Disclaimer: I wonder if Aoki and Ayamine would give me ownership of the Get Backers as a Christmas present. That would be nice, wouldn't it? :D

A/N: Same as the previous chapter. No horizontal lines where they should be just irks me so I've updated this one to insert them where appropriate.

Ban stepped out of the vault with the Mikazuki Munechika strapped across his back. Ginji appeared a moment later behind him. He walked around the large oak desk in the middle of the room, and headed towards the door where they came in. Before reaching the door, he stopped, then turned his head up and scanned the ceiling.

Ginji asked, "What's wrong, Ban-chan?"

While examining every nook and cranny of the ceiling, he answered, "I'm looking for another exit."

Ginji looked at his partner quizically. "But Iarra-chan's right outside that door", he said, pointing at the said door.

Ban gave his partner a lopsided smile. "Exactly", he said, then continued scanning the walls.

Ginji frowned. "What do you mean?"

Ban noticed Ginji's confusion and grinned. "I say we ditch her."

"What? Why?"

"We have the sword, Ginji. We don't need to hang around that kichigai (1) any longer." He walked over the right side of the wall. "Now go to the other side of the room and help me find that exit."

Ginji looked at the back of Ban's head doubtfully, but complied.

Iarra was sitting down next to Gitsu's lifeless body, her head bowed. She lifted her head, and slowly reached for the dagger plunged into Gitsu's heart. She pulled her weapon out, shook the blood out from the blade, then placed it back into her boot. She then lifted her palms to her sides and summoned her other daggers.

The Get Backers spent the next few minutes in fruitless searching. Upon hearing his partner bang his fist on the wall and curse, Ginji stopped his search and looked at Ban, then at the door, then back at Ban with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Fine", Ban said with a sigh. "Let's go through the damn door."

Ginji smiled in relief and walked towards the door. Just as he pushed it open, daggers flew across the room and straight into Iarra's hands.

Ginji gasped, and Ban stopped in his tracks.

They saw Iarra sitting with her back to them. She had her hands extended to her sides, the blades of her daggers jutting out between her fingers. Lying on the floor before her was Gitsu.

"Iarra-chan", Ginji said softly.

She didn't reply. She continued to sit there, unmoving as if frozen in time. Finally, she slid her daggers into her boots, and slowly stood up.

She turned to look at the retrievers. When she saw the handle of the Mikazuki Munechika peeking from Ban's left shoulder, she smiled, but the sadness in her eyes was unmistakable. "I see you've found it", she said.

Ginji walked over to her, concern evident in his brown eyes. "Are you alright, Iarra-chan?"

"Yeah", she replied.

He noticed the cut on the left side of her neck. "Your neck...", he started to say.

"It's fine", she interrupted.

He looked down at Gitsu's body, then back at her. "What happened?", he asked.

She was silent for a moment with a troubled look in her eyes, then replied, "He attacked me."

Ban had walked closer to her and noticed the hole at Gitsu's left chest. Iarra saw what he was looking at and their eyes met.

She looked away, then reached into her pocket for the communicator to check the display. The time read 10:47. "We have a little more than an hour", she said without looking at them. "We better get going."

She walked over to one of the doors to her left side and opened it.

"Iarra-chan", Ginji said, looking up at the trapdoor where they dropped from. "Shouldn't we go back up the trapdoor?"

She stopped. Without looking at him, she answered, "There's no need. There aren't any more Dragons in this building." With that, she stepped out of the door.

The Get Backers looked at each other, each sensing the change in Iarra. Ban shrugged, then walked over to the door where Iarra went to and stepped out, with Ginji following behind.

Nobody spoke as they walked on. Iarra quickly opened doors and went down some stairs and through several empty corridors, with the Get Backers close behind her. It seemed that she was correct in saying that there weren't any more Dragons in the building.

She reached a door and stopped. She turned the knob, then slowly opened it. Beyond the door were trees, shrubs and various other plants similar to the ones that Ban saw when he came out of the tunnels. Ahead of them was another building, also five storeys high.

"That's where the prisoners are", Ban heard Iarra mutter.

