Opening song: "Almost Easy" by: Avenged Sevenfold
Lawrence and Yuyaki reach the wall first while me, Hikage, and Octavian keep an eye on the back. Yuyaki sends her crow up into the air and has it scan the area before we move forward. Above us is the train tracks leading into the city. She cups her hands over her mouth and makes a bird noise. The crow lets out a low-pitched caw.
Lawrence places his finger in his mouth and lets out a distinct owl whistle, and the crow answers with the same pitched squall from before. "It's clear. Patrol is headed this way though. Since there is so many shinobi out and about, our aura's will blend in with theirs." Yuyaki says.
I sprout my wings and coil myself. Lawrence sticks his hand on the wall, "frigus tactus (freezing touch)." Ice travels up to the top of the wall. He places his boot on the trail and walks up. Yuyaki and Hikage take a couple steps back, run up the wall, front flip and launch themselves up. Yuyaki vaults over the lip of the rafter while Hikage grabs the pipe and hoists herself over.
The only one that doesn't really have a way up is Octavian. I motion for him to grab on, but he shakes his head no. Almost like he's certain he can do this. I shrug my shoulders and release. A whirlwind of snow and air catapults me up into the air. Lawrence jumps from the end of his ice trail and climbs up the moment I land in the rafters.
Octavian runs up the wall, flips halfway up, but his boot slips and he loses the force needed to get a proper jump. He comes inches away from the rafter before falling back down. Octavian backs up and tries again. This time, he gets the flip right but still can't get high enough. It's roughly an eighty-foot (about 24 meters) jump.
"Do you need help Octavian?" I ask.
"No, I got this." He tries again but misses by just a couple inches.
As much as he wants to do this by himself, I'm not getting anywhere if we don't speed it up. I drop down. In the back ground, I can hear Yuyaki and Hikage converse back and forth about how this is a really difficult jump to make without the use of powers.
"I don't need help Alan."
"I'm not going to fly you up there." I say as I place my hands together and give him the impression I'm just acting as a boost.
Octavian backs up and takes off running. He places his boot into my hand. With all the strength in my body, I pull up. Octavian hops at the peak of lift off, flips off the wall and grabs hold of the rafter. Lawrence snags him by the back of his collar and hoists him up. I sprout my wings again, charge up and launch up into the rafter.
"Jesus boy, what have they been teaching you at Gessen?" Lawrence asks.
"I'm not saying another word to you." Octavian replies.
"What? I was just curious. Surely being at one of the best, if not the best shinobi academy in the country, you'd been able to land that on your first try. I'm guessing you and Shiki had a lot of one on one time."
"Lawrence, quit harassing the boy." Yuyaki says in a firm voice.
"Fine." Lawrence sighs.
The five of us carefully progress over the wall and into the city itself. An ocean of light from the street lamps as well as neon signs rest inches from the pipes and rails we are walking across. If any part of our body barely drops below a certain degree, anyone on street level can see us if they happen to be at the right angle, or looking directly up at the train tracks.
"The two girls you are looking for are in the middle of the city. They are holed up in that building right over there. There's also a third one." Yuyaki points to the skyscraper that's recently been built. There's a network of sky bridges and cranes that connect it to the surrounding buildings.
The pipe I am standing on softly vibrates. There's a train inbound. Yuyaki makes a motion with her hand and holes up in one of the darkened support trusses. Lawrence and Hikage get in the one next to her. Octavian and I are too far away from one. There's only one thing the both of us can do.
"Hey Octavian."
"What?"
"Ever watch the movie the Emperor's New Groove?"
"No."
"Well one, you're uncultured. Two, you are about to learn something today. Place your back against mine."
"What!?"
"Just do it!"
Octavian wastes no time in doing so. Although he's sighing under his breath like this isn't going to work. "Now we lock our arms together, plant our boots into the side of the rafter and hold each other up."
Octavian and I place our boots into the metal rafters and hoist each other up. Almost instantly, Octavian feels like he is about to fall so I try to press harder to compensate for the loss in distance. My legs are nearly stretched as far as they can possibly go.
