Chapter 30: Dancing in the Rain

Lady Si walked the narrow sinusoid corridors of the liver with a certain bounce in her strides.

For some reason, she was in a festive mood and felt like celebrating for no particular reason. Her lips grinned into a wide smirk that she seemed unable to wipe away.

As she strode the liver's narrow passageways, she twirled her blade like a band master's baton in sync to the tune she had been humming silently. The song had been stuck in her head the moment she entered the liver. It was a lively and upbeat tune she had heard from one of the Consciousness' memorable dream broadcasts.

"I'm singin' in the rain…" She started singing. "Just singin' in the rain…"

She skipped and tapped her boots on the floor, which produced a series of clacking sounds. Her moves morphed into a sort of dance that involved her tapping and skidding her boots to make accompanying beats to the tune in her head.

"What a glorious feeling…"

Dancing and singing was not an unheard-of pastime for cells of this world. Platelets were known to sing working songs when performing necessary repairs to increase their productivity. The spleen had loudspeakers that broadcast somber songs to convey the place's solemnity as the last destination for worthy Erythrocytes. Even the Kupfer shrine maiden cells of the liver were famous for their traditional chants when they performed the rites of detoxification.

The cells sang when they're happy,, and they sang when they're sad.

But none had ever sung a joyous tune while the world around them burns.

The irony was not lost on Lady Si.

As always the case with the eccentric macrophage, irony was her tea and glucose, and no other tune would be more fitting for her than one that conveys joy, while the screams of the dying echoed throughout the corridor.

"I'm happy again…"

Lady Si twirled her blade to slash at a charging Neutrophil, easily decapitating his head. Crimson cytoplasm burst out from the white blood cell's neck like a gruesome severed vein before his body fell to the ground beside his head.

The glasses-wearing macrophage smiled and performed a little tap dance as three Neutrophil loyalists rushed towards her.

"I'm laughing at the clouds…"

Lady Si swerved to her left to evade a wild thrust from a screaming Neutrophil before turning to parry another blow from another snarling Neutrophil.

"So dark, up above…"

Lady Si again pivoted to avoid a fatal thrust before launching her counterattack. Her three opponents fought with no sign of hesitation or relaxation of their guard simply because they had superiority in numbers. They fought as expected, wild, yet disciplined.

The glasses-wearing macrophage could only snicker with delight.

"The sun's in my heart."

The first of the Neutrophils fell when Lady Si feinted a thrust of her blade only to plunge a rusting dagger into his undefended chest. His organelles spilled out from his wound, but even still, he resisted. The eccentric macrophage finally ended him with a sharp thrust of her dagger from his chest all the way to his throat.

Lady Si immediately shifted her footing and lunged at the two remaining white blood cells, her eyes glowing with a sickly green hue.

With unuttered coordination, the two Neutrophils moved to outflank her with a two-pronged attack.

"And I'm ready for love…"

Lady Si feigned uncertainty with a backward step, which the two Neutrophils immediately thought as an opening. They quickly lunged, with their blades held high, ready to deliver the fatal blow.

The glasses-wearing macrophage tightened her grip on her sword before rushing towards her two opponents. Her lips twisted into a maniacal grin as, with speeds no other cell in the world could ever achieve, slashed at her incoming opponents with a blur.

Blade met blade before blade met membrane.

The neutrophil to her left collapsed to the ground, missing an arm, a leg, and half of his torso. He was dead before he fell.

The last of the trio bared the brunt of Lady Si's attack and survived. His hands trembled but not with fear. Neutrophils didn't even have a firm concept of fear to begin with. His hands shook out of an instinctual reaction to a threat he knew he could not out best. Crimson cytoplasm dripped out from one of his hands, and he realized he was missing a couple of fingers.

His blade managed to deflect the worst of the insane macrophage's assault but only barely. A second onslaught would sure to break it.

Lady Si appeared indifferent at the distressed face of her final opponent. She was more preoccupied with her impromptu singing and dancing. She twirled and tapped her boots on the floor, splashing away drenched cytoplasm all over the place.

"Let the storm clouds chase... "

The last neutrophil knew he couldn't win this fight. With one of his hands missing a few fingers, his grip on his blade was no longer firm and solid. He needed to change his fighting style to compensate with his deficient digits.

He gritted his teeth. What would be the point of such change? He'd be dead in the next seconds after the macrophage in front of him stopped ignoring him. Even if he charged straight into her right now, he knew she would merely return a counterblow while she continued with her merriment.

In any case, he would die if he remained here in the presence of the glasses-wearing macrophage.

His eyes widened. An idea suddenly came to him.

Lady Si finally stopped twirling and beheld herself for the last neutrophil to witness.

"Come on with the rain, I have a smile on my face…" Like a Neuron showing off to his eccentric peers after a protracted speech, she had her arms wide open to her side, allowing her audience of one to bask in her supposed greatness.

"Not today traitor!" The Neutrophil snarled.

Lady Si grinned and immediately tightened her grip on her blade to prepare for the white blood cell's attack.

Except, it never came.

The glasses-wearing macrophage's lips withered into a frown. The merry tune playing inside her head stopped. She could feel her mitochondrions pulsing for carnage, but her last opponent had disappeared.

She surveyed the sinusoidal capillary she was in and all she could see was fires burning, ceilings torn and corpses of the dead littering the floor.

But there was no sign of the third neutrophil.

Lady Si blinked and blinked again. Her corrupted nucleus attempted to process the sudden disappearance of her opponent, and she couldn't help but think of only one reason.

The reason made her chuckle. Then it made her cackle for a few seconds before she burst out into a maniacal laugh. She laughed a mitochondrion-stimulating laugh at the absurdity of her situation.

"A neutrophil that runs away from a battle?" She mused loudly. "Such a ridiculous predicament!"

Her laughter echoed throughout the lifeless passageways of the liver's capillaries. It accompanied the screaming of the dying that could be heard from a distance.

The battle inside the liver was moving into their favor. The makeshift defense of the liver's defenders was no match for the onslaught of the damned. Scores of those who fell in the battle outside of the liver now joined with the rest of the fallen to wage war towards their former brothers and sisters in arms.

It would only be a matter of time now before the whole liver falls.

And when it falls, the world they all lived in would soon follow.

Once again, the lively tune stuck in her head returned and it soon changed Lady Si's mood back to something festive.

As was the destiny of her wretched sister to battle off their former master outside, so too was her destiny to teach once and for all these upstart shrine maiden macrophages here in the liver a lesson they would never forget.

In all the macrophage groups in the world, there was only one group who was worthy to be called the strongest.

Lady Si proceeded to skip, twirl, and dance. She waved her sword in a flowing motion as she started to sing once again.

"I'm singin in the rain…"


A/N:

I'm back! Man, that was some long break. 2020 was not a good year for most of us. A lot had happened to me since my last release and let's just say, there was a problem with 'job security' that I had to deal with first above all things. As such, I didn't do much writing for this fanfic.

Fortunately, I think I'm good with my job (for now) so I can now continue with writing this fanfic. Also good timing though since Season 2 of Cells of Work and Cells at Work: Black are coming out this month!

Anyways, it's great to be writing this fanfic again. I terribly missed Lady Si and her bloody antics. Now that she's inside the liver, who knows what she'll do? ^^

Happy New Year and until next time!


Revision History:

- Originally published on Jan 1, 2021