"Gunslinger Girl" Series property of Aida Yu
Original Characters property of Author "Person With Many Aliases"
Indiscrete References are to their likewise respective properties.
Apologies for the Long A/N-
A/N: Nachtsider recently sent me a message, asking for recognition and disclaimer for the references to said Author's Childville/Israeli concept that I keep referencing at times.
How embarrassing. It's like getting a letter telling you're being indicted or sued. Ahhhh…
But it's fair, no?
"Meir, Aharon, Liesel, Childville/Israeli Mechanical Bodies, and Meir being the resuscitated corpse of Emilio (God Rest His Soul), all references to, previously and from henceforth in this One-Shot Compilation, is the intellectual property of Author Nachtsider, of which Person With Many Aliases denies any claim to."
(I'll probably have to put one up in the first chapter as well.)
Actually, this brings up another point that I, coincidentally, was going to address. You see, I'm trying to build a fanon in this section. The last fanon I built was in the Guilty Gear section, which was between Zeronova, Samuraiter, and myself. Using a series of indiscrete references, we managed to build a uniformed series of events that fleshed out the Holy War within the series.
Anyways, by mentioning Childville (which has pretty much become mandatory, ha ha), Soldats, etc, I'm trying to link together Sintendo's, Sheo's, and Nacht-y's events into a cohesive fanon. I'm either a genius, or a shameless plugger. Shrug.
(Actually, if I link Sintendo's Liberty story, that'd create a discontinuity, right? Never mind, I'm just linking the existence of Noir to this fanon, which Sheo and Sintendo referenced)
Anyways, everybody play the referencing game! Let's build a nice, big, happy fanon, in which all our creations can frolic and thrive and murder Italian terrorists together in peace and harmony! Reference Israel! Reference Soldats! Reference British Library! Reference Kukri-toting psychos! Reference the Handsome Men!
(Of course, I suppose for Nachtsider's good point, disclaimers can also be passed out if desired.)
Cancer. That's what the doctors told her fairly average family, shaking up its normality. Maybe they should have moved out of Hiroshima when their child was born, after all.
Six Months, that's how long they watched her agonized pale body shrivel before their eyes.
One night, on her final week, she felt her body being lifted, carried through the halls.
Am I going to Heaven…?
In the case of the People versus… we find the Defendant… Thereby this court sentences… to…
Person With Many Aliases presents:
"Judge Jury"
A Gunslinger Girl Fanfiction
The three members of the Attack Unit of the Handsome men could be found out in the out door range, placing their shots on the targets nestled among the rocks.
Danielle from Handsome Blue could be seen furiously ripping her targets apart, still remembering that day…
May from Handsome Gold was practically in a daze, only giving mercy shots to the head and heart as she wasted time aiming, still remembering that night…
Yuki from Handsome Light Brown efficiently and mechanically made the balance between speed, ammo, and killing. A trio of shots for every target, starting at the torso and moving upwards for a fatal headshot.
She had no time for idle thoughts. Yuki's mind was perfectly conditioned for the job, obviously the reason why she returned to her Handler with the best scores this time around.
"Lazarus. Command accomplished per instruction." Yuki monotonously put it.
It was an odd but fitting contrast, the two of them. On the one hand was a willowy pale child with short black hair, no older than 10, wearing what suspiciously appeared to be one of those sailor outfits that people often claim the Japanese girls wear those days. The other was a tall man, wide as she was thin, dressed in a black suit and blond hair.
Lazarus straightened his tie before giving a blank look at his charge, which did not seem to notice otherwise, "Very good. Go sit in your room until you're called for."
Without another word, the girl set forth to packing up studiously and leaving at a brisk pace. In moments, nothing could have said that Handsome Light Brown was ever there.
Not surprisingly, due to his rather strange ability to appear and disappear at will, it wasn't a very big stretch of imagination to find the man in the conference room before everyone else, leaning back in his seat with crossed legs and folded hands. As everyone arrived, Mr. Superior began the briefing.