He feels like he's about to slip and fall, but I try to remain cool. Although this is going to be nothing compared to when the train begins to pass above. The constant vibration is going to be wearing at our ability to keep our posture and remain firmly rooted.
"Let up Alan! I can't contribute if you're scrunching me up!" Octavian quietly yells.
"You couldn't stay planted so I had to take up the slack!" I snap back in a muffled voice.
I let up a little, and the pressure tries to distribute evenly. Although there is still quite a bit of strain left on both my legs. The train blasts over us with the deafening click as the wheels grind against the metallic rails. Our positioning keeps the train headlights from revealing us from above, but we are barely hovering above the street light below.
The train finishes its pass and continues on through the city. With all I have, I press Octavian as close as I can to the rafter where he can grab hold of it.
"What are you going to do?" Octavian asks.
"I've got an idea."
Lawrence, Hikage and Yuyaki back track to where we are and reach out. Octavian grabs the pipe and tries to pull himself up. The moment gravity latches onto me, I throw myself back, grab the pipe behind me and lift my legs up where the light below can't reveal me. Hikage and Lawrence grab my ankles and flip me back into the rafter while Yuyaki helps Octavian up.
Yuyaki makes the motion that we need to remain silent and carry on. We still have a ways to go, but the worst of it is done. Hopefully. Despite that being more difficult than it should have been, Octavian still did a good job.
Lawrence holds up his arm and signals for all of us to stop. He slowly grabs his revolver and aims the barrel down. On the sidewalk are two shinobi that are heading this way. Yuyaki grabs it and silently scolds him. He sighs and puts the gun away. Directly behind them walks this red head with a duster, and a man wearing a blue blazer. On his chest is a gold gamma sign.
Wait, I know these two! They are the ones that confronted me and Gehrman back at Hanzo's city! Ange… and I can't think of the other guy's name. I don't know who they are following, but whoever they are, it's driving Lawrence mad.
"First, she survives the best men money can buy, then she sends us a package with the arm of the leader. We have paid for the best, and still nothing. This Lawrence defies me, and then laughs at me."
And you were the ones that cast the first stone. Funny world isn't it? Not very sophisticated when you send a group of rapists and serial killers to kill a child who never did anything wrong. And to be fair, it was me that sent you the package, and it warms my heart you loved it.
Personally, it would have been better if Homura just let that asshole kill you both. Certainly, would have kept little miss Pinkerton down there away. However, I don't know what Lawrence has done that was so wrong. Actually no, I do.
"We are doing everything we can within the confines of the law. Laws you shinobi made." Ange replies.
"And as a member of the shinobi council, I am granting you the freedom to do as you please! Find my daughter and this Lawrence fellow!"
Ange lets out an angry grunt of frustration, "Come on Mr. Scarlet. Let's go get the others. We got work to do."
"So much for codes and standards." Hikage says.
"Well that's the north for you." Lawrence replies.
"Okay. I'm headed for that sky scraper. Whether you want to go with me is entirely up to you." I say as I prepare to hop out from under the rafters and fly over to where Gekko and Senko are.
"I'm coming with you." Octavian says as he kneels down beside me. Hikage crouches on my other side and gives me a nod she's going too.
Good. Then that means it will be three on three. Me vs. Fubuki. Hikage vs. Gekko. Octavian vs. Senko. Or that's how I imagine it's going to go down since Octavian has constantly been after Senko. And me, I'm actually looking forward to fighting Fubuki. Although I'm somewhat sad that this might be the last time I fight her. Hikage probably doesn't even know these people, but I'm sure she can handle Gekko. Just so we can keep Gekko and Senko from double teaming.
"Me and Lawrence will stay behind and follow you." Yuyaki says.
"Maybe I can add a couple more zeros to that bounty of mine while I'm at it." Lawrence laughs.
"Once you get what you need, get to the docks as soon as you can. There's a nature trail that will take us to the wasteland." Yuyaki adds.
"Alright. You all know what to do." Lawrence says as he puts his bone colored fang mask on.
