you okay?"

Hana was struggling with the wheel. "Bastard shot me." Blood ran from her right hand onto her forearm, dripping onto her lap and coating the steering wheel. Hana fought to keep her grip on it.

Rain noticed a string SUVs ahead of them, lined up to block the freeway. "Hana!"

Hana smiled grimly. "Persistent bastards." She accelerated. "Hang on!"

The Mustang shot forward, straight towards the line of vehicles. At the last moment, Hana hung a sharp left and the Mustang swerved across two lanes onto an exit ramp, clipping one of the several water barrels as it passed and dumping Rain onto the floor.

Rain pulled herself back into the front seat. "Was that necessary?"

Hana glanced at her. "Do I tell you how to drive?"

"Yes, and it's irritating as Hell. How's your hand?"

"Bullet grazed me. It's not deep, but it's bloody and it hurts like Hell."

"Good. You deserved it, with the way you drive."

"If you aimed better than I wouldn't have had to drive like that."

"Oh, so now this is my fault?"

"I'm sorry, did I say that? Because, y'know, it is."

"I oughta put in a bullet in your brain."

Hana slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched. Rain caught herself before she was flung through the windshield. Shuddering, the Mustang came to a stop.

Rain glared at Hana. "What the Hell is your problem?"

Hana was staring ahead of them. Rain followed her gaze and groaned in dismay.

The street Hana had exited onto led directly over a bridge. At the distant end Rain could see at least a dozen sets of headlights. A glance behind her showed another line of SUVs approaching from the rear. They were caught in the middle, with no visible exits.

Hana smirked. "Switch places?"

"Shut up and drive."

Hana's smirk broadened into a smile. "As you command, oh holy one."

Hana revved the engine. She tramped on the accelerator. The Mustang let out a squeal, then its tires found purchase on the pavement and it rocketed forward, a blue streak in the night. They passed out onto the bridge, and the tall metal struts blurred past them. Rain alternated her gaze from the speedometer to the line of light ahead of them and back to the speedometer. "Um... Hana?"

"Yes?"

The distance between the Mustang and the far end of the bridge was decreasing rapidly. "What are you doing?"

"Driving." Hana continued to accelerate. She seemed unusually calm.

"Oh, great idea there, Hana! We'll be killed!"

"I never said I was going to drive into them." She wasn't even looking ahead. Her eyes flicked rapidly left and right, scanning the bridge on either side of them. Suddenly, her eyes locked on a distant point to her right. "Better brace yourself."

Rain followed her line of sight. "Oh, no..."

"Oh, yeah." Her smile now a full-fledge grin, Hana let the Mustang drift to the left, almost brushing the retaining wall. As Rain let out a shriek of terror, she spun the wheel to the right. The Mustang swung in a broad curve, blasted through the thin metal guard rail, and sailed out into the night beyond before plunging into the river far below.

Bootheels paused at the edge of the gap. A beam of light pierced the night, reflecting down on the surface of the river below, highlighting the slowly dying stream of bubbles that drifted up from the river's depths. Someone spoke, in German. " Did we get them? "

"Nah," a second voice answered. A wad of spit was hacked over the side. "Saw 'em jump right before they hit the water."

"Then they're stupider than they looked. They'd freeze-"

"What're they saying?" Rain's whisper broke into the conversation, directly in Hana's ear. Hana hushed her quickly, but-

"Did you hear that?" The beam of the flashlight, which had been wandering aimlessly along the length of the river, suddenly swiveled to scan the area directly beneath the two men.

Hana shot Rain a quick glare, visible even in the near-darkness. Rain flashed her a brief, apologetic smile.

Several tense moments passed. Hana and Rain clung to their perch, the steel support beams of the bridge. The two mercenaries stood in perfect silence on the cement walkway above. The flashlight's beam came dangerously close to revealing the two female mercenaries.

"Man, you're hearing things. I'm telling you they froze to death in the water."

"Maybe you're right... but, let's get some lights on the river... just in case..." The flashlight clicked off, and two pairs of boots walked away.

Hana released a private sigh of relief. She gestured quickly at Rain, who nodded, then cautiously eased her head up and above the edge of the bridge.

One of the black SUVs sat directly in front of her, its engine and lights off. No one was in the immediate vicinity. Beyond the SUV, in the gap between asphalt and undercarriage, Hana could make out several pairs of booted feet. The hitmen were gathered in a small knot a short distance away.

