DISCLAIMER: Sorry for the delay in this update. Other projects were born and forced my focus elsewhere. As before, I only own Tang Shen and – in this chapter – Chin. Everyone else is owned by Eastman and Laird.
Chapter 3 – The Choice
Tang held the wazikashi in her hand. She trembled once, and then twice. Seated on her knees, the coldness of the concrete made her shiver. Much as she tried, though, she couldn't help it. She knew that her body was only reacting to the hours of abuse subjected to it, as well as from her lack of covering. Considering the fact that the cage was set up in a large cavernous warehouse prohibited any heat whatsoever from making a difference.
Therefore, dipping deep into her ninjitsu, she shoved the discomfort and her almost debilitating pain aside. As she gripped the decorative handle of the weapon, she ignored the ache in her nail-less fingertip and recalled the assignment given to her only moments earlier.
He had offered her two choices.
"My dear Tang," Saki had murmured compassionately as he knelt beside her, "I truly want you reinstated back into the family."
Tang had said nothing, but kept her head and eyes lowered in submission. He had eyed her, then, appreciatively, reaching out and giving her the briefest of touches along one of two areas of her anatomy left unscathed. It was his wish that the pair be unmolested, his desire to not mar what he considered perfection. Yet, despite her tormented physical condition and having most of her flaming, auburn hair ripped out by her female constituents, Saki still saw Tang Shen as a fetching young woman. In fact, he had known her quite intimately. He was, after all, her lover and it grieved him terribly that she had made such a disastrous choice and in front of the entire assembly of his Prime Elite, no less.
As a result, it only forced his hand to discipline her.
While he knelt beside her, Saki had gently tested her wounds with his fingertips, grimacing slightly at their ugliness. When the girl tensed silently from his touch, he had sighed in an almost sympathetic way. Just the same and before he rose back to a stand, however, he leaned in close to her and whispered, "These cuts will make lasting scars to remind you and anyone else to not betray me. You have your mission, Tang. Choose wisely and I will spare no expense to minimize their obvious appearance."
Now, Shen was alone, left there to make her decision without any witnesses. Saki had given her one hour to decide. What she did with that hour would determine where she aligned herself. If she killed the rat, then he would know her allegiance was with the Foot. If she killed herself, then she would still regain her honor, albeit posthumously.
However, if she failed to do either, then The Doctor would be her fate. That is, her previous tormentor would use her as his personal guinea pig for whatever experiments he deemed fit. Tang was quite familiar with his ways. The results of his creative endeavors would send chills up the backs of most hardened of ninja in the clan. No one dared anger Saki to the point where punishment meant an appointment with the most feared practitioner. He, above all, helped to keep at bay any rebellions or uprisings within the organization.
To Saki, The Doctor was indispensable.
Now, Tang grasped the implement, knowing her fate had two paths. Both demanded a death, in one way or another. Yet, as she looked up at the creature, chained to the wall and only a few feet away from her, she thought back to its capture.
Nearly a week before, word had come to the clan that a new enemy had presented itself; freaks of nature that justified the 'alligator in the sewer' myth. Although these aberrations in their natural state would have been the most benign of species in the wild, these creatures were anything but.
In spite of the fact that their physique in and of itself should have been prohibitive, they fought as well as any of Saki's Elite - and maybe even better.
As it was, Saki had been livid to learn that associates of his, who were in the process of procuring ill-gained electronics from a news van, had their mission thwarted by these mysterious warriors. At the time, a news reporter from the station had happened upon the theft in progress. It was during the gang's attempt to quiet her that they found themselves under attack by this outside force.
Afterwards, Tang remembered the confused rage of her beloved when he learned of this new threat, how mortally offended he was that anyone could or would challenge his supremacy. To make matters worse, the next day there had been a televised news account by the same woman reporter concerning rumors surrounding the Foot clan's existence. That was when Saki sent several of his minions to follow her.
They were only to warn Miss Oneal, to impress upon her the wisdom of leaving well enough alone. Trailing her to the police precinct, they knew that she would take the subway home. However, the ensuing confrontation in the empty station between the reporter and the ten ninja, which rendered the woman unconscious, brought about another encounter with the mysterious warriors. Only, this time instead of many, there was only one who engaged with Saki's forces. Nevertheless, this lone warrior had effectively disabled them, successfully rescuing the unconscious woman, and escaping with her into the depths of the subway tunnel.
As it was, if it had not been for one soldier's quick recovery, the clan might never have learned of the location of this mysterious ninja's home. When the soldier, Chin, followed the trench-coat-and-hat wearing creature, and then discovered its lair, he almost questioned his own sanity. Nevertheless, out of all of Saki's warriors, Chin was the most levelheaded. He knew that his word would carry much weight with his master.
However, the juxtaposition was that, instead of Saki lauding him for a job well done, Chin found Saki's hand slapped hard against his face. The force of the impact sent the hapless ninja hard to the concrete floor in complete surprise.
Tang clearly remembered Saki's loud, angry voice as he accused, "Liar!"