Hikage and Octavian leap across the street and land on the building. I was just planning on flying there, but I'll humor them and run along their sides. Hikage wraps her face up in a copper colored bandana that has a checkered pattern much like a snake while Octavian puts his mask on. Yuyaki puts her goggles on and covers her face with a white fleece fabric scarf. Darkness flows from my body and quickly encases my face in my respirator as I dart across the street and land right by Octavian. The three of us take off at the same exact time and leap over to the next building.
Hikage is staying up high while Octavian and I run beside each other. Lawrence and Yuyaki keep back, but stick close enough that they can't lose us. Hikage holds up her hand and directs us to go left. Octavian and I juke while Hikage flips over both of us and regains the lead. She quickly scales up the beams of a nearby antenna and prepares to climb the skyscraper Fubuki and her girls are on.
Octavian runs up the beams while I pull out my chain sickle and toss the chain up. The weight wraps around a piece of steel. The slack from the chain starts to take up and tension forms. I lean back as far as I can. The metal links hum and creak under all the stress building up. I let go, and the pressure built up launches me way up into the air. As I go up, the weight lets go of the beam.
As gravity tries to pull me back, I sprout my wings and flap once. The swipe catches enough air to lift me up to the very top. However, I just grab hold of the edge and wait for Hikage and Octavian to catch up. Hikage vaults over the same time Octavian jumps onto the roof. I flip over and land right in the middle of them both.
On the other end of the roof is Gekko and Senko. Fubuki is sitting in some kind of black lawn chair that's facing the other way. For some reason, they aren't rushing out to attack us.
"Hey Fubuki. Your days of harassing oversexualized shinobi are over. Give me the talilbasha." I state.
"If you want it, then you'll have to take it." Fubuki says as she uncrosses her legs and turns around.
"I had a feeling you were going to say that." I say as I pull out my chain sickle and stick it into my rifle. The weapon folds out and fully extends into my old scythe. Octavian pulls his sword out of his sheathe. Hikage draws her knife and scrapes it across the top of her left forearm. As the blade brushes over her wrist, she flicks it, and a violet colored blade underneath her red sweater sleeve sprouts out.
Gekko pulls out a saw bladed cleaver while Senko reaches behind her and pulls out an axe a lot similar to the one Makaria gave me. She presses the button and spins it around. The head of the axe extends to full length as she twirls it around her body before planting it into the ground.
A restrained smile comes across Fubuki's face as she takes a deep breath, "You know Alan. You really are a pain in the ass."
"Well at least I mean something to you." I say as I lay my scythe across my shoulder.
Fubuki places her finger on her fan and slightly presses it open. A wisp of snow blows out the fan as she throws it up into the air and disappears. I immediately turn around and block Fubuki's incoming attack.
Sparks splatter against the back of my neck as Hikage and Octavian prevent Gekko and Senko from hitting me. Hikage slices at Gekko and forces her off while Octavian and Senko engage in a fight.
"I'm not going to lose to the likes of you." Fubuki says as we both jump back and puts some distance between each other.
"Well you can certainly try to prevent the inevitable." I reply as I place a foot behind me and prepare to rush.
Fubuki claps her hands together and summons a barrage of icicles. I jump into the air and weave back and forth in between the incoming spikes. One of them hits the tail of my duster, but it doesn't do anything but shatter. I twirl my scythe around and catch the last one on the tip of my scythe.
The spike shatters and completely covers my scythe in ice. I flip forward and slam the blade right where Fubuki is. She steps to the left and jumps out of the blast radius as I follow up with a swipe. The chain sickle bathes itself again with ice as it slices through the falling remains of my last attack.
Fubuki jumps and slices at me from the air. The tip of her fan scrapes down my scythe while I deflect it and retaliate. She kicks off my weapon and gets out my reach. I break my scythe apart and wrap the chain around my arm.
Fubuki takes the bladed prong of her fan and runs it across her pale chest. Blood spurts out of the wound and coats her blade. "Judecca Cocytus". Suddenly, her fan transforms into a huge, multiple bladed sword that glows bright blue. Ice grows from the sword and swallows her entire arm.
