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

Part Three -

The first thing Hana noticed upon awakening was that she had a headache that put every single hangover she had ever had to shame. Her head pounded with ferocious intensity, every vein and artery in her skull booming along to the constant thumping of her heartbeat. In dazed sympathy, her hands throbbed along to the concert, the right one more than the left.

The second thing she noticed came on the heels of the first: her hands were tied behind her back. Her ankles, too, had been bound with soft, nylon rope.

This wasn't good.

She judiciously cracked one eye open, then the other. White on white met her gaze, confusing her. Then the white resolved itself into shapes: tables and chairs covered in heavy, white cloths, similar to those used by painters.

She was in a restaurant, or some other fancy establishment, judging by the size of the place. Perhaps a reception lounge. At least thirty or forty tables lay scattered about, a couple still had their chairs around them. Higher up she could see a balcony and more shroud-covered tables. Large glass windows surrounded the room, some of them covered to protect from whatever renovations the room was undergoing. One was pulled off, affording her a glimpse starlight and airplanes.

Hana was stretched out on, judging from the shape and feel of it, a wetbar. She lay on her back, her hands tingling hotly beneath her. She rolled onto her side the ease the pressure off of her arms and hands.

Andrew McNorton- whom Hana had last seen in person two years ago, whom Hana had shot seven times in the chest, and whom Hana could've sworn was as dead as a slab of stone- straddled one the chairs nearby, and smiled the smile that had won over dozens of other women. "Good morning, Mei-yun."

This definitely wasn't good.

McNorton had always been an attractive man. From T-shirt to boots he was dressed completely in black army fatigues, and the clothes only accentuated the lean musculature of his body. His teeth were bright white, perfectly straight. He was clean-shaven, and his dark brown hair was cut closely to his head, military style. He had deep brown eyes, a haughty, aristocratic profile, and a heart colder and blacker than the furthest regions of space.

He wore a shoulder holster. Hana didn't have to guess to know it was her gun he wore under his left arm.

He was still talking. "Did you think I would let a little thing like death keep me from you?"

To be honest, she had.

"I won't bore you with the details of my survival. Suffice to say, thanks to your little tantrum, it was a long, painful road to recovery. And I'm afraid that the experience has made a... new person out of me."

"For the better, I'm sure," she said dryly.

If he heard her sarcasm, he chose to ignore it. He stood and approached her. "You don't know what I've been through these past couple of years. The pains I've suffered, the things I have done, just so I can have you here tonight." Bracing one hand beside Hana's body, he leaned over her. His other hand slid up along her abdomen to cup her left breast. He leaned closer and said, voice husky, "How I've dreamed of this night... How I've missed you..." He kissed her.

She let him kiss her, offering no resistance as he slid his tongue inside her mouth. He groaned approvingly. His hand left her breast to fumble with her jeans. He got as far as unzipping her fly before jerking away with a startled cry, blood running freely down his chin from his lip. At once his expression darkened. He slapped her full across the face.

Red and white lights exploded throughout Hana's vision, fading to black. The copper taste of blood- McNorton's or her own, she didn't know- made her nauseous; for a dizzying instant, she thought she would puke.

She might have blacked out.

After what felt like an eternity, but was surely no more than a few seconds, she opened her eyes again to find McNorton using a black handkerchief to blot his bleeding mouth. When he was done, he folded the handkerchief over and used it to wipe a thread of blood off of her cheek. He kept his fingers away from her mouth. He set the handkerchief on the countertop, by her head.

Watching her, he sighed a little and said, "You know I didn't want to do that, right? But, it was necessary. So long as you continue to defy me, I'll have to keep punishing you."

She glared at him in silence.

With infinite tenderness, he stroked Hana's forehead, brushing hair out of her eyes. He said, "After tonight, you and I will be together forever, so it's important that you obey my commands. If you don't, I'll have to teach you a lesson." Fingers knotted suddenly in her hair. He jerked her head back sharply, making her gasp. He smiled at her, his eyes two pits of darkness and ice in his otherwise handsome face. "You remember my lessons, don't you, Mei-Yun?"