"For the most part, kNIGHTS has been lying low, so we haven't gotten any big leads as to their next move. For now, we're going to prioritize taking out smaller problems that the Government has decided we should handle."
"And what problem would that be?"
An elderly Asian man's picture came into view. "This is Mr. Ogura. We've recently found out that his restaurant is acting as a front for Yakuza operations, mostly drug smuggling operations. It's been decided that having even a toehold for a new group, so we're going to eliminate Ogura, along with anybody else associated with his activities."
"Any possible connections to kNIGHTS?"
"Possibly, but then again, kNIGHTS hires out men to anybody, so it may not be a big surprise. As usual, since we have the Attack Unit operational, we'll be sending them again."
The three girls were in Yuki's room, enjoying the quiet with their chosen drinks. If there was one problem one could say about Yuki, was her stubborn desire to take every command from her Handler literally. This time, it meant that Yuki was seated in her room, and refusing to budge even an inch from her seat until Lazarus said so.
May gave a sort of shy out of the way look to Yuki before posing a question to her, "Say, Yuki?"
"Yes."
"What do you think of… Colt? That guy we fought a few times?"
"He is one of the highest priority targets of the Handsome Men, enforcer for mercenary organization kNIGHTS, in any situation whereupon contact with him is initiated, I am ordered to attack until the target's bodily functions vital to his survival is inoperable."
"So… you're going to kill him?"
"That is the colloquial term."
Danielle harrumphed at the memory of the man, "Yeah! Yuki, if you ever see him, beat him up real good for me!"
"Your request is irrelevant and redundant. Any situation whereupon contact is initiated, I will attempt to damage his body beyond recovery."
"Well, just remember to give him one for me!"
"I do not know how to accomplish that vague request. However, I will perform to the best of my ability to eliminate whom you could not."
Danielle shrugged, "Eh, I guess that's the best I'll get."
May remained silent. When Lazarus came to collect his girl, thoughts ran through her head as she watched Yuki's disappearing back.
May found Yuki in the armory. They were alone.
"Yuki, can I talk to you?"
A confused look.
"You are already giving me information vocally."
"Eh? Never mind, I need to ask something of you."
"Yes."
"Yuki, if you ever meet Colt… can you not kill him?"
"I am unable to comply. My orders are explicitly to ensure cessation of Crazy Horse's vital body functions. Your request is overridden by Lazarus' command."
"But can't you do it for me? I'm your friend! We don't have to kill Colt to get rid of kNIGHTS! If we get rid of kNIGHTS before-"
"If mercenary organization kNIGHTS is rendered inoperative, Crazy Horse will still be active as a hired killer for other groups. Crazy Horse is considered extremely dangerous by criminal investigation organizations internationally. His tie to kNIGHTS ensures a higher chance of tracking and subsequently elimination. This is the reasoning behind his focused elimination by the Handsome Men."
"Please… just shoot him in the head, then…"
"May I have permission to understand your desire to ensure Crazy Horse's survival, or elimination without extended periods of nervous pain sensory?"
"Promise not to tell anyone?"
"I will not emit information at my own discretion. I cannot refuse if interrogated, though."
"…He saved my life."
"Voluntarily or involuntarily?"
"Voluntarily."
"I see. You're perception of his relation to the Handsome Men has changed because of this."
"He's not a bad person, Yuki!"
"The extent of his intent is irrelevant to me. His position puts him at odds with that Handsome Men, therefore I must eliminate him if we initiate contact."
They said nothing more as Yuki walked past her friend and out of the room, her gun stored in the Amati case.
"Welcome! Welcome!"
"Table for two."
"Yes, please! Right this way!"
The place appeared to be a pretty fancy Japanese restaurant; the kind that seemed completely made of wood and backlit paper sliding walls, so that it'd play to the foreigner's stereotypical view of the culture. A cordoned off stairway led to a second level balcony that appeared to hide the offices of the restaurant behind more of the sliding panels. A man and a girl slid into a small booth against the wall, staring at their menus without paying attention.
"Yuki. How many people in this building are civilians just eating?"