Hana lowered herself enough to signal her intention to Rain. Grunting softly, she hauled herself up over the lip of the bridge. A quick glance showed no one had noticed her, so she bent to help Rain up as well. With Rain now keeping watch, Hana moved silently to the SUV and, as quietly as possible, opened the front passenger door and slid inside. Quickly, she removed the panel under the steering column. The necessary wires were easy to locate. She lifted her head enough to glance out the door. "Rain."

Rain looked around again, then climbed into the passenger's seat. "All clear."

Hana touched her wires together. The engine coughed as it turned over once, and suddenly roared to life. Rain slammed her door shut.

The instant Hana had hot-wired the car, the startled group of men had spun in their direction. Many reacted by drawing guns, but Hana had shifted the SUV into gear. The tires squealed protests before they caught the pavement. The SUV rocketed forward, directly towards the knot. Hana cut the headlights on high.

Immediately shouts erupted. Several of the men fired blindly at SUV. Bullets pinged off the metal and cracked against the glass with no effect. The SUV plowed through the knot, bodies striking the vehicle with heavy thuds. And then they were through, free, and headed across the bridge, into the city.

Hana grinned at Rain. "Home fr- what?"

Rain was glaring at her. With exaggerated slowness she folded her arms and said, "Do you know how long it took me to find that car?"

Hana's smile faltered. "What?"

"Do you know how many side-jobs I took to pay for that car? Do you

have any idea how much that car cost?"

Hana's smile vanished. Uh, oh...

"How could you destroy my baby?!"

As Rain launched into her tirade, Hana forced herself to pay attention to the road.

This was going to be an even longer night than she expected.

They ditched the SUV early, stealing a dark blue pickup truck as soon as they could. Less than an hour later they ditched the truck in favor of a faded white delivery van that smelled faintly of roses.

For a while they drove aimlessly, discussing plans of attack. Much of their weaponry lay at the bottom of the river. All save for the 9mm Hana had tucked into her jeans before the explosion, and that gun only had seven bullets. Once that was empty, they were down to Rain's knife and Hana's martial arts, and Hana wouldn't wager any amount of money that they'd win with those odds.

And that left another problem: both women were quickly approaching a point of collapse. Hana hadn't had a full night's sleep since leaving Hawaii seventeen hours ago, and had only dozed for a couple of hours on the plane. Rain's enforced nap hadn't been true rest, and she hadn't slept on the plane at all. Combine that with the fizzling adrenaline in their bloodstreams...

Rain thought it best that they head for one of the safehouses the Triad had established throughout Neo Hong Kong. They could rest, change clothes, get money, and stock up on weapons. Hana wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea, but quickly came to the conclusion that they had very little choice about the matter.

Which is how they found themselves in a smelly, dank apartment at the rear of a dank, smelly apartment building in Neo Hong Kong's less illustrious district.

To the previous tenant's credit, the apartment, although stuffy, damp and filled with the odor of mildew, was surprisingly clean. The single bedroom was free of the giant cockroaches she expected. The bathroom lacked any festering rings of dirt and rust. All the dry food in the kitchen was and sealed in vermin-proof bags and Tupperware containers. The water even ran clear and hot.

If Rain noticed any of this, she gave no sign. While Hana was checking the apartment, Rain collapsed face-first on the bed and didn't move.

Satisfied that, for the moment at least, they were safe enough, Hana sat on the ledge formed from the windowsill. From her vantage, she could keep an eye out on the street below, and make sure they received no unintended visitors in black sport utility vehicles.

"What was he like?" Rain's muffled voice drifted to Hana's ears. She glanced over to see Rain curled on her side, watching her solemnly.

"What was who like?" Hana said.

"You know who. McNasty."

"McNorton," Hana corrected. She returned her gaze out the window, while she brooded on her answer. Finally, she said, "He was handsome. And he knew it. Whenever he arrived, you could always tell where he was by the aura of smoothness he radiated. The man was so in love with himself... I think he actually believed that the rest of the world was created to worship him."

"That's not enough of a reason to shoot him."

"Maybe not," Hana admitted. "But, I did it anyway."

In the silence that followed, Hana thought Rain had surely given up the questioning, had most certainly fallen asleep. A glance proved that Rain's back was to her.

Hana pulled the 9mm from her jeans and held it in her hands. Quietly, she said, "Back then, when I was still Mei-yun, he told me he loved me. That we were soulmates, brought together by the will of God, to be together forever. The other girls meant nothing to him. I was the special one, the only one, and he would take me away from it all.