It was only an automatic response of disbelief from the Ninjitsu lord, for how could something so extraordinary exist? Yet, as Saki glared down at his cowering Elite, there was sincerity in the young man's quavering countenance that convinced the master the young ninja was anything but dishonest.
"You speak the truth?" he had asked sternly.
"Yes, Master, I – I would do nothing less for you," the boy's immediate reply came. "I would rather commit hara-kiri than to lie." He sucked in a painful breath, spitting out one dislodged and bloody molar as he did, "They are freaks of nature, yet the one who attacked us fought as we do. His style is different though, ancient in its execution and he carries a sai, as well. There are three others like him. But there is also a fifth one among them, a rat that is as large as they are." Chin dared to look up at his master as he added softly, flinching for fear of receiving another strike from his mentor, "And - they all speak, my lord!"
Tang recalled how Saki had trembled in rage, wondering how anything like this could be. Finally, he turned away from the cowering soldier and said to her, his eyes blazing, "My beloved and faithful Tang; you will take twenty of your fellow Prime Elite and capture these creatures." Seething, he looked back down at the Foot Elite reposed at his feet, "Chin will lead you. I want proof of their existence. Even if one is all you bring back, I will be pleased." Saki looked back at his beloved again, sneering, "Kill the rest if you have to, but I want one to make an example of!" He smiled then, "At the very least, I may be able to determine how they came be; maybe the Doctor can create an army of these mutants for the clan's own gain."
With Chin as guide, he led Tang Shen and twenty Foot Elite into the sewers, quickly arriving at the location of the mutants' lair. The infiltration had gone better than they had hoped. After reconnoitering the general area, they found that the only inhabitant of the lair was the rat. Where the other creatures were, was of no concern to Tang. All she knew was that the odds were now in her teams' favor. After a brief, but furious fight between her Prime Elite brethren and the overgrown rodent, Tang stepped in to finish the job. She had originally planned to kill the creature, but where it supposedly had the ability to speak, she wanted her master the opportunity to question it.
Maybe then, Saki would find out how this freak came into existence.
Yet, now as she sat there in her cell and recalled these events, Tang Shen cringed. She remembered bringing the bound mutation to headquarters and throwing him down before her master in triumph, knowing Saki would be pleased. He accepted her word that the other creatures were not present for the attack, Saki assuring her that they would eventually suffer the same fate as the one now in custody.
However, when the ninja master attempted to question the creature, the rat refused to say a single word. Even after Saki had struck the animal alongside its face multiple times, it uttered not a sound, not even a groan. It just looked at the Ninja lord with large, liquid eyes. The animal's whiskers would twitch now and then with his ears turned back, almost defensively, while his tail hung limp along the floor.
Yet, despite the abuse heaped upon it, the abomination remained mute.
Tang now looked up at the creature, forced to stand with its arms chained high against the wall. She could see dryness around its mouth, evidence of dehydration from lack of water. How many days ago had it been when she first brought it to her master? Two? Maybe it would be better to end its misery, now, she thought to herself, before things became worse. Maybe she would kill it and then commit seppuku to cease her own hellish existence. That way, she would release both herself and this poor animal from certain torment at the hands of The Doctor. Tang was certain that even if she did kill only the rat, Saki would still hand her over to his administrator of justice. There was never an ounce of mercy for anyone who betrayed the clan the way she had done. Her present condition proved to her that just because of her station with Saki, there wouldn't be any leniency for her.
It was then that she knew what she had to do. Struggling to stand erect once again, she looked around. No one was in sight. She and the rat were truly alone with her decision. However, what Saki would find upon his return would destroy any attempt by him to torture either her or the creature. Once she completed her task, it would make little difference if the rat could talk.
Taking painful, hesitant steps, she closed the gap between herself and the mutant, gripping and clenching the wazikashi in her right hand. Tang gulped back her resistance, steeling herself for what she knew she had to do. As she reached the pitiful creature and as she stared at it, she took in its full appearance. She had surmised shortly after subduing the creature in its lair that this was no ordinary rat. Yet, it had an almost 'human' quality to it that suggested wisdom. She could not say why, but she definitely sensed that this entity was more than the sum total of its species. Its breathing was shallow and labored, the strain on the animal apparent with its forced up-right position.
"Yes, killing you will be a blessing, and an end to your suffering," she murmured quietly aloud, "As my own death will be for me."
A solitary teardrop tracked its way down along her right cheek as she shuddered involuntarily. It was the first time in all her agony that Tang Shen allowed such emotion to show itself. She barely caught the sob that tried to escape, swallowing it back determinedly. Never would she ever allow Saki to see such a display and, in the event he had cameras set up in the cell, this time would be no different.
Nevertheless and clenching the wazikashi in her grip, Tang brought her arm back with the cutting edge of the blade mere inches from the rat's throat. She would slice his windpipe and the carotid artery. In that way, he would bleed out quickly, allowing for a swift end with little suffering.
It was the least she could do for him, considering what his fate would be in the hands of The Doctor.