Through clenched teeth she said, "I should've shot you eight times."

McNorton's face went near-purple with rage. He lifted his other hand, his other hand, curled it into a fist. Hana braced herself for the inevitable blow.

It never came.

McNorton's gaze shifted to his lifted hand. He grinned suddenly in psychotic delight. He released her hair, and spoke into a small mike clipped to his shirt that Hana hadn't noticed before.

"She's here."

He smiled down at Hana, stepped to one side, and she noticed what had gained his attention as a bright red light nearly blinded her. The source of the light came from the laser-sight attached to a rifle. The person holding it stood on the second level.

Rain.

Rain on the walkway, half-naked and barefoot.

The mercenary had been surprised by the scantily clad, topless woman's appearance, and Rain had taken the opportunity. She dropped him with a quick punch to the jaw that would've made Hana proud. She had taken his clothes, his knife, and his assault rifle, and dumped the body back inside the bathroom. Seconds later she was at the front of the building, watching anxiously as one of the hitman tossed an unconscious Hana into the back of a black van. The van roared off, Hana in tow.

An unlocked sedan provided a way to tail the mercenaries. They had led her to a restaurant, "The Moonlight Garden," which had sounded both incredibly romantic and incredibly cheesy at the same time. A banner across the front of the building proclaimed it being closed for renovations, but be sure to come back for the grand re-opening in three weeks.

The van had circled around to the back of the building. Rain had as well, following discreetly on foot. The van had been empty by the time she had reached it. The culprits had gone inside. A quick search found Rain an alternate entrance in the form of a fire escape and an unlocked window on the second story.

She had slipped in undetected, navigated the hallways without meeting anyone, and had heard a voice coming from one of the ballrooms. Feeling both heroic and terrified, she had headed inside.

Which brought her here, crouched by the railing of the landing, watching in silent fury as a dead man tried to rape her best friend and lover.

When the sharp crack of McNorton slapping Hana reached Rain's ears, she dropped the rifle off her shoulder, into her hands, disengaged the safety, and jacked a round into the firing chamber. She stood and took aim through rifle's sight.

One shot. That was all she had and, hopefully, all she would need.

Rain emptied her mind of fears, doubts, emotions. She slowed her breathing. A bright red dot stitched a happy pattern across McNorton's back and shoulders. Her world constricted to the gun, her target, and the distance between them. Follow the bouncing ball, kiddies.

He was too close to Hana. A bad shot could go straight through him, hitting her as well. "Move away." Her lips moved, but no sound came out. "Move away, move away."

A bead of sweat trickled down her side.

The happy dot, the bouncing ball, jerked its way up to the back of the man's head. "Move!"

McNorton buried a hand in Hana's hair and lifted his other to punch her. Rain jerked the sight to his right shoulder, overcompensated, and the bright dot flashed across his hand. He saw it, then turned to look up at her position. He was grinning.

She had blown it.

Shit!

Rain spun, sliding the rifle to automatic fire as she moved, gunning down the first mercenary even as he came through the door. The two men behind him took cover on either side of the doorway, pinned down by the wild gunfire. Rain sprinted for the stairway, the only other way off the landing.

Two more mercenaries were already coming up it. The first she cut down, he stumbled backwards and fell off the railing, firing reflexively until he hit the ground. The second fired at her. A bullet whizzed past her ear and then she tackled him hard. Momentum smashed them into, and through, the flimsy metal railing, spilling them into the air beyond.

The mercenary hit the table first, landing with a loud snap that announced his broken spine. Rain hit him a half-second later, every ounce of breath driven from her, pain lancing up the right side of her body. Her rifle dropped from nerveless hands, spinning away across the tile. The table snapped beneath them, dropping them onto the floor.

Rain lay stunned, half-curled around her pain, struggling to breathe again. Stunned, but alive. And apparently nothing had broken either.

Remarkable.

She heard the distinctive clicks of guns being lowered at her. Opening her eyes revealed half a dozen of black-clad mercenaries circling her, assault rifles leveled at her.

Perhaps not so remarkable after all.

Applause. Rain lifted her head, wincing at the soreness of her neck.

