First Blood: Part II
4:19:51…4:19:50…4:19:49…
Benitsubasa's eyes squinted as her lips deadpanned. A few minutes had passed since she joined Minato in his endeavor to find a hidden switch or cheat code they could use to bypass the test easier. Didn't take more than half a minute of yanking up floorboards for her to say fuck this noise and make her way back up to the top of the silo, though it could be argued her calling it quits early was due to the nest of arachnids she unearthed.
But that's beside the point.
Benitsubasa knew right from the word go that if the two keys didn't work (which they didn't, surprise, surprise), there were no other means of breaking through it. That, and besides the central structure, the room was completely barren. But she went along with Minato's gut instincts anyway, even if it was for just thirty seconds, which is a minute longer than she would have given anyone else.
Though she wouldn't admit it, she knew deep down Minato was an intelligent young man…even if most of what she saw did stem from his paranoia. Understandable, seeing that having a plethora of debilitating, performance-crippling wounds so early on would slow them down more in the long run than simply taking the time to plan ahead. She may want to take note of that for the future, provided she has one after these five hours are up.
"C'mon, Minato!" Benitsubasa spat, her flat chest hunched over the rusted railing so far that if she was as well endowed as any of Minato's legal girls the gravity of her chest would have pulled her overboard and broke her neck. "We've already searched the place inside and out! Get up here, or I'll knock you flat on your ass and drag you up here by your ankle!"
"I'll be up in a minute! There's just one more thing I nee-"
"You said that five minutes ago!" she interrupted with a more threatening and intense bark. "Don't make me jump over this railing, Minato! I won't be gentle! I'll make it my effort to ensure your head bounces off each one of these steps on the way up!"
He puffed out a sigh, knowing she was right and at this point, he was stalling while to find his nerve. "Alright, alright, fine!" What was this trial about, again? Trust?
Following a trek up the steps, he joined her side at the tank's entrance, eyes riveting at what may very well be his final resting place.
Gulping down a mouthful of phlegm, the ronin veered his head towards his judge, jury, and potential executioner with curl of the neck.
"Benitsubasa," he began. "I need to know, ca-"
"Can you trust me?" she interrupted. "Minato, I couldn't kill you now even if I wanted to. You heard Jiggly Puff; these tests demand teamwork and are just going to get harder. If I kill you now, I can kiss any chance of saving my Ashikabi goodbye."
"I know that, but-"
She cut him off once more. "But what? The fact I tried to kill you before gotcha scared? Is that it?"
"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT DOES!"
The startled Red Sekirei staggered back at the ronin's sudden change in tone.
"I was hanging off the bridge by my fingertips that night, dangling hundreds of feet over the freezing cold water below; and you crushed my hand beneath your boot knowing full well that I couldn't swim!"
"Wait…you can't swim…?"
"I was screaming it at the top of my lungs while you stood over me! How can you not remember that?!"
"That #08 weirdo tossed me and Haihane halfway across the border shortly afterward, so that was really all I was able to focus on over the last few months. Everything else just slipped my mind, I guess..."
"Your attempted murder of me slipped your mind like a week-old shopping list?!"
"Look," she sighed. "I told you before; I'm sorry for what I did that night. You have my word; I'm not to pull that kinda shit again..."
"Besides," she paused. "you spared my life, and for that, I owe you one."
Noticing a genuine sense of sincerity in her softer voice, he nodded a few times, curving his lips. "Alright…alright, I trust you."
"Good," she said. "So, I assume you've learned how to swim since then?"
"Nnnnot exactly…" he corrected her.
"You haven't?!" she paraphrased. "Then how the fuck are you gonna resurface with the key?!"
"Last I checked, this tank is nowhere near as deep as the body of water separating the capital from the outside," he pointed out. "Here, I can use my legs to push myself back to the surface without much issue. I'm looking at a 15 foot plunge to the bottom."
"Yeah, provided it doesn't go much deeper past the floorboards. What then?"
"It doesn't. Some of the floorboards I pulled up around it shows it doesn't go more than a few inches deeper than what we see."