"Oh, so you want to use forbidden blood arcanum?" I run my hand across the blade of the chain sickle. The metal cuts through my armor and absorbs the blood before the armor quickly seals itself back up. "Farinata Canto X." Flames climb up the chain and engulfs my hand. Blisters swell up on my arm as needle shaped cones of fire bite through the armor to draw blood. The blade of my sickle triples in size, and the chain turns bright orange as it singes its way into my gauntlet.
Black thorns sprout out of the weight as I spin another segment of chain around the palm of my left hand, "Did you know that the ninth circle is reserved for liars and traitors?"
"And did you know that the sixth circle is reserved for heretics? A fitting power for impurity such as you." Fubuki replies as she points her ice blade at me.
"Touche. I'll give you that one."
Fubuki spins around and throws a huge wave of ice at me. I spin the chain around and shatter the incoming projectile into pieces before planting my sickle into the ground to my left and yanking myself out of the way. Fubuki slams into where I was standing last. The length of Fubuki's sword triples in length as she swings in my direction. Ice and fire collide as the edge of the frozen blade connects with the chain.
The blade retracts and blocks the incoming overhead strike from the sickle. I pull it back and spin both the blade and chain around me as Fubuki dodges and swats away the attacks that won't tangle up her weapon. I bring the weight around and throw it.
Fubuki flips backward and kicks the weight up into the air. However, she backs off. Right now, my entire arm is starting to go numb from all the blood I'm losing. Fubuki is trying to catch her breath just like me. Fubuki pulls out a vial of elixir the same time I do. Fluid flows down my throat and immediately travels to my arm. The damaged nerves are quickly repaired, and a mild sting courses through my arm. In a couple seconds, it will be as if I never did anything.
We pour what's left on our arms and cancel our arcane spells. She clenches her fist and shatters all the ice her arm is trapped in while I channel the fire into my hand and throw the orange speckled ash up into the air.
Octavian is keeping Senko at bay while Hikage matches Gekko despite her being at a huge disadvantage. Octavian and Senko slam their weapons together in rapid succession. The beard of Senko's axe catches on Octavian's hilt. She tries to pull it towards her so she can throw his sword out of his hand.
Octavian grabs the blade of the axe with his free hand and yanks it back. The axe slices through his gauntlet but he pulls Senko's weapon back and stomps on the pole. He frees his sword and stabs down. She lets go of the weapon and slides out of the way. Octavian picks the axe up and applies pressure to the blade with his hands.
The middle starts to fracture and chunks of bone and metal snap off as Octavian snaps the edge off and crushes it in his hand. Chunks of axe blade bounce off the rooftop as he throws the pole down and stomps it in half.
"Not bad Octavian, but an experienced shinobi always prepares for the worst." Senko states as she presses a button on both of her wrists. A series of barbed razor chains descend from the purple sleeves underneath her forearms.
On the other side of the building, Hikage stabs her knife into the locking mechanism of Gekko's saw cleaver and traps her up against a wall on the other side of the building. The tip of the blade underneath her red sweater is only a couple inches from Gekko's face.
"Gekko!" Senko yells.
Gekko works her legs up and kicks Hikage back. The knife snaps the cleaver in half. Gekko brings the handle around and clubs Hikage across the face. The force shatters the wood into hundreds of splinters as she staggers back. Gekko catches the falling cleaver and drives it down right towards Hikage.
"Hikage!" Octavian and I yell at the same exact time.
The cleaver stops midair and Hikage hits the ground. The side of her head is bleeding from where some chunks of wood got stuck. She sits up and rubs the side of her face, unaware of what just happened. The cleaver Gekko was holding collapses into two pieces. She leaps back and lands on the platform of a nearby billboard as a silver gleam of light radiates from a katana.
"I thought I told you to stay home!" Hikage yells.
"Asuka! Homura! What the hell are you two doing here!?" I sternly say as I try to hold back the anger I'm feeling. However, I can't get too mad because they just saved Hikage.
"What does it look like!?" Homura spits back at me as she helps Hikage up to her feet.
Hikage touches the side of her head and then looks at her hand. She tries to stand on her own, but Homura is having to hold her up for now, "You got me pretty good." Hikage states.