Ban stepped outside, turned to her, and said, "I hope you don't think we're saving them. The Get Backers are not a rescue team."

She looked at him, her eyes devoid of emotion. "Don't worry. We are not saving them", she said, emphasizing the word 'we'.

As soon as Ginji was outside, she darted through the trees. She motioned for the Get Backers to do the same. They moved along the perimeter of the building. When they were at the other side, Iarra crouched behind some bushes near the building and waited for the retrievers.

Once Ban and Ginji were beside her, Iarra turned to the building behind them. "Since this is where they're keeping the prisoners, there's bound to be a lot of Dragons in this area. We should try to make it to those hills without being spotted."

She pointed at the hills in the distance, and said, "Beyond those hills is a river. The flow of the river will take you to a nearby pier. It'll be easy to go back to Tokyo from there."

She looked back at the building again, then turned to the retrievers beside her. "You two go first. I'll be at the rear."

"And why would you wanna be in the rear?", Ban interrupted. "So you could stab us on the leg again when we're not looking?"

He expected a smart retort of some kind, but was surprised when she answered in an amazingly calm way, "Because if the Dragons spot us, you two can go ahead while I make sure that they don't follow you."

He frowned. She was too calm, like she was trying to hide the storm that had to be raging inside her.

"Well", she said, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."

Ban and Ginji sped through the woods, with Iarra behind them. They had run quite a distance already when Iarra suddenly gasped then fell down. The retrievers stopped and turned to see her face down on the ground.

"Iarra-chan?", Ginji uttered, worry written all over his face.

She lifted her head and shouted, "Go!"

He frowned, then started to run towards her.

Iarra shook her head adamantly then shouted again, "Run, you fools!"

He hesitated.

"Dammit! Just go!", she yelled.

"Ginji!", Ban called out. "You heard her. Come on!"

Reluctantly, Ginji turned around and ran towards the hills behind Ban. Iarra watched as the Get Backers ran on. Once she saw that they had already run quite a distance, she looked at what caused her to fall. On the outer side of her right leg was an embedded wind and fire wheel (2). She cursed.

She rolled to her left side, then pushed herself up with her hands. She closed her fist around the handle of the wind and fire wheel, took a deep breath, then yanked it out. She screamed in pain.

She waited a few moments for the pain to wear off, then raised the wind and fire wheel to her nose and sniffed. The weapon smelled of a familiar paralyzing agent.

"Dammit", she muttered, as she threw the weapon to the ground.

Her leg would be paralyzed soon if she didn't do something. She reached for two beads in her hair, and squeezed them over her wound. She hoped her neutralizing chemicals would work fast. Fast enough to let her get away before Dragons swarmed over her.

She felt her strength slowly fade as blood continued to flow from the wound on her leg. She reached for another bead and had just finished squeezing her blood-clotting chemicals onto her wound when she suddenly sensed something that made her drop her back to the ground. A bullet came whizzing past, hitting the tree behind her. She heard more gunshots and pretty soon, more and more bullets came flying at her.

She tried to lift her leg to see if she could still move it. She couldn't. This is bad, she thought, groaning inwardly. She was pretty much a sitting duck. The only thing she could do now was to keep low on the ground and hope that she would be lucky enough not to get hit.

Is this the end?, she thought, as the sound offiring riflessurrounded her. It looks a lot like it.

The explosive sound of gunshots suddenly stopped and was replaced by the sound of several footsteps running closer towards her, followed by the clicking of safety catches. Soon, she became surrounded by a group of Dragons, their rifles pointed at her.

"Well, well, well", the leader of the group said in Chinese. "Looks like we have another one."

He walked closer to Iarra, then picked up the weapon that injured her. He hitched it to his belt, next to another wind and fire wheel. He then turned to his men.

"Take her to the cell", he ordered.

The men answered, "Yes, sir."

She looked around and counted them. Fifteen, she thought. I can't possibly fight all of them in the state that I'm in. She sighed resignedly and closed her eyes. This is it. I'm gonna die.

Iarra's scream reached the Get Backers' ears, making them stop in their tracks. Ginji turned to the direction of the sound.