Huh, I guess his stalling gave us some useful info after all… "Hmph; Point taken, I guess." She advanced towards the lever. "Well, let's get this shit over with, then."
"Hold on; don't touch the lever yet!"
"Ugh!" She groaned. "What now?!"
Turning around, she witnessed him unzip his brown jacket, tossing it aside.
Her eyes wavered back and forth in suspicion. "Uhh, what are you doing?"
"I want to go in naked."
"WHAT?!" She snapped, "WHY?!"
"Jigsaw wants us to plan ahead," he exemplified. "Chances are that one of our later tests will involve electricity in some shape or form, and I doubt having wet clothes would help matters."
"Even so!"
XXXXXX
"The kid really knows when to think things through," Dr. Gordon theorized. He and John were still glued to a few feeds from the hundreds of cameras set up in the building.
"As we have already said and established, he is smart. Very smart," John replied.
He leaned in to get a closer look at the feeds."Smart... and perhaps a little more paranoid than we originally anticipated..."
XXXXXX
"Now," the ronin tugged at his shirt collar, "can you tear my shirt off so I can safely remove it? I'd rather not pull it over my head and risk detonating the collar."
"Uh…can't you do it…?" she asked, puzzled.
"I would but I'm not exactly strong enough. Even without your powers, you're still stronger than I am, so can you-"
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. Jeez, do you like making yourself seem more pathetic than you look or something? Goddamn…"
With a tight grasp of the collar, Benitsubasa stretches the shirt apart with a strong tug, ripping it, and his undershirt, clean down the middle in almost an instant.
Something immediately grabbed her attention, and it was certainly NOT the fact he was more fit than she originally slated him for. No siree. "Whoa…"
He looked down at her. "What? What's the matter?"
"Where did you get this scar? It looks…fresh…" See? It really wasn't her thinking he was hot for a scrawny virgin.
Oh yeah, that… "…honestly, I have no idea. It was just…there when I woke up…"
"Huh, is that so?" Bending her knees, she rose to her feet. "Well, it looks like this test just got a lot tougher."
"What makes you say that?" he questioned.
"Don't you remember? That creepy mime doll said the tank was filled with salt water…aaaaand considering that your wound is open, I doubt your little swim is gonna be very pleasant…"
Oh crap! I forgot about that…! "Well, even if that is the case, I'm not going to let my Sekirei down. Not them, or your Ashikabi…"
…wow she thought, amazed at his determination. …is this kid determined or what… "You seem awfully undeterred by this."
"Why wouldn't I be? You know first hand I've dealt with worse. Remember? Bridge escape? Sake warehouse collapsing on me after you kidnapped me? I think I can manage a salty swim." With an unamused grumble, he turned his back to her, sliding his arms out of his ripped t-shirt and tossing them aside by his discarded jacket.
"Well, can't argue with that, I guess."
He slides his hands down and into to his dungarees. "Um…do you mind turning around, please?"
"Oh, uh…" She pivots to the railing, face flushing from embarrassment. "…yeah, yeah. I-It's not like I want to see your tiny virgin prick anyway…!"
Hands on hips and eyes fixated to the ceiling, the impatient Red Sekirei taps her foot on the ground as she waits. C'mon…c'mon! What's taking you so long…?
Eyes wavering and now struck with curiosity, the blushing Benitsubasa takes a quick peek at the undressing ronin's figure. She smiled, expression softening. Hmm…well wudya ya know, he's actually kinda cute for a scrawny little loser…
She catches a quick glimpse of a testicle and her eyes quickly divert to prevent any fantasy. I didn't just see that! Nope, nope, I did NOT just see his sack! There's no way he's packing something like that!
With a deep exhale, Minato huffed, "Alright, I'm ready when you are."
She nodded. "Okay."
Benitsubasa crouches beneath the wishbone-shaped lever, shaking the dirty images from her mind and situating her shoulders under its arms. Now in a comfortable position, she wrapped her forearms around their respective handles, gripping them between the crook of her elbow and hands with a strong clutch.