Despite her not showing anything, Hikage is hurt. Those handles are reinforced with yoma bone and soaked in corrupted resin. So Hikage just took a shattering blow directly to the face. Something that would kill a normal person. In a couple minutes, she will be back to one hundred percent but right now, Hikage won't be able to properly fight Gekko with blurred vision, and an obstructed mind.
"Back for more?" Gekko teases as she jumps down from the billboard and lands next to Fubuki. Senko regroups with her crew as Asuka and Octavian congregate back to me.
"Homura, get Hikage out of here. I've got a score to settle." Asuka says as she points her katana at Gekko.
"I've noticed you got yourself a new toy. If only that would actually improve your less than stellar skills." Gekko states as she pulls out another folding weapon with a leaf shaped blade.
"Well perhaps you should get over here and let me enlighten you on how it works." Asuka replies.
On her back is another sword shaped like a katana. Except this isn't a shinobi weapon. This is one I haven't really seen before. The sheathe has multiple etchings that run down from the top to bottom. Some of the symbols I can make out. Something about blood and true potential.
"Well Fubuki, you ready for round two?" I say as I put my sickle up and pull out my Kopises.
"Why do you do it?" Fubuki asks.
"Do what?"
"Protect the shinobi?"
"Because of people like you. That's why." I state.
"If you had any idea what the shinobi are truly capable of, you'd be helping me." Fubuki states.
"What did these so-called monsters do to you? Give me a good reason and I might just take it easy on you." I reply.
Fubuki swells up with anger and blood mixed with water flows out her tear ducts as she clenches her fan. She's pissed off at the statement, but Fubuki is also displaying what I would assume is sorrow of some sort. Her eyes are filled with rage, but not the kind she's had previously. This looks like the emotional type. The type that she's angry because her heart is hurting.
"My father was a shinobi that sealed my mother away, using the Korin Fuma technique. He gave his life to ensure that my mother could never come back. Shortly after, I was taken in by a man named Kurokage and raised alongside Yumi."
Fubuki gets caught up in her emotions and her speech comes to a temporary halt, "After my guardian came back for me, we were outsiders because no one wanted to deal with a kid that was constantly taking shots. That was until the shinobi found me. They realized that if they made me bleed internally, my blood would mix with the darkness and form these stones they could use to enhance their equipment."
"Holy shit Alan…She's the one. The one dad told me about." Octavian says.
The memory of when I was starting to experience the stones forming in my body comes back. The ones Makaria picked up and crushed in her hands, "If the shinobi or hunters ever found out about Alan's ability to generate chunks within his body, he'd be in more danger than he is already."
"For three days straight, they shoved knives and syringes in my body to try and provoke some kind of reaction. That was until my guardian saved me. I was only a child, but I swore that on that day, I'd kill every last one of them, and of all the people, I thought you would be the most understanding." Fubuki says as she points at me.
"Do you really think taking it out on everyone is going to solve anything?" I ask.
"What's that to someone like you? How many shinobi have you killed? How many hunters slain for what? The way I see it, you're just as guilty as me." Fubuki says.
"You know, there was an old man that once said, 'Before you embark on a journey of revenge, you better dig two graves.'" I state.
Fubuki wipes the blood from her eyes and grits her teeth. The iris of Fubuki's eyes turn black while the pupil turns red. However, the sclera remains unchanged. She truly is a human born from a yoma because the white isn't filling with corruption. Red tattoos appear all over her face as a black mist emits from her body.
"I don't know what it is about you Alan, but every time I see your face, IT PISSES ME OFF!" Fubuki yells as she leaps at me.
I slash at Fubuki with my other blade and she steps back. "Let's see if you can hold up to the rumors I've heard about true human and yoma hybrids." I say as I draw darkness from my soul. Corruption fills my eyes as Asuka and Octavian prepare to engage.
Gekko and Senko take off towards us. Fubuki throws her fan into the air and vanishes as Gekko and Senko cross paths and switch targets. Sparks from Senko's barbed chain scrape against the top of the building as she drags it behind her. She rears back and slings it at Asuka. As much as I want to do something, Asuka has it.