"And I believed him.

"It was my fault, of course. I was young, yeah, but I wasn't naive. I knew how guys like him operated. I shouldn't have been flattered." She ran her thumb along the muzzle of the gun. "I shouldn't have been... but... I was... When he talked to me... nothing else existed... and I was all that mattered." She smiled faintly at the memory. "Nobody had ever treated me like that before." The smile fractured, and broke. "Madam Chen didn't like his interest in me. She had him banned. It didn't matter, though. A week later, he kidnapped me.

"Our first night together, he told me he loved me, and then he beat me so bad I thought I was going to die."

Cool fingers slid along her own. Warm lips touched her hair, her eyelids, her mouth. Hana lifted her head as Rain sat across from her, blue eyes filled with sympathy. Silent tears tracked their way down Rain's cheeks. She touched a hand to Hana's face. Hana leaned into her touch gratefully.

Hana closed her eyes. She said, "I stayed with him for almost nine weeks. I... don't remember a lot of that time. Just his face. He was always smiling."

"Hana," Rain breathed.

"He got careless, though. Thought he had me broken. One night, before he could real work himself up into a real frenzy, I got a gun and shot him seven times in the chest."

"Good," Rain said with a fierceness that almost made Hana smile. Grasping Rain's hand, she turned her head to kiss her palm, and said softly, "Not good enough, apparently. He's the one on the video, that blew up our apartment. Somehow, he survived. He knows I'm Hana now."

She opened her eyes and met Rain's gaze calmly. "And he wants me back."

Rain twitched fitfully, and woke up. For one, brief second, she had absolutely no idea where she was, how she had gotten there, or why she was there to begin with, and she relished this absolute not-knowing. For the six or so seconds that it lasted. Then, rather rudely, her reason for waking up made itself known, rather insistently, and she was forced to sigh and get out of bed. Nearly naked, clad in only her bra and panties, she padded across the bedroom.

From her position at the window ledge, Hana, still fully dressed, gave Rain a look of amusement.

"Pee," Rain muttered to the mute inquiry.

Hana smiled broadly, and returned her gaze to the night.

Rain snorted and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She didn't bother with the light switch, enough illumination came from the uncovered window for her to go about her business.

She felt horrible; her head throbbed with a dull headache, her eyes felt dry and grainy. She judged that she had been asleep for less than an hour. Perhaps forty-five minutes, at the most. No one should have to contend with jet lag and less than an hour of sleep. It was cruel and unusual punishment. It was insane. It was a lot of things, most of which she couldn't think of because her thoughts were growing fuzzy again and she was dozing off while standing in the bathroom and couldn't she sleep for just a few more minutes, mom?

A sharp crack of glass breaking jolted Rain back to full consciousness. Her head jerked up, listening.

Out in the bedroom, Hana fired the gun once, twice, three times. "Rain, run, they've got-" Hana's shout was cut off. Footsteps and shouts could be heard.

Rain touched the door handle. Then she locked it. Seconds later, a hand rattled the doorknob. A body slammed into the door. Someone cursed and shouted something in German. The mercenary hit the door again, and the cheap wood around the door jamb splintered, but held. It wouldn't hold for long, though.

Rain looked around, desperate for a weapon of any kind. Nothing presented itself. Damn! Of all the times to be caught unawares...

Fully awake now, she ran over her options, and found them all dismal. Only one thing presented itself as remotely viable.

Quickly, Rain crossed the bathroom to the window. By lowering the toilet lid and standing on it, she was just tall enough to reach the latch. The window screamed a protest as she struggled to heave it open. She got it about halfway before it became stuck in it's track and refused to budge. A quick glance outside revealed a metal walkway: the fire escape.

Behind her, the door nearly caved under the heavy assault.

Swearing under her breath, Rain caught the edge of the window and pulled herself up and squirmed through the gap, skinning her arms and ripping her bra in the process. She scrambled onto the walkway, panting in the chill night air, and stood.

One of the mercenaries stood at the other end of the walkway. Apparently, he had been about to bust through the window and head into the bathroom.

Oh, damn.

End, Part Two.

Hana, Rain, Glas, and everything Fear Effect are owned by... er... well, they were created by Stan Liu. Andrew McNorton is the intellectual property of Kristin Renee Taylor and, to my knowledge, wasn't ripped off somewhere else. This story is copyright 2004. Plagiarism sucks.

This Has Been a Production of Blueberry Enterprises.