A small monitor adjacent to the lever popped on. Two individual digital timers were present on screen; one set at 0:10 meant to count down, the other set at 0lbs, meant to count up.
With ease, The Red Sekirei hoists the bar to its apex; a buzzer goes off, and the hatch begins to divide.
The ungodly concussing and screeching it vented resided somewhere between a rusty garage door opening, and nails grinding and ripping across a chalkboard; both participants' ears were moments from bleeding. The agitating noise left faster than it arrived, though, as the hatch only took about four seconds to part; nowhere near enough time for the ronin to dive down to the bottom and resurface if Benitsubasa was to slip up.
The water inside was beyond murky and dirty; it had the all texture and transparency of melted candle wax. No sea-faring creature could hope to survive anything less than a minute in this environment.
0:10…0:09…0:08…
"Timer's started, Minato." She said, taking another glimpse at his exposed backside.
She turned away, face reddening as she fought back a nosebleed. If she lost blood now and passed out, there would be no hope. "G-get your fine ass in there..."
"Wh-what was tha-"
"I SAID GET IN THERE NOW!"
He nodded. "I'm going."
Clamping his nose and compressing his breath, the ronin kicks himself off the patio, his light figure dropping like an anvil bored through the water's surface tension.
For a long moment, tiny air bubbles elevated to the surface, then grew in size more and more.
*bleep…0:01…0:00…
15lbs
Benitsubasa flinched as the first burden pressed down upon her shoulders, but resituates herself with relative ease. Minato resurfaces grasping at the ledge and his bleeding arm; the pints of clouded water he mercilessly choked up almost masking his heaving howls of agony.
His scream-filled gagging nearly caused the pink-haired fist-type to drop the lever and rush to his side.
"What happened?!" she shouted, concerned. "Are you alright?!"
"Something bit me!" he screamed, still retching. "Something bit my arm! I think it's tooth is lodged in me!"
"I told ya you shouldn't've taken that puppet's word for granted!" she scolded.
"As if we had a choice?!" Still gasping, he pulls said "tooth" from the salt-laced open wound. "Goddamnit," He whips it over the tank's ledge. "there's broken glass in here!"
"Guess you didn't think there would be something non-living down there that would tear you apart, now did you?" Benitsubasa looks up at one of the cameras observing their game. "I bet you think you're real clever don't you, Pigsaw?! Mark my words when I see you I'm makin' bacon out of your ass!"
…0:01…0:00…
30lbs
"Gah! Fuck!" She flinches again, hoisting the extra fifteen pounds back up to balance.
"Stop whining, and get back down there, dammit!" she demanded. "That wound isn't all that deep!"
He grasps at his nether regions. "I'm going!"
Taking a gasp, the ronin dunks his head and dives back down into the cloudy abyss, despite the blistering saltwater ushering his already blazing lacerations to a more sweltering boil. The deeper he sank, the more abundant the jagged shards of glass coalesced. Minato didn't dare remove his hand from his groin, let alone open his eyes; the tank was so nubilous and foggy that it wasn't like opening them would assist anyway.
More fragments brushed up and ripped against his body, some drawing blood, most overpassing. He reached out, waving his arm back and forth as he neared the bottom. His hand grazed over more glass remnants, cutting open his thumb. The slit wasn't deep, let alone noticeable, but the salt water more than compensated for the lack of pain. He ignored it and continued to swipe away the glass in search for the key. As the ronin searched, he could hear his former rival's grunting echo throughout the water as more weight was forced upon her upper body. His efforts requiring more oxygen, he springboards off the jagged canvas with the bending of his knees, launching himself back to the top again, lucky to not have cut himself open again.
Re-emerging from the depths, he slouched over the patio and sucked in more heavy breaths for his arid lungs to ingest.
"Find anything yet?!" Benitsubasa asked in a more strained voice.
"Nothing…yet…" He replied, panting.
…0:01…0:00…
45lbs
*Agh! she groaned, exerting more effort to stabilize her knees which began to tremble as she rose in posture. "Well keep searching!"Dammit, why the hell am I starting to strain myself?! She thought in bewildering shock. I should be stronger than this!