Instead of deflecting Senko's attack, I leap up into the air and intercept Fubuki as she descends towards Octavian. Fubuki and I spin throughout the air, slamming our weapons together as we both fall back towards the rooftop. Gekko sweeps her leaf bladed weapon at Octavian. He flips over it and plants his sword into the ground where she was standing last.
Asuka has Senko on the defensive, but she isn't landing anything. Senko manipulates the chain to where it slashes both horizontally and vertically at the same time. Asuka jumps back as far as she can, deflects the vertical one and lets the horizontal one hit the sword on her back. Although the sheathe blocks most of it, a couple barbs get through and dig into Asuka's ribs.
Senko yanks it back and rips a small piece of her clothing off. Asuka grunts as blood leaks out of her wound. However, she puts her swords up and pulls out the katana on her back. She runs the spine of the blade through the wound and yelps as a vortex swarms around the sword, filling all the etchings and groves with an eerie, crimson fog.
Asuka rams the blade into the ground and unleashes a huge fountain of red. Senko tries to dodge it, but some of the crystalized blood strikes her in the stomach as well as the black visor she is wearing. Before Senko can react, Asuka rushes through the red and regains the upper hand.
Fubuki lands on the ground first. I cross my swords and drag them across one another. The sparks my weapon gives off rains fire and lighting down from above. Fubuki catches a handful of fire with her bare hand and absorbs it.
"You'd kill innocent people like Yumi for the sins of others!?"
"Sister Yumi means nothing to me!"
"Look into a mirror and say that with a straight face!" I yell as I place my swords together and change up my tactics. She's starting to adapt to me having two swords at once. Fubuki works her foot up underneath a piece of pipe and kicks it at me. I snag it out of the air, "infernales tactus (Hellish touch)!"
The steel turns bright blue and small streams of molten metal leak out the side as I send it right back at her. Snow in the air turns to water as the piece of superheated steel punches through Fubuki's black fan and scrapes the side of her face. A patch of her pale skin turns black as the metal burns through three layers of skin.
The site of necrosis quickly turns pink and flaps of her jaw muscle stitch themselves back together and closes the hole revealing her teeth. "I'm getting the feeling you missed intentionally."
"Wouldn't be much fun if I ended the fight in one hit." I reply as I shrug my shoulders in an exaggerated manner.
She waves her fan around and forms a black spike of ice from her blood and the snow around, "I am through playing games with you!"
"Hit me with your best shot Fubuki-chan!" I yell back as I take a step back and clap in a sarcastic manner.
Fubuki leaps up into the air and unleashes her attack. The size of the ice begins to double in size, then triples. Suddenly, the thing nearly takes up the whole rooftop. I sprout my wings up and jump onto the incoming pillar and sprint up the top as fast as I can.
As Fubuki descends, I use the edge of the ice to catapult myself towards her. She doesn't seem too impressed. Although she's let her guard down just enough for me to slip by. My body bursts into flames as Fubuki runs her fan into my chest while my kopis misses her. The delivery of her fan is enough to send me further up into the air.
Red from my open chest wound rain downs from above as Fubuki and I spiral back down. The pillar of ice hits the rooftop and explodes. Asuka, Octavian, Gekko and Senko all roll over the edge and directly to the sky bridge below. Everything feels like it's going in slow motion as I watch everyone fall.
Maybe this wasn't the best idea. Although 99.99% is Asuka's fault. The other 0.01% falls back on me for not sticking to the plan, but when I think about it, I didn't really have a plan in the first place.
Octavian and Senko are the first ones to crash through the glass of the sky bridge. Senko lands on her back and Octavian's face lands directly in the middle of her boobs with enough force that her visor flies off her face and she lets out a strained cough. Well at least Senko was able to deliver something special she saved for Octavian.
Gekko and Asuka get tangled up in midair. Asuka's face gets trapped between Gekko's legs while Gekko's face slides up Asuka's skirt. Asuka and Gekko both hit the ground with Asuka on top.
Fubuki has the happiest looking face I'd ever seen. She's even showing teeth with this one as she spins around and tries to brace for the fall. She brings her knees up in and gracefully glides through the beams of the skybridge.