The circle of soldiers parted enough for her to see their leader, Andrew McNorton, as stood by the bar where Hana still lay. He was clapping softly.

Ignoring pain, Rain pulled herself to her feet and glared at him. She walked towards him, her armed escort keeping pace.

As she approached the bar, Rain and Hana shared a brief look, a silent confirmation of each other's well being. Hana nodded, slightly, and Rain released a private inner sigh. She returned Hana's nod, and watched relief flow across Hana's face.

They were alive. They were together. Now, they had to keep it that way.

McNorton broke off his applause as Rain stopped a few feet from him. He nodded to his soldiers. "Gentlemen, the ladies and I have some business to work out. If you'll see to our transportation..?"

After they had gone, he smiled warmly at her and said, "Such reckless behavior. Such blatant disregard for your own personal safety. And all for her. I can see why she loves you. I'd love you, too, if you were my type. As it is, though, I'll have to settle for admiring you. And believe me, Miss Qin, I hold you in very high esteem." He sounded sincere.

He had also sounded sincere when he had told Hana that they were soulmates, destined to be together, At All Costs. Rain believed he was sincerely full of himself. All she said, though, was, "I'm honored." She didn't sound the least bit sincere.

He choose to take her words at face value. "I'm the one that's honored."

Her gaze flicked to the gun in his holster. He tracked her sight, and he smiled. "Trust me when I say it would not have helped." He tapped his chest. "Shot seven times already, remember?"

Rain met his eyes. "Then I'll make sure to put the eighth in your brain."

McNorton, to her consertation, burst into wild gales of laughter, as if Rain had magically turned into the world's greatest comedienne. His face turned beet-red, he slapped his thighs and simply roared with laughter. Finally, he seemed to get a hold of himself. He wiped his eyes as he straightened. He grinned at her. "Now that is funny! Did you know that's almost exactly what Mei-Yun said?" And then he shot her.

Hana's heart stopped beating.

Rain's left thigh erupted in a spray of crimson. She fell to her knees, crying out in pain.

Still grinning, McNorton shot her in the chest.

Rain pitched backwards, sprawled bonelessly across the floor.

Twirling his gun like a Western sharpshooter, McNorton holstered the gun. He grinned at Hana. "Well?"

"You bastard." Hot tears of rage coursed down her cheeks. If she could have, she would have beaten him to death with her hands. "You fucking bastard."

He looked pained at her words. If she could have killed him with words, she would've verbally flayed every bit of flesh off his body. She hurled every insult she could think of, swore at him until her throat felt nearly raw.

Unharmed, he spread his hands in a placating gesture while he waited out her tirade. Then he said, "Now, love, don't be angry. I told you: after tonight, you'll be mine. So that means we can't have any devious temptations wandering around."

"I'm going to kill you."

He ignored her. "And Rain, well... Rain was simply a bad influence on you."

"I'll rip your throat out. Cut out your fucking heart-"

"-the worst influence, in fact. She made you believe that you loved her. Which is a lie, of course, because you love-"

"I NEVER LOVED YOU!" Hana screamed.

At once he was over her, a hand at her throat, choking off her words. He was furious. "If you ever say that again-"

Hana stared him full in the eyes and articulated clearly, "I. Will. Never. Love. You."

A snarl of rage contorted his features. He wrenched a knife free, grabbed her chin, and dug his fingers into the muscles of her jaw. "You little slut! Let's see how well you talk without your tongue!"

A loud blam. McNorton's eyes widened a split second before the right half of his face dissolved in a fountain of blood and bone. He slumped over Hana, she kicked him off, and he fell to the floor. Hardly daring to breathe, Hana lifted her head to look.

Rain was braced against a table, an assault rifle in her hands. Blood stained the front of her shirt and pants, she was as pale as the shrouds covering the furniture. A trail of blood along the floor marked the path she had crawled to reach the gun.

Using the butt of the gun as a crutch, Rain limped over to the bar and kicked McNorton squarely in the crotch. "Get up from that one."

A sound partway between a bark of laughter and a sob of relief forced itself out of Hana's bruised throat.

End, Part Three.

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.