Life can kick me down all it wants, I won't stop writing. Turns out, flipping the bird at existence itself is an excellent brain fuel.
In that silent parking lot, the two pairs stared each other down, the respective resentment could be felt so clearly. With no clear escape route in sight, Vanessa was internally panicking, trying and failing to properly address a situation this shitty. Despite every fiber of her being not wanting to, the only idea she could come up with was getting Sai and Chat to spill something, anything remotely useful, if only to buy some time...easier said than done.
"How the hell did you two got past the reception, skecthy as you are?"
"Let's just say the people there won't disturb us anytime soon." Chat retorted, looking back maliciously at his silent partner. "There's no reason you two have to join them, right?"
The agent felt an incredible urge to smash the face of that smug asshole, but Xiao quietly waved at her to wait for the right moment...at least for now.
"I have the distinct feeling I already know the answer, but business do you have with me?"
"Isn't it obvious? Your father has been looking all over the world for you." His mere mention made Xiao's eye slightly twitch.
"Is that so? Suddenly his "feculent waste of a daughter" is of any value to him?"
"Right? I thought the exact same thing. But recently he often mused on how regretful he is for how he treated you back then or...something along those lines." Chat boredly recounted. "I don't question my master's desires, only execute them." That last remark managed to legitamely rattle Xiao.
"The same way he executed our clan without a second thought?! How could you follow the same man who almost eradicated our kind from the face of the Earth?!" She furiously demanded to know.
"Not too long ago we held that same, foolish belief, but in time we've learned better." Chat seemed to enter some sort of trance. "Me and the other Devas tried to achieve a misplaced revenge and luckly failed. Our master, in his grand kindness, let us tap into his newfound...endless power, showed us the true desires hidden into the darkest recesses of our minds."
"The Dragon's Spirit..." Vanessa said, confirming what she and Heidern have been suspected.
"My, aren't you a well-informed little puppy."
"So that bastard managed to channel it at some point, huh? The commander won't be happy to know that." Vanessa muttered, biting down her nail.
"Not that it matters. Neither of you will live long enough to appreciate the knowledge anywa-Hmm? What is it, Sai?"
The agent was about to act in the face of that overt threat, but ultimately decided against it. When is she gonna give that damn signal?
"Alright then, Sai here has a proposition that to me sound more than beneficial. We're going to attract a lot of unneeded attention thanks to our...dispute with the fine people at the reception so hear me out." Chat smirked self-satisfied. "You join the ranks of the New Hizoku, Xiao, and we'll let your outsider friend leave. What do you say?"
The Hizoku looked back at her new ally, almost dumbfounded by how they think she would possibly join them their inhuman treatment back in the day. Chat took notice and tried to reinforce his point.
"Oh? Are thoughts of defiance running around in your head? One of the best fighters in the world failed against us not even a month ago and many will follow him. This is the better deal you're ever going to get, half-breed...I advise you not to throw it away."
Chat could try all day long; Xiao made her decision many moons ago and never looked back. She may have a mile long list of regrets, but this certainly wasn't one of them.
"...Looks like I have retained more self-respect than you Devas in the end. Besides, I never felt much threatened by the elderly." Chat wasn't amused one bit by that snipe about his disfigurement, deciding to drop all pretenses.
"Tch, you've remained coherent at least on that front." Chat's fingertips started dripping with a green liquid. "Always a dissapointmen-"
That's when a shot from Vanessa's gun fired in a split-second, nailing him right in the middle of his grey forehead.
"Sorry, couldn't wait a second longer." Vanessa apologized. Xiao didn't object, as she rather enjoyed the boxer's proactive decision. The same cannot be said for Chat, who casually removed the bullet with a bored expression on his deformed face, seething with anger inside.
"Sai...kill them slowly."
After recovering from the shock, the monstrous ex-Hizoku roared in anger at the sight of his comrade getting wounded again, lunging like a rampaging beast at Vanessa for the affront. He threw a wild swing at the boxer, shooting past her and into a column behind them all, obliterating it in a million little pebbles. Despite his monumental mass, Sai turned around with frightening agility, this time clashing with Xiao's glaives instead.
"Worthless fuck-child! I'll make sure your death is bereft of any dignity!" Sai growled.
Powered by his wrath, Sai took a hold of her blades and started pressing. In a matter of seconds, the brute shattered them like poorly-made glass, leaving Xiao defenseless. His lacerated palms were of little concern thanks to Hizoku's innate regenerative skills, that although they were not up to par with the other Devas, the speed with which the cuts healed was still out of this world. Tellingly, he suckerpunched Xiao right into the wall at their left, leaving her figure printed on the hard concrete.