Fubuki lands on her knees as I scrunch up and dodge the beams. However, it didn't occur to me to change my trajectory because I was too busy focusing on everything else going on around me. Fubuki was claiming I was a pain in the ass, and I'm about to make that statement truthful in more ways than one.
I rocket into Fubuki. The impact is enough to force my vision to pulse purple. What appears to be a spikey ball in the middle of my eyelid turns into a constantly moving line.
I press the fan the rest of the way though my body and throw it out a busted glass panel. Intense pain cripples both my legs, and the urge to breathe is so painful I'm doubled over trying to breathe. Fubuki is staggering around the sky bridge and trying to regain her broken sense of balance, and pride for that matter.
Senko and Gekko are trying to get away, but Asuka and Octavian are holding them both down. Asuka has her knee on Gekko's shoulder and is threatening to wrench her arm while Octavian has his revolver pressed to the back of Senko's head.
"Fubuki! Help!" They both cry out.
"Stop squirming, or my trigger finger might slip!" Octavian states as he pulls the hammer back.
I pull out my revolver and aim it in the direction Fubuki was last at, "We've got your girls! Now give me…"
Fubuki leaps out the window and jumps to the rooftop of the building below and quickly drops down into an alley. She left them. She literally left them to die over that stone! What a jagoff!
Gekko and Senko are both crying and whimpering as I walk over to them and crouch down. Asuka has a disappointed look on her face while Octavian re-holsters his revolver and holds the back of Senko's neck. I can't believe this. This close to getting the stone, and now it's gone! FUCK!
"What are you going to do?" Senko asks.
"Well I was hoping you could tell me." I reply as I dump all but one round out of the cylinder of my revolver. "Where is she going?" I ask as I spin the cylinder where the bullet is six turns away from the barrel.
"I don't know!"
The barrel of my revolver touches Senko's forehead as I pull the hammer back and dry fire the gun. Senko and Gekko both scream at the loud click as I re-cock the hammer. "Where is she going?" I ask again as I press the barrel to Gekko's head.
"We told you we don't know!"
CLICK!
"What do you want from me!?" Senko cries as I press the barrel back to her head.
"Well it's pretty evident. One of you are going to talk. The question is, will it be before or after I kill one of you?"
"Alan…"
"Not now Asuka."
"But Alan…"
"Asuka, do you want results, or do you want me to hesitate!? Because hesitation is what got us here!" I say as I pull the hammer back and dry fire again.
"Okay! Okay! Stop please! I'll tell you what I know!" Gekko yells out. "We weren't told much because we were the lowest rank, but we're not the ones that stole the stone! We were just couriers!"
"Bullshit! I've heard that excuse before! How about you tell us the truth!" Octavian yells.
"No! No! I'm serious! We were the ones in Ursania! Me, Senko and Fubuki, but we weren't the ones that stole the stone!
"Man, cap these bitches Alan! They're wasting our time!" Octavian says.
"Let me explain! Fubuki took us along because of the thing named Alice! Since Asuka was there before, Fubuki and her associates knew that Oliveria would blame Asuka when we brought the stone through the town where Hanzo academy was!" Gekko yells.
"How do you know about that!?" I ask.
"Fubuki! She was with some associates that were looking for a way to cover up the theft when we were planning to steal the talilbasha! She saw how Oliveria pardoned Asuka for your sake over a year ago!"
"Who are these associates you speak of!?" I pull the hammer back.
"I don't know! Fubuki intentionally kept us in the dark so we couldn't answer questions like this! Although I overheard her talking about the person! She was working for a man that was a half-blood himself! He promised Fubuki that he would help her exterminate the shinobi if she helped him steal the stone!" Senko says.
"Then he promised me and Gekko that they would save our mom if we helped them! We didn't have anywhere else to turn, so we agreed to carry out his plan by making it look like Yumi and Gessen were the ones that stole it by planting the duplicate there, but before that, we had to get Octavian away from Gessen so no one could stand and reasonably protect Yumi's innocence! We did everything we could to buy him time!"
"Buy time for what!?"
"Something about killing Kagura, Yumi, that Homura girl, your sister Miyabi and Asuka! That's all I know! I swear!" Gekko yells.