"Ginji", Ban said. When Ginji looked at him, he shook his head.

"But Ban-chan...", Ginji started to say.

"No but's, Ginji", he interrupted. "The sword is what we're here for. Now that we have it, our job here is over. Now, come on!"

He grabbed Ginji's arm, and started to run. Soon they heard gunshots in the distance. Ginji stopped and pulled his arm free.

Ban turned to him and said firmly, "No, Ginji."

Ginji looked straight into his partner's eyes."I'm sorry Ban-chan", he said."But I have to save her." He then turned around and ran back towards Iarra's direction.

Ban clenched his fist, gritted his teeth, and muttered, "Aarrgh. Ginji, you idiot."

Ginji had only run a few paces when Ban suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his way.

"I have to save her, Ban-chan!", he protested.

"'I'?", Ban asked, raising an eyebrow. "So what happened to the 'S' in Get Backers, huh?"

The sides of Ginji's lips turned up in a smile. "Ban-chan."

As two Dragons began to move towards her, she thought about the things that had happened that day. The events in the tunnels flashed before her eyes. She thought about Ban, and his partner Ginji, and she smiled inwardly. Those two twerps weren't as bad as she thought they would be.

Then she remembered Gitsu. And how his betrayal along with Big Boss Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad had led to this. She frowned. That information was very valuable. Who else would be able to let Havoc know?

Yes, I'm gonna die, she thought. She opened her eyes with newfound resolve. But not today. For Dark Fleet's sake, she couldn't let herself be captured.

The two Dragons grabbed her by her upper arms, and gruffly pulled her up. She winced as she felt a sharp pain shoot up from her leg, but at the same time, she felt relieved. The fact that she could feel pain from her leg meant that part of her body was no longer paralyzed.

She tried to surreptitiously lift her leg, and was glad when she found out that she could, albeit with a lot of pain. But still, feeling pain was better than not feeling anything at all.

She was surprised when the Dragons suddenly placed her hands behind her back and put handcuffs around her wrists.

Oh, no, she thought. How the hell was she gonna fight them now? She was gonna have to improvise, then.

They pushed her forward, urging her to start moving. She found out that she could now stand on her right leg, but she pretended to limp as she started to walk. She kept glancing at her leg and was relieved to know that the bleeding had started to subside.

They reached the building. One of the Dragons stepped forward and opened the door, then they entered the hallway and started to walk towards the prison cells.

Two Dragons were in the lead. Next was Iarra with two Dragons at her sides, followed by the rest of the squad in pairs. The leader brought up the rear.

Soon, the two leading Dragons turned right at a corner where the hallway branched out, followed by Iarra and her pair of 'escorts'. She waited for the pair of Dragons right behind her to turn at the corner, then leapt into action.

She quickly turned around and jumped up, kicking at the faces of her 'escorts' with both of her feet. The next two Dragons that she was now facing gasped in surprise, then fired. But she quickly ducked, letting the bullets hit the two Dragons that were in the lead. While ducking, she stepped forward and lifted her left knee, connecting it with the left Dragon's solar plexus. She then quickly followed it up with a kick to the other Dragon at her right. Six Dragons were now down.

By this time, the other Dragons that were still at the main hallway heard the ruckus. Not knowing what to expect, they stepped back and aimed their rifles at the corner.

"Wong", the leader said.

The Dragon nearest to the corner turned his head to look at his leader.

"Go check it out", the leader ordered.

Wong nodded, then stepped closer to the corner. Cautiously, he moved to peer over the other side of the corner. Just then, a heel suddenly connected with his jaw.

The other Dragons gasped as they watched their comrade fly, then land in a heap far to their left.

The leader frowned as he stared at Wong. He glared at the corner wall, then gave his men a series of hand signals. His men nodded in understanding. They watched closely as the leader held his right palm up and waited for his mark. As soon as he closed his fist, the Dragons all ran towards the corner, turned to the right, then fired.