"I am!" he shouted. "I'd be faster if I didn't have to worry about cutting my you-know-what!"
"Just tuck it between your legs when you get to the bottom, or is it too small for you to even do that?!"
"No, it can fit between them just fine!"
"I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT, TWERP!"
Watching the ronin dive back down into the unforgiving cistern, the Red Sekirei braced herself, for both the incoming weight and barrage of yet more dirty thoughts. Looks like I'm gonna have to concentrate harder… harder… I hope things don't get harder for Minato… Wait…Hard? Minato? ... Dammit, stop that! He's not your type!
Filtering oxygen through her gnashing teeth, she heaved the bar back to its apex with a more serious degree of strength and determination. …that's more like it…
…0:01…0:00…
60lbs
More weight slammed down upon her shoulders, only this time she hadn't flinched. Straightening her spine, Benitsubasa shoved the lever back to its high point with gradual huffs and puffs through her flaring nostrils.
This all you got, Jigsaw? She spat a salty loogie at the camera.This is a fuckin' walk in the park!
Minato re-surfaced once again with more acrimonious scratches on his upper body and face. He didn't take time to talk as after another deep breath, he dived back down into the murky depths. Benitsubasa knew he must have been in a great deal of pain, as some of his wounds did begin to swell and blister.
…0:01…
Damn, she thought.does this kid have a-
…0:00…
75lbs
*Ungh! -any fuckin' threshold for pain whatsoever?!
XXXXXX
"Hmm," Dr. Gordon pondered. "The hot-head seems to be struggling earlier than we originally anticipated…"
"I agree," John replied. "It appears that most Sekirei rely on their powers too often to the detriment of their normal physical capabilities."
"Cut the wings from an angel, and is it still an angel?" He continued. "They may seem like all powerful deities made flesh, but deep down, they're just as vulnerable as any other human being. With a firearm and distance, a child can dispatch a beast. Take it away, and there's no hope."
"How long do you think she'll last?" the doctor inquired.
"As long as her fighting spirit and love for her Ashikabi will allow her…"
XXXXXX
Dammit,Dammit,Dammit! Minato thought as he scrounged his open palms through the glass fragments.Where the hell is this thing?!
Panic and paranoia rushed through his synapses along with copious amounts of venomous salt water through his wounds. He continued to thrash and claw through the jagged particles in desperation, swishing away the brine solution and trying his hardest not to part his legs and risk castration. Holding his breath was becoming all the more difficult with each individual nick and cut he sustained.
Then his hand brushed over something…
It was smooth…and it's outer circumference was rigid, yet not sharp. He picked it up and rubbed his thumb over the grooved texture, coming across a sting at its end. He had found it!
The overjoyed ronin expressed a gasping smile, downing a throatful of the nasty saliferous muck as he forgot himself. Minato grasped his neck, inadvertently letting go of the key. In immediate realization of what he did his hands scrambled through the water and thankfully the key's thread mercifully draped around his hand in his instinctive panic. Without hesitation, the gagging ronin kicked off the bottom of the tank and in a hurry; his heels, unfortunately, were not as lucky as the last time. He stumbled.
Laboring to keep a vertical balance, the weakening Red Sekirei's now-twitching gaze gawked at the now distorting and rippling water in relief. Minato had been down there for a good twenty-five seconds, and she had been expecting the worst.
Her anxiety finally dispersed as the ronin's fist broke through the surface, key clenched within.
Nauseated, the ronin lurched over the edge, puking up the remnants of rancid salt water and tiny specks of glass.
"You found it!" The now alleviated Benitsubasa expressed in delight.
"Yeah," he responded, hacking up more lung-deep saline secretions. "I sure did."*cough *cough
…0:01…0:00…
90lbs
*Ergh! "N-now hurry up and get outta there!"
He took a few more deep breaths. "I'm…coming…"
"C-Coming?" And now she was envisioning him experiencing a pain-induced orgasm. "Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck!"
"Come again?" Minato questioned at her random outburst of swears.
"Get your mind out of the gutter! There are more important things to worry about now!"
