Not much to say this time, really. Just a classic scuffle between not so classic characters. Have fun!
Circling around the room with her Katana pointing forward, Rosa was analyzing the present state of affairs thoroughly. The one toady with the rifle is first priority, of course, while the others have batons and metal bats, but they are holding them with the grace of a chihuahua, so they are easy pickings. Jack only has girth on his side; Keeping him at a distance will nullify whatever dirty tricks he may come up with. Crawley is the real problem, being the only one with actual military training on his back. Bruising his precious ego might throw him off his game.
"Must say, I knew that Big's little circle jerk would jump on someone else's bandwagon eventually." Rosa intentionally provoked.
"You blind or somethin', toots? We're moving up to the big leagues, that's what's happenin'!" Jack responded.
"Hah! You don't even realize how disposable you all are, it's almost sad. It won't take long before you join poor Collins." That remark made Big's posse look at each other in amusement.
"Someone's been keeping her ear on the ground." John commented while stroking his chin. "But when Mr. Big will coast high on the Hizoku victories, we'll be right behind him enjoying the benefits...not that you'll have the pleasure of seeing any of that, since you'll drop at the bottom of the L.A. River in a matter of minutes."
"Keep patting yourself on the back if it makes you feel better. I've dealt with my fair share of street trash and you're far from the most intimidating."
"I've had it with your backtalk, you wench! First swing's on me, boys!" Jack shouted, before charging towards the mercenary.
Turner went for a clothesline, hoping to behead her right away. Predictably, Rosa was much more agile and somersaulted out of the way. One of the goons, now with the view free of Jack's large frame, made use of his new gem of a weapon by aiming for center mass. This time, she had to forcefully roll on the floor to feel even remotely safe. Even in the hands of the most blithering incompetent of criminals, those SCAR rifles were deadly. Wanting to get rid of him ASAP, Rosa divided the air with her chi-charged katana, forming a Crescent Slicer that crashed onto the poor sap before he could act again, who inadvertently pulled the trigger in the process, covering the wall and some of the ceiling with decorative holes.
The six of them left charged all at once towards the mercenary, ready to dish out some pain; Rosa picked up a box of rations near her and threw it on Turner's head, leaving him to roll on the ground like a wounded baby. The henchman with the close shave striked high with his baton, following with a lower strike that Rosa was forced to block with her katana's handle. Ever the shrewd army boxer, Crawley seized that precious opening and nailed his right hook on Rosa's eye, causing a decent swell in mere seconds. A flunkey with the metal bat tried to follow suit, to which she resorted to a hasty split, not in the mood for severe head trauma today. Seeing as these fellows felt quite the opposite, She might as well fight equally dirty.
Two of those goons attacked in unison with their bats, desperate to score homeruns with Rosa's head. She managed, not without some effort and peerless reflexes, to duck both incoming attacks, and just as one of them was winding up for another shot, she kicked the ball player-wannabe to the floor, taking his weapon with her. Eager to give them a taste of their medicine, Rosa parried the other baton guy's overhead shot and greeted him to the concrete pavement with an upward swing, a large spit of blood being the only thing left behind. Pulling himself up, the previously floored henchman paired up with Crawley for some fisticuffs. They switched tactics, going for some quick jabs instead of the inconclusive wide strikes of before, with Rosa forced to back up and alternate between parrying with the borrowed bat or avoiding those shots altogether.
"Jack, stop massaging that dickhead of yours and grab her!" Crawley ordered, getting more and more irate.
Still quite muzzy, Turner nevertheless managed to get a hold of her as she was too busy defending herself from Crawley's attack. Naturally, the mercenary struggled immensely to free himself, with Jack having difficulty holding her still.
"Phew, you sure made us work up a good sweat, miss. Sending a good chunk of our man literally flying, holding your own against the rest of us..." Crawley was coming up with, in his mind, an offer that would be in Rosa's best interests. "Say, someone of your skills could be a great asset to the New Hizoku, how about it? I can put in a good word with Big and Luan and put this whole...misunderstanding behind us."