Iarra ducked. With a loud cry, she ran towards the nearest Dragon, bumping into him with her shoulder as hard as she could. As the Dragon fell backwards, she quickly stepped on his knees, then on his shoulders. She stomped on his face as she leaped, sailing high above the Dragons' heads. She did a front flip, landing a good distance away from the Dragons.

She turned back to the main hallway and ran as fast as she could, ducking and dodging the bullets raining on her. She concentrated hard on not losing her balance, since she found it very difficult to stay upright with her hands cuffed behind her back.

She was almost at the door when her right leg buckled beneath her, making her fall down and tumble on the floor. She screamed as a lascinating pain shot up from her leg. When she finally stopped rolling on the floor, she glanced at her wound and saw that it was starting to bleed again. It seemed her maneuvers had opened up her wound.

She leaned her head back on the floor and tried to catch her breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the leader walking slowly towards her, his rifle aimed and ready to fire.

No, she thought frantically as she watched the leader come closer. I can't die yet. I just can't.

She tried to get up, but failed. She winced as her wound protested against any more movements. Soon, she found herself looking straight at the barrel of the leader's rifle.

"Sayonara", the leader said. "Dark Fleet scum."

He pulled the trigger. She winced as she gathered her remaining strength to roll away from him. The bullet hit the area on the floor where she previously was.

He chuckled. "That was pathetic", he said in Japanese.

She hated to admit it, but she had to agree with him. Her hands were tied behind her back, she could barely move her right leg, and worse, she was bleeding badly. Her chances of surviving this looked pretty slim. But slim or not, she vowed to herself that as long as she still had the strength, she would do all that she could to make it difficult for the bastard. She dragged her injured leg and started to crawl towards the door.

She rolled to the side as he fired again. She barely avoided getting hit.

"You know", the leader said as he sighed. "If I had the time, I would like to play with you some more, but unfortunately, we're in a tight schedule today. Sorry."

He then fired two consecutive shots at her. She successfully avoided the first bullet. To her horror, she found out that she wasn't quick enough to roll away from the second bullet.

Well, at least this is gonna be a quick death,she closed her eyes and waited for the bullet to pierce her skull.

The bullet didn't come. She opened one eye, unsure of what was happening. Then she opened her other eye in shock. The bullet was floating in midair inches from her face.

He fired again. Sparks flew as the bullet seemed to hit an invisible shield that was protecting Iarra. The wind and fire wheels hitched on the leader's belt started to shake. She gazed up at his face. He looked to be equally in shock as he stared at something by the door.

She turned her head to the door and what she saw made her eyes open wide. "Ginji", she whispered.

Standing at the door was the former Volts leader with his palms up, directing his magnetic shield around her. He grinned at her. "Hi", he said.

The leader finally recovered from his shock. He fired again at Iarra. Sparks flew as the second bullet hit the shield, but the shield held on. Frustrated, he glared at Ginji and shifted his aim at the intruder. He fired at the blond. Ginji moved his palm and created a shield before him to stop the bullet. Using his other palm, he sent streaks of electricity straight at the leader.

"Aaaaahhhh!", the leader screamed as he fell backwards toward the floor, tendrils of smoke coming out of his clothes.

When they saw that their leader was down, the other Dragons aimed at Ginji, then fired. Ginji jumped over Iarra and ran towards them, sparks of electricity dancing around his body. He gave a battle yell, then directed a tremendous amount of voltage at his attackers. The Dragons screamed.

Iarra watched him in awe. Wow, she thought.

Suddenly, she felt herself being scooped up from the floor. The next thing she knew, she was headed towards the door with great speed. It took a while for her to realize that she was being carried. She looked up and saw very familiar spikes and purple glasses.

She frowned. "Mido?"

Ban looked down at her, then grinned lopsidedly. "Yo", he replied.

Her frown turned into a full glare as she asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

His grin disappeared and glared back. "Saving your ass, apparently."

"My ass doesn't need saving."

"Feh", he snorted. "It doesn't look that way to me."

They had gotten to a small clearing in the woods, where Ban put Iarra down with her back against a tree trunk. He reached for her handcuffs and pulled the clasps apart, freeing her wrists. He then stood back up and put his hands in his pockets as he looked back at the building. Patches of blood colored his shirt where it came in contact with Iarra's wound.