The girl closed her eyes and concentrated. If she listened hard enough, Yuki could nearly make out the sounds of gun frames clinking from within their holsters or belts.
"Twenty of the fifty on this floor are not carrying weapons. I am unable to determine the exact number of civilians. If all unarmed persons are considered civilian, the majority will be able to escape the premises in combative situation."
"Assume that. We've set up a fake construction crew outside to mask the noise. Start some ruckus unseen, so that we can sort out who's who."
"Yes, Lazarus."
Underneath the table, nimble hands undid the catches on her Amati case, pulling free a Colt Patriot. The small frame of the modified M16 allowed it to fit easily within, with extra room for its most infamous aspect.
A double drum 100-round magazine was also removed and slapped into the bottom of the gun.
Pulling back on the slide underneath the table, Yuki kept her head pointed towards her menu that was resting on the table, while she aimed out of the corner of her eye, her gun aiming from underneath her table.
There was a particular table of men across the room, the one in a suit, whose back was facing Handsome Light Brown was particularly rowdy.
It didn't stop the noise of clinking from coming through, though.
The back of his left shoulder exploded in a spray of blood. Yuki's face grimaced just the slightest.
"You missed." Lazarus noted amidst the screams. The tempura dish looked appetizing to him, pity he wouldn't be able to order.
"My apologies."
She fired two more times, this time tagging the man in the center of his back, knocking him forward into his food laden table. More horrified screams came out as various people either ducked under their seats or ran out the exits.
Yuki took a few more potshots at other men she could identify as threats, before her Handler spoke up.
"I think that's enough. You're free to expose yourself."
"Yes, Lazarus."
At that command, Yuki easily slid out of her seat and jumped to her feet, the Patriot in her small arms.
Now that the Yakuza could finally see who was behind the shooting, several of them pulled out their handguns.
Yuki did what could have been colloquially known as "Spray and Pray", except she didn't know how to pray. She didn't need to either.
She sprayed and she sprayed and she sprayed, throwing tables, exploding china, ripping paper and wood, launching men off their feet.
Within moments, the restaurant was devoid of any movement, save the few sobbing noises of hiding innocents.
Yuki didn't identify the noise as a threat, and dismissed it.
"Yuki, Mr. Ogura is probably upstairs. Please eliminate him."
"Yes, Lazarus."
Stepping up the stair, Yuki arrived on the balcony with her gun up. Testing one of the sliding panels, it appeared that most of them were fixed in place, leaving only a certain one that she couldn't tell, as the real door. The fact didn't stop Yuki, though. She just smashed through the paper and wood in front of her, bringing her into a desk and gangster filled office room.
She sprayed.
Amidst the blood and exploding cotton and plastic of the cubicle walls and chairs, she noticed on the far end of the room was another private office with a wide window inside.
Mr. Ogura was inside, with five other men.
One of them was Crazy Horse, who had just pulled back the slide of his AA12 Automatic Shotgun.
The two of them didn't even flinch as they saw each other; they simply redirected their weapons and pulled.
Glass shattered and nearly everything that remained in the office between the two quickly disappeared. Crazy Horse's form quickly disappeared under cover, while Yuki continued to fire, filling the windowed office with smoke. She stopped when she could not determine any targets under the smoke she was intending to use to lure them out.
Immediately, kNIGHTS' enforcer barged through the door of the office, spilling smoke everywhere, his face between gritted teeth and a grin, his shotgun ripping the entire time. Yuki ducked behind the cubicle walls while the steel grain shaved away the office space around her.
"Go! Go!" He shouted while swinging his arm. Out of the smoke came the four other bodyguards, with Mr. Ogura stuffed between them, while they escaped through the sliding door. Yuki couldn't even fire through the paper walls from her position, as shot flied through the air and kept her pinned.
Soon enough, it was just the two of them in the desecrated room.
Crazy Horse jumped onto a surviving table, letting his gun scan the room as he talked, "This is getting redundant. Third time already. How many of you girls are in this country anyways?"