"Go die in a ditch, asshole." She answered very matter-of-factly, before spitting on Crawley's face.
"Suit yourself. It's your life to throw away." After wiping his cheek, John charged up his meager chi, as Rosa still couldn't find a way out of Turner's grasp. Then she realized...if she couldn't, they will do it for her.
"MEGA SMASH!" Crawley launched his not very inventively named chi-projectile, confident this would be the death blow. At the last moment, however, Rosa swerved her head to the right, the end result being another painful concussion for Turner, who lost his grip on the mercenary in the process.
Resigned to the fact his partner was fucking useless, John once again to solve this mess by himself, as Rosa tries to skewer him with one deep thrust of her katana. He silently gestured his remaining helpers to surround her, if only to create another opening. A baton coming from behind amply misses its target and the hapless henchman recieves the full brunt of the handle as punishement. As she left him bended in two from the cramps, Rosa blocks with her blade a left hook from Crawley before finishing the job with a devastating front kick to the jaw, making the odds 3 vs 1.
The last guy with the bat more with desperation than anything else, since his shots have gotten even more unfocused than before. A downward strike hit the floor with a echoing thud, which Rosa played to her favor. Stepping on the bat to keep it in place, the mercenary wasn't prepared for the haymaker slamming his face in, causing a frightened hip from the last lackey standing. His mistake was drawing Rosa's attention, as she picked up his colleague by the cheap suit and throwed him his way to create a nice, little pile of inconsequential garbage. With only Crawley left standing, a countermeasure was in order, but the mercenary wasn't going to give any time to devise, already set on not granting him the same mercy she gave his men. As she kept slashing away, an unmistakable siren started getting louder and closer.
"The Chi-Converger is finished!" Luan announced, bursting out of her workshop holding a lantern-looking gizmo in her hand. "Anyone with some common sense left will follow me through the backdoor. The rest of you can get handcuffed by those pigs outside."
The sound of screeching tires was covering everything else; Most likely, someone called the police when those rifle shots were fired off by accident. No way in hell Crawley was going behind bars for a simple weapon delivery, so he waited for another katana strike to kick Rosa down to the curb, allowing him to escape. With way more bumps than a single man needs, Turner followed right after, leaving thier still too aching men in the dust.
"Hey, are you seriously leaving without us?" One of them screamed.
"Early bird gets the worm, dumbasses. I'm sure Big can deliver us someone more competent than you lot." John justified as he shut the door in front of him and blocked it with a huge toolbox.
Those of Big's men who managed to even reach the door were basically trapped no matter how hard they pushed, left to rot by their ungrateful superiors, crying either in justified anger or in disbelief in just how casually they've abandoned them in spite of thier loyality. While Rosa wasn't particularly surprised, in the criminal underground when push comes to shove it's everybody for themselves, after all, to so callously screw them over like that...it makes Crawley and Turner perfect for the New Hizoku and not in the positive sense.
But there was something much more urgent to worry about, namely that policemen were coming in droves, with every way out already patrolled, as if failing the mission didn't sting enough.
"Nobody move and hands where I can see them!" The agent shouted.
"Look man, I'm not with the-"
"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!"
Judging by the "brusque" approach his fellow policemen were taking with Big's men, the mercenary knew that keep protesting would've ended up badly for her. Hell, they all seem pretty frenzied by something anyway. No matter how much she doesn't want to comply, she followed orders and let herself get handcuffed and taken to the police cars along with the betrayed henchmen. Right now, not being able to take the components matters little; For a rookie mistake, now Rosa is stuck with the cops for who knows how long, unable to resume the mission, participate in Underground Fighters or something much, much worse...better not to even entertain such a thought. Rosa WILL return to her family, only the how is the tricky part.
NEXT TIME: Rosa ends up being questioned by the L.A. police, frustrated by the recent weird events and killing sprees happening in the city. As the situation becomes critical, help arrives from the most unthinkable of places.