"You can stop thanking me now", he said sarcastically.

She sighed. "You could've already gotten away from this place. Why'd you come back?", she asked.

He answered, "I don't know. Ask Ginji when he gets here."

"Oh, so this was his idea?"

He chuckled. "Did you actually think it was mine?"

She met his eyes, then replied quietly, "No, I guess not."

He looked back at her and frowned. After a long moment, he asked, "How's your leg?"

"Gee, let me see", she answered. "Aside from the sharp pain and the fact that it's bleeding profusely as you can see, it's fine."

Ban almost smiled. It was actually a relief to hear her sarcasm.

Iarra noticed the amusement in Ban's eyes. "What?", she asked irritatedly.

"Nothing."

Suddenly, they heard a set of footsteps running towards them. Ban saw Iarra quickly pull two of her daggers from her boots. He held his hand up to signal her to relax. Iarra looked closer at the source of the sound and loosened up at the sight of Ginji running towards them. She put the daggers back into her boots.

Ginji got to the clearing and ran over to Iarra. "Iarra-chan", he said. "Are you alright?" He looked at her wound which was still bleeding heavily. "That looks bad", he remarked worriedly.

She sighed and leaned her head against the tree trunk. "It is", she said. She reached for a bead from her hair and squeezed its contents into her wound.

Ginji kneeled down next to her. "What's that?", he asked.

"Something to stop the bleeding. The problem is, I don't have enough", she answered, then gave him a weak smile. "You should both go ahead. I'm just gonna slow you down."

He frowned. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I don't think so", she said.

"Actually, there is", Ban said.

Ginji and Iarra both looked up at him.

Ban smiled. "Have you heard of electrocautery?"

Ginji shook his head, and Iarra raised her eyebrows.

"You mean burn my blood vessels to stop the bleeding by using electricity?", Iarra asked.

"Yep", Ban replied, smiling smugly. He then turned to his partner. "Ginji, you CAN do that, can't you?"

Ginji smiled. "No problem!"

Ginji turned back to Iarra and placed his hand over her wound. Remembering the power that she witnessed from Ginji earlier, Iarra suddenly grabbed Ginji's wrist. Ginji looked at her questioningly.

"Ummm...", she said. "Go easy on it, okay?"

Ginji smiled again. "Of course."

She took a deep breath, then exhaled as she said, "Okay." She let go of his wrist, closed her eyes and braced herself.

Ginji turned his attention to her wound. With great concentration, he directed a few volts of electricity towards her skin. She groaned with pain as she grabbed one of the large roots protruding from the ground near her. Ginji stopped and looked at Iarra's face with concern.

"Just go on", she whispered, her eyes still shut tight.

Ginji complied. Iarra gritted her teeth and winced as she squeezed the root in her hand with every pain that she felt from the electricity searing through her flesh.

Finally, Ginji lifted his hand from her wound and said, "There. I think the bleeding has stopped now."

Iarra opened her eyes and examined Ginji's handiwork. Parts of her leg were burned, but Ginji was right. The bleeding had stopped. She looked back at Ginji and smiled.

"Thank you", she said. Then she looked up at Ban. "You, too."

Ban gave her a curt nod, while Ginji said, "You're welcome, Iarra-chan."

She pulled one of her daggers out and used it to cut the remaining sleeve off her suit. Then she used the cut sleeve to wrap the wound on her leg. When she was done, she took the the communicator from her pocket and looked at the time. It was 11:41.

"We only have about twenty minutes", she said.

"Can you stand up?", Ban asked.

She nodded. "I think so." Ginji proceeded to help her up, but she shook her head. "I can do this", she said.

Ginji let her get up by herself, but stayed close so that he could catch her if she fell. But she was able to stand up, although with a lot of effort. She lifted her left knee to see if she could stand on her right leg.

"It hurts like hell, but at least I can still stand on it", she said.

She felt drops of water falling on her head, and she looked up. It had started to rain.

She looked at the Get Backers and said, "Let's move."