Yuki didn't respond, instead opting to zone into his position from his voice.
"I see you're one of those 'Silent-killer' types, huh? Fine, whatever." He spat, before his shotgun spat out more rounds, blowing away the remainders of Yuki's cover, while the girl dashed towards another portion of cover, while her Patriot fired between the spaces. Crazy Horse sneered and swung his body sharply to one side letting the bullets crash into the ceiling behind him, while just one gashed his shoulder.
The two continued to trade rounds, neither truly hitting each other to full effect.
Yuki's Patriot hit a hollow sound on the next pull of the trigger. It didn't stop her in the slightest. Rushing out from out of her cover, she charged straight on towards Crazy Horse's grin and his aimed shotgun. Both hands curling around the grip, Yuki heaved back and flung forward her arms, her machine gun spinning through the air. Her enemy merely shot it out of trajectory, before aiming again at the girl who was still running forward, her hand pulling out a USP. Crazy Horse fired first, the spray of pellets slicing her cheek and smashing into her left side with enough force to spin her around. She easily used the new momentum to throw her aim around again and squeeze off a shot of her own, bringing a slug into Crazy Horse's chest, knocking him off the desk as well.
They rose at the same time, Yuki with her gun, and 666-Lives throwing away his empty AA12, while filling his mouth with more aspirin. The man rushed forward suddenly, armed with nothing but his bare hands, whilst Yuki fired. Again he twisted out of the way, the round mere spilling blood against the side of his hunched body. Before she knew it, she found the arm holding her gun was wrapped in a lock against Crazy Horse's side, while another grabbed the back of her shirt. The man dragged her forward into a wall, smashing her skull against it with enough force for her dazed fingers to let slip her weapon. Crazy Horse continued this a few more times, before Yuki could bring a foot up against the wall. Kicking, the girl's small but inhumanly powerful form threw the two of them backwards, letting them crash against the cubicle, Crazy Horse taking the brunt of the blow as they collapsed amongst the ruins. As they rose, Yuki reached across the ground, before swinging single-handedly a wheeled chair into her enemy's upper chest, knocking him back through the air.
As she approached the fallen man, Crazy Horse got to his knees, grunting as he hefted the wreckage of a computer at Yuki, who knocked it away. She was suddenly knocked to the side, as the man pulled out a metal rod out of the wreckage and swung. Hefting the bar in both hands, Crazy Horse swung for a Homerun, cracking it back and forth against the sides of Yuki's face, while her head jerked to and fro. Yuki lunged out suddenly, catching the rod in mid swing, holding it firm even as Crazy Horse hissed and tried to jerk the weapon out of her grasp. Grabbing the bat with both hands, the girl easily bent the rod in two in front of hit man's eyes. At the sight of his useless weapon, he let go first, leaving Yuki suddenly holding the bat herself, while Crazy Horse swung around and landed an elbow into her face.
Stumbling back, Yuki didn't have time to defend as a heel of each palm suddenly crashed into the sides of each neck with enough force to make her hack up blood. Even that, she couldn't complete, as Crazy Horse's hands encircled around her neck, thrusting her forward against a wall, while thumbs pressed into her throat. Struggling for breath, Yuki tried to kick, but her enemy was stepping on her feet. Her arms too, were too short to reach out and hit his chest that seemed suddenly miles away, while his arms stretched out and choked her.
Yuki watched in horror at her vision slowly going hazy, while she gulped desperately, the vice around her neck like steel. No matter how she pulled, her throat remained closed.
I can't die! I can't die! I can't die! I can't die!
Yuki, Mr. Ogura is probably upstairs. Please eliminate him.
I CAN'T DIE!
Yuki's balled up her fists punched upwards into the bottom of Crazy Horse's elbows. Both limbs suddenly snapped 90 degrees. Backwards.
He screamed in pain as his grip suddenly grew limp and bloody.
Hissing, Yuki drew back, and shot her fist forward into Crazy Horse's gut with as much strength as she could. The man folded in half over the limb that was trapped in his stomach, throwing up blood. Yuki pulled out and drew her fist back again, and lunged upwards into Crazy Horse's lowered face.