"You mentioned rankings, where was Fubuki in this ladder?!"
"She was the second in command, but her and the leader made all the big choices and executed them together!"
So, it's not just Fubuki we are dealing with. I pull the barrel away from Senko's head and step back. The amount of information I'm getting is somewhat confounding. Fubuki wasn't the one who stole the stone. She was transporting a duplicate that the real one produced.
Painting a big target on herself and drawing me away from what was really going on. Fubuki knew I was the Hanzo girls only hope of finding that stone, and she capitalized on it.
Pitting Oliviera and Hebijo against me and the Hanzo girls, then turning around and trying to put me against Yumi by planting the replica talilbasha at Gessen. Fubuki never had the real stone in the first place, and she outwitted us all.
"What are we going to do with them?" Octavian asks.
"Bring them along. They still have some purpose."
Octavian twirls his revolver around and whips Senko in the back of the head. She spasms out and stops moving. Asuka hits Gekko in the back of her neck and she blacks out. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." Asuka says.
"Why are we letting them live? They'll just slow us down." Octavian states.
"That's the point. Fubuki wants us to kill them. These girls know more than they are letting on. If we keep them alive and Fubuki finds out, they'll send anything and everything after us to have them silenced."
"Bait?" Octavian asks.
"Exactly."
Asuka and Octavian tie Gekko and Senko's hands and legs up. Although Octavian makes it more difficult because he laces Senko's hands and legs together behind her back. Off in the distance, I can hear sirens. Police sirens. Damnit. Fubuki must have called the cops. That or her failed attempt at using black ice caught the eyes of a wondering pedestrian.
I pull the ring Makaria gave me off my finger and hand it to Octavian, "I want you to take Gekko, Senko and Asuka to Gessen and wait for me there."
"What about you?" Octavian ask as he looks at the ring.
"I have to find the others. Hikage is hurt, Homura doesn't have the slightest idea of how much trouble she's in, and I can't leave Lawrence and Yuyaki with the burden of trying to escape."
Octavian puts the ring on as I point to a window pane that isn't shattered. "Look into the glass and think of a place at Gessen. It doesn't matter where as long as it's got a mirror." I say.
He thinks for a moment and imagines a place. The outline of Shiki's bedroom comes to his mind. Right now, she's sitting in front of the mirror, brushing her silky blonde hair.
"Now hold onto Asuka, Gekko and Senko and touch the glass."
Octavian throws Gekko and Senko over his shoulders and grabs hold of Asuka's wrist. Asuka rips away the moment before his hand touches the glass, and him, Gekko and Senko are transported back to Gessen.
"Asuka! What are you doing!?" I scowl.
"I'm coming with you!"
"Do you have any idea what you've just done!? Every bounty hunter, northern shinobi and member of Fubuki's group is going to come after you now!"
"Then let them come! We'll take them on together!"
"You don't understand!"
"No! You don't understand! I came all the way up here to help you get the stone, and I'm not tucking tail and running!"
"Asuka!"
"Listen Alan! Mr. K told me what was going to happen if you didn't come back with the stone, and as your bride, I couldn't dare let you face that alone. I wasn't there for you when this all started, but I'm going to be with you until the end."
As heartwarming as this really is, it's not going to change the fact of what's going to happen. Asuka just signed a contract that's condemned her life. A part of me wants to be mad at her for doing this, but I just can't bring myself to be angry.
Asuka walks over and puts her head on my shoulder. We wrap our arms around each other and console for a moment. It would be nice if this could last, but because the police are coming, that means Ange, and the northern shinobi will be hot on the trail as well.
"Asuka, I just want you to know that I love you."
"I love you too Alan." Asuka replies as we pull away and hold each other's hands.
"If you are going to stay, you will need to follow my lead." I state as I pull her red cloth bandana over her face.
She shakes her head, "Now let's go help Lawrence and the others."
I pick Asuka up as she wraps her arms around my neck. I deploy my wings and fly us to another sky scraper. We know the truth about the talilbasha now, but the real fun is about to begin; getting out of the city alive…
Ending Song: "Point of No Return" by: Starset