Vanessa was about to rush out and help her, but Chat healing completely now required her full attention. Darting to her position in the blink of an eye, he stopped at just an inch to her face, as if to dare her to give her best shot. The boxer obliged and went for a series of high jabs, relishing at the prospect of breaking his teeth. Sadly, Chat's reflexes proved far superior, dodging and weaving every shot like it was the pathetic flailing of an infant. Seizing her unguarded mid-section, the minute man punctured that zone like a snake biting down her prey, bending Vanessa in two and forcing to drop on her knees. The former Deva made use of this occasion to empty her hip holster with smug self-satisfaction.
"You won't be needing this tinker toy any longer." Chat grinned, before crumpling her gun like it was made of aluminium.
Glancing back at Xiao, it seemed to Vanessa that she recovered faster than her, but she was too busy not get crushed by Sai to cover her back. The agent tried for a surprise hook that went nowhere, following with a series of stings in hope of nailing him in-between his endless buzzing around. Predictably, Chat kept avoiding at every angle without breaking a sweat, even crossing his arms behind his back to show how insultingly easy it was. A left uppercut was coming his way, which he nonchalantly slapped away and immediately countered with a swift double roundhouse, nailing them both on Vanessa already battered body, flooring her twice in an incredibly short amount of time. Xiao wasn't faring much better, forced to dodge Sai devastating blows without a moment to breath and with her strongest weapon scattered on the asphalt.
"We are not in any condition to fight, Vanessa! RUN!" Xiao desperately screamed.
Reluctantly the agent agreed, as the exhaustion caused by the previous fight with her ally was starting to kick in. Sloppily making space between her and the assailant with a half-hearted haymaker, Vanessa made a run for the exit, closely followed by Chat who was amused by such a pitiful attempt of an escape. Xiao was still attempting to shake off Sai who was going full berserk, leaving one crater after the next in the parking lot in his efforts to kill her former clan member. After barely missing with a hand chop, the ogre-looking Deva tried for a high front kick, which took all of Xiao's upper body strength to deflect. Sai already regained balance and was ready to strike again, but with a quick release of her hidden hook, Xiao clawed away at his eyes at the last possible moment, falling on his back writhing in pain for his now empty eye sockets while cursing Xiao's name in any conceivable way allowed by the dictionary.
While rushing towards the exit, Chat reached the agent and blocked her way. Slipping through another of the agent's hooks, the former Devas kicked her towards the steel fence with the force of a bull, stunned beyond belief by the impact. Only the sound of his scream as he charged forward managed to wake her up, attempting to pulverize her skull with a stomp, which gave a strong impression on what would've happened thanks to the bent metal bar he created...that's where it clicked for Vanessa, a horrible, horrible idea that in normal circumstances would never cross her mind. Dominated by her frustration, Vanessa threw him down in a hurry, sending him splatting into the parking lot's pavement, a puddle of blood grew large under him in five seconds flat. She knew for a fact that still wasn't keeping him down for long, thanks to that instant regeneration shit. Emphasized by Xiao's gesture, who was catching up to her partner, to get the hell out of there before they've fully healed. Admittedly, it wasn't the cleanest manner to get rid of them, but incapacitating them seemed to be the only way to gain enough time to escape.
Going back up on foot, the way to return on the streets of Skid Row was getting closer with every step. When the Los Angeles's sun finally kissed their skin once more, it felt like seeing signs of civilization after years on a desert island. Still panting from the run, the girls both instantly looked back to make sure those freaks weren't still following them.
"Don't see them anywhere. What about you?" Vanessa asked frantically.
"There's no need to look around. They are not so dense as to chase after us in broad daylight, especially after the blood spilled inside."
"Goddammit, I should've paid more attention. Maybe I could've prevented-"
"This really isn't the time to wallow in remorse. Don't you have some important information to deliver?"
"Y-you're right, got a shit-ton of calls to make. Find me a more isolated place in the meantime, possibly near a hospital, I'm right behind you."
As they discretely left what was now a crime scene, the police sirens started blaring up in the distance. Vanessa needed to be out of there ASAP, since she didn't particularly feel like answering the cops and then the commander's inconvenient questions. Scrolling through the lists of numbers on her phonebook, a feeling of even worse things to come rushed through the agent's spine; Having seen first-hand the strength of the enemy and surviving in the process made her feel both lucky and unlucky, somehow. If they barely escaped with their lives against his flunkies, what does that say about Ron's current power?
NEXT TIME: Before the Underground Fighters competition, Rosa targets a special cargo that she then intends to resell, like she did many times before for the sake of putting food on the table of her group/family. Sooner that she can realize however, this self-appointed mission could reveal itself to be out of her reach.