Eyes rolling back, nose broken in a stream of blood, he flew through the air onto his back.
Yuki jumped for her USP that was lying on the ground, whilst Crazy Horse moaned and stumbled to his feet using a wall for support, sounding like a dying animal. Slumping against a windowsill, he looked on dazed as a vacant-eyed girl, body streaming with red, aimed her gun at his chest.
He chuckled.
A blast, and Crazy Horse was thrown backwards out of the window.
There were sounds of a lumpy form hitting metal railings and dump boxes.
Staggering forward, Yuki looked out the shattered window, and saw a blood stained form lying in the alleyway, unmoving. Unable to verify whether the man was alive or dead, Yuki stuck her arm out the window, her USP aimed at his back.
… Can you not kill him?"
Yuki blacked out.
"….waking…!"
Yuki's eyes fluttered rapidly, testing the light as she awoke. When she was finally stopped getting blinded by the light, Yuki found herself in a medical ward, her bed surrounded by the Handsome Men. She herself was wrapped up in linen all over her body, especially around the head.
"Yuki! You're alive!" Danielle whimpered.
"It appears my body is up to a satisfactory operating level."
"You should know how worried we were!" Jihad complained at the lack of gratitude.
"The damage to your head and chest made the operation very delicate." Matilda explained.
"I understand. I have failed to eliminate Mr. Ogura, though."
"Don't worry about that! Danielle and I took care of him while he was headed out the back. You should be more worried about… you! You took a beating!" May consoled.
"…I see." Yuki finally decided to say, noticing there was a certain lack of details of her mission that wasn't being mentioned.
One by one, the girls slowly drifted out of the room. Then there was only May and Yuki left.
"Yuki?"
"Yes."
"…Did you fight Him?"
"The specification of the word 'him', coupled with my knowledge of you, up to the before the mission, concludes you are speaking of Crazy Horse."
"Well… yeah. As far as I know, there's really only one guy who can fight Mechanical Bodies. Did you fight him?"
"I engaged in both firearms and close range combat."
"But we didn't find his body in the area. Does that mean-"
"Jeremy Colt, also known as Crazy Horse, upon my last memory of my contact with him, had received numerous serious trauma to the head and chest with use of bare hands or blunt objects. Both his arms were dislocated and broken at the elbows, serious physical trauma was inflicted to the lower abdomen, two bullets of 45 caliber had penetrated his body in the upper torso, and he had received physical trauma to the vertebrae and chest of an unknown intensity, when he finally was thrown out of a second story window."
May winced at every description, and her spirits continued to fall. "But… he's not dead."
"I was unable to confirm total cessation of the target's bodily function at the time, though the physical damage is extreme for an non-mechanized body. However, given your report, there appears to be a probability of his survival. Or an unknown party had removed his corpse before the arrival of reinforcements."
May continued to try and struggle with the information. "So did you kill him or not?"
"Unsure. It appears I had subconsciously attempted compromise."
"Compromise?"
"A portion of my intellect desired to maintain the promise you wished of me, for Crazy Horse's survival. The greater part recommended following the order of his elimination. By severely damaging his body, yet not confirming the cessation of his vital functions, it could be I was attempting to remove my choice in the matter."
"How?"
"By leaving it up to Crazy Horse whether he would be strong enough to remain conscious until he receives optimal medical aid for his injuries."
"So… you didn't kill him, but you beat him to an inch of his life and left him to see whether he dies or not."
"I believe that is the colloquial term. Are the conditions satisfactory for completing your request to me?"
May sighed.
"I guess that's really the best I can ask of you. Yeah, you kept your promise."
"Very good. I suggest you leave the premises, before Lazarus enters."
"Okay, okay. I'll leave you to your Handler. Later!"
Yuki watched the girl leave the room, before lying back and staring unfocused at the ceiling.
She waited for her Handler.
Isn't Compromise such a beautiful thing?
Judge Jury: End