"What are you ta-"
"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"
Throwing his leg over onto the patio, Minato gradually pulled his body from the waxy liquid. Halfway out, he suddenly froze, pupils gaping.
"…Wait…"
"Wh-what's wrong, Minato?" she questioned, hampered by the weight. "You have the key. Get your ass outta there!"
Remaining silent, he held the key to his eyes took a moment to ponder. To ponder a specific utterance of words she just spoke…
'There are more'
[Saw OST: The Fittest]
…there might be more… he thought, panting heavily.
"C'mon!" She screamed, breaking his train of thought. "Get up here already!"
He broke the silence, ascending the key's thread over his neck. "I'm going back in!"
"What?!" she shouted. "Why?!"
"Key might be fake!"
…0:01…
She called out to him the moment he dived down. "Hold on, wait!"
...0:00
105lbs
*Augh! "Gack!" she choked, the weight dropping her to one knee. "Has this kid lost his goddamn mind?!"
Benitsubasa felt as though she might fall to her knees, but she held firm.
...00:10...00:09...00:08
Suddenly, Minato resurfaced.
"I couldn't find anything!" he shouted. "I'm going to go back down!"
"Are you nuts?!" Benitsubasa managed to shout while still keeping her grip on the lever. "My fucking arms are aching! I can't hold it for much longer!"
"Just trust me!"
...00:04...00:03
"You stupid fuck!" she snarled. "Get out of the tank NOW!"
"No!" he shouted. "Knowing Jigsaw, he must've put two keys down there, and this one could be the fake!"
...00:00
120lbs
Benitsubasa screamed and fell to her knees as the weight of the lever increased even more. She felt the muscles straining, like her biceps were being pulled from the bone.
With difficulty, she managed to shout, "Get...the fuck...out of...the TANK...NOW!"
Unfortunately, he had dived back down moments before she said that.
He's not gonna get out… she realized.He's not gonna get out!...
Sweat drained from the straining Red Sekirei's visage as the ronin plunged into the silo again, emerging with more torn flesh.
"I can't hold it anymore, Minato! Get out, get out, GET OUT!"
"I believe in you, Benitsubasa! Don't give up!"
He took another dive as more pressure on her was to be applied.
...0:01...0:00
135lbs
She immediately switched things up with her body position swinging one arm out from under one bar and using her whole body to support the remaining as her legs hopelessly slumped and gave way. Even with all the determination she had, it proved too much to bare and the press forced her to the floor, compacting her down until it could go no further.
A buzzer went off as Minato reemerged only to see the silo doors swiftly begin to compact inwards and seal him in.
Benitsubasa lurched out from under the spine-crushing lever, and dived towards the edge of the cistern, knowing their lives depended on it.
She encircled her arms around the ronin's triceps, tightening her grip as she began to pull.
"I don't think so!" she cried out in utmost umbrage. "You're not dying on me..."
In a feat of strength with potentially torn biceps, she hoisted him from the repugnant saline vat a mere millisecond before it clamped shut forever. "...THAT EASY, PIPSQUEAK!"
She fell back with him still in her still strong grasp, landing back hard on the concrete patio. A brief glimpse of his unmentionables burned into her mind.
In a still frantic state of mind, Minato rolled off of her, hands cupped over his nether regions.
"What the hell did you do that for?!" he shouted, clearly shaken.
"What did I do that for?!" her anger intensified."WHAT DID I DO THAT FOR?!"
She continued, ranting. "More like what the fuck were you thinking?! Do you have a fucking death wish?!"
Saliva lathered through her now-gnashing teeth. "You would have gone belly-up like a goddamn goldfish if I didn't spring into action! I couldn't hold that thing any longer you fucking moron!"
"You're a fist-type for God's sake!" he retorted. "This kind of labor should come easy to you!"
"Yeah, it would if I had my power's, you little limp-dick-son-of-a-bitch!" The glimpses of said limp dick returned full force. She nearly had an aneurysm. "You had the fucking key!"
"It might have been fake!"
"Don't give me that shit, pipsqueak!" she said. "Why the fuck would there be two down there, to begin with?!"