The rain was now pouring down in torrents, making the ground very slippery. The sound of rumbling thunder could be heard in the distance. The trio ran through the woods, with Iarra limping slightly.

The rain slightly obscurred their vision, which was why Iarra didn't notice the stray branch at her path before she ran into it. She gasped as it tore through her suit and scratched her flesh.

She stopped running and saw that there was now a large tear in her suit from her collarbone to her chest, making her suit dangerously close to falling off.

"Darn it", she muttered, placing a hand over the torn fabric to hold it in place.

She collected her bearings and was about to start running again when Ban tossed his white shirt over to her.

"Here", he said.

She caught the shirt with her other hand and looked at Ban in surprise. She saw that he was now in his dark undershirt.

"Uhh.. Thanks", she said.

When she was done putting the shirt on, she motioned for the Get Backers to start moving. Thankfully, they did not encounter any more Dragons and they reached the hills without incident. Once they were at the top of one of the hills, Ban and Ginji saw the river and the dock that Iarra mentioned. Tied to the dock were three orange Zodiacs (3).

They went down the hill and headed straight toward the nearest Zodiac, which looked like it was capable of carrying eight people. Iarra untied it then hopped in, followed by Ban, then Ginji. She quickly started the motor.

"Do you know how to run this thing?", she asked them.

"Yeah", Ban replied.

"Good", she said, as the motor hummed to life.

The Zodiac started to move. Iarra directed the boat to go with the flow of the river. As it gained speed, she turned to the retrievers with a serious look in her eyes.

"I really appreciate what you guys have done", she said. "But for both our sakes, I hope we never cross paths again, Get Backers."

And with that, she turned around and leaped high above them, somersaulting in the air, and landing on one knee at the dock.

The Get Backers' eyes widened. "Iarra-chan!", Ginji called out.

Iarra stood up and turned around to face them, the tails of Ban's shirt waving with the wind.

"What the hell are you doing?", Ban yelled at her.

She smiled at the Get Backers' bewildered faces as thunder rumbled in the sky. She gave them a little salute, then quickly turned around and ran back towards the hills.

Ban stared at Iarra's receding form as they moved farther from the dock. Then he gasped as it dawned on him. "She's gonna try to save the prisoners", he breathed out.

"What?", Ginji asked,turning to him with his eyes wide open."But the place is gonna blow up soon!"

"She's crazy", was all Ban could say as he shook his head.

The Zodiac was starting to swerve, so Ban turned his attention to keeping the boat in the right direction. Ginji continued to stare at the hills, where Iarra had long disappeared to. Suddenly, they heard several loud explosions. They gasped as undulating masses of black smoke surged from behind the hills.

"Iarra-chan", Ginji uttered.

They stood there staring, rainwater dripping down their faces, watching the large billows of smoke slowly fade against the lightning-streaked sky. There was nothing else they could do as the Zodiac moved farther and farther away along the raging river.

Notes: Well, this is supposed to be the last chapter. But if I have the time, I'll write an epilogue. Hopefully, I could get it done before the year ends. Have a merry Christmas, everyone!

EffyDurach: (Mayumi-san chokes as Effy strangles her) Chocolate cookies? Yummm! Can I have some? hehe :P

Atropos' Knife: Ok, I accept your challenge. But, don't expect the fic to be out anytime soon. I'm thinking of doing two more fics completely unrelated to this one. Given my 'speed' at writing, I think you know what I mean by "don't expect the fic to be out anytime soon". :-D

Rabid Lola: More flashbacks? Well, not in this fic. I kind of have her backstory already, but I can't find a place to insert more flashbacks in this chapter. And I don't think it'll be appropriate to insert one in the epilogue. Sorry. But I think I can find a way to put one or two in the sequels ;-)

(1) Kichigai means "a maniac or insane person".
(2) Wind and fire wheels are traditional Chinese weapons. They're discs (like Yukihiko's weapon) with sharp rays around it called the "tongues of fire". A fighter usually has two of these, one on each hand. You can search on Google to see what it looks like.
(3) A Zodiac is an inflatable motorized rubber boat.