"Jigsaw wants us to think his ga-"
"Oh don't gimme that crap about games!" she interrupted. "The whole point of this trial was trust! I trusted you to get the key, just like you should have trusted me when I said it was real!"
Her hollering intensified. "Trust goes both ways, you pin-headed fuckhead! In order for us to save Natsuo and your precious little boob-harem, you need to have faith in me just like I have to have faith in you to not try getting yourself killed!"
Minato lowered his head and kept silent. He knew she was right. With a sigh, he conceded, "You're right. If I want you to trust me, then I need to trust you."
Now at her feet, the aching Benitsubasa whips the ronin his white t-shirt. "Now dry the fuck off! Idiot!"
Furious, she turns her back to him, crossing her arms. Pipsqueak's lucky I'm so nice… she thought. She began to nurse her arm by way of caressing them with her hands. It didn't do much good, as while the activity worked to calm one arm, the action put strain on the other. Something may have ripped inside...
"B-Benitsubasa?..." Minato called out as he ruffled the shirt through his sopping-wet hair, breaking her focus.
"Yeah, what is it?" She veered her pupils back towards the window, only to find that the robed figure had disappeared. Damn. Are my eyes playing tricks on me or something?...
"I just wanted to say thank you…for saving my life."
She answered back with a huff. "Hmph, don't mention it."
"I'm…sorry…for not trusting you earlier."
"As I said before, you spared my life, so I owed you one." She sighed. "…and from now on, call me Benitsu."
"Benitsu?" he paraphrased, drying off his limbs.
"Yeah, hearing my full name repeated over and over has gotten kinda grading. It's too damn long." She said. "Besides, I think it sounds cooler than "Beni".
"What's wrong with calling you "Beni"?" asked the ronin.
"Hmph, because "Beni" sounds like a puny helpless animal, moron that's why. This American dipshit who was a temporary adjuster of mine kept going on and on about how I was his 'Little Beni Bunny'. Made me want to fucking puke."
"Oh," he chuckled. "heh, heh, I see… it does kinda sound like bunny."
"This fat old detective I accompanied on some private eye shit used to call me "The Basa-Bitch" under his breath all the time. He thought I never heard him, but I heard him loud and clear." She sneered. "Old fuck was lucky I didn't cram that cheaply made brown fedora down his throat."
"What was stopping you?"
"Meh, I don't know," she replied. "The fat fuck was a reliable asset to the game master, so if I laid a hand on him, Karasuba would've probably killed me."
"I guess that makes sense."
"Hey, you almost dressed?"
"Just about," he said, dipping a leg into his dungarees.
…moments pass.
"Alright, I'm ready," he declared.
"Good." She turned back around, walking past him. "Now let's get the fuck out of here."
"Heh, heh." Grazing his hand along the back of his still damp hair, he answered back, "Couldn't've said it better myself."
XXXXXX
Mathis observed the unlikely pair advance their way down the rotunda of steps and journey their way towards the door, their first test at long last completed.
His expectations for their degree of teamwork were only slightly exceeded, but the entertainment value was leagues better than he'd originally hoped.
Slipping the Ka-Bar back into his sleeve, Mathis turned away and lumbered off to his next prime objective. His fun was only now beginning.
XXXXXX
"Are you ready to move on, Benitsu?"
"Just open the fucking door already. My arms are feeling like tenderized jelly."
I'll take that as a yes. Pulling the key from around his neck, Minato inserted it into the lock and turns it. After a click, the door opened.
"See, told you I was right."
"I suppose you were."
"So," she began. "Do you promise to trust me from now on?"
He nodded. "Of course."
Now on the same page, side by side, the Minato pushed the door open and made their way down the unfamiliar corridor one of many more they'd need to face. But whatever awaited them in their next trial, was bound to be far more difficult. But their experiences here would no doubt prove to be invaluable.
"One more thing, Pipsqueak."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Pinocchio called. He wants his nose back."
"I'm not lying, I swear!"
"I never said you were. Look down."
"...oh."
4:04:31…4:04:30…4:04:29…