Chapter IV
Zeilla cringed as small arms fire pelted the jeep. The sound of bullets impacting was not something she was used to hearing so close to her. It was always plasma bolts, not bullets.
Still she kept her foot pressed to the floor and did her best not to clip the curb as she snaked through the suburbs on her way west.
"How are you doing, Yashima?"
"Scared out of my mind!" came the reply of the girl huddling in the foot well beside her. "We're so dead!"
"What are you talking about?" Zeilla grinned, flinching as another APC swung in behind them and opened up with its machine gun. "We haven't even got to the hard part yet. With those riot shields I strapped on the back of this brick we only have to worry about being shot from the front."
"So many bullets... So many bullets..."
Okay, perhaps I was wrong earlier. She likes fighting, not the blood, guts and the prospect of dying. After busting through the garage door with a grenade she has become a bit of a coward. Understandable I suppose - there were a lot of soldiers out there shooting at us.
Zeilla saw the roadblock ahead and swerved off the road through a park and headed south. About five kilometers later she turned west again and barreled straight for the gap between a pair of APC's blocking the end of the main street. Beyond was a bridge.
"Did you tip every single grenade out of their boxes?"
"Yes. Matsu's thing is flashing orange... What does that mean?"
"That we better time this right. Hold on!"
The soldiers suddenly realised the jeep wasn't going to stop and leapt clear just as it slammed into the noses of both APCs, forcing them aside. The jeep's tires squealed at the sudden forced deceleration before the battered vehicle lunged forward again and quickly regained its former speed. A number of jeeps and APCs giving chase had to stop for the narrow gap forced them to follow only one at a time.
"It's gone red! The thing has gone red!" Yashima cried.
"Alright, get up and smash the windshield out then crawl onto the bonnet! This is the hard bit!"
The Sekirei scuttled up into the passenger seat and punched the reinforced glass out with the sledgehammer, then carefully hauled herself out onto the front of the jeep and clung onto the dashboard as if it would save her life. After a few seconds, they roared onto the bridge itself and she got her feet under her, more comfortable with the knowledge they would be going straight across now.
The device between the seats began to honk loudly.
"What does that mean, sempai?" Yashima asked fearfully.
Suddenly a huge shaft of golden light and heat fell from the sky and sent up a huge cloud of steam as it boiled the water to their left. The laser began tracking right into their path.
"It means we're almost screwed!" Zeilla shouted back over the din, thrusting an arm out to grasp her free hand. "Get ready!"
"Its gonna hit us!"
"Steady on!"
"Sempai!"
"Just a little-"
"I don't want to lose you, master!"
The laser bit into the bridge.
"Pull!"
Yashima yanked hard and Zeilla clambered out the windscreen, then the Sekirei grabbed her around the middle and jumped.
As the laser swept across the bridge about half way across the river it engulfed their jeep. The grenades packed in between the seats and the crates stacked against the back doors were instantly detonated, creating a huge fireball as they scattered and exploded in every direction.
Yashima began to cry tears of relief as they arced through the air to freedom. "I thought we were going to die!"
"Hey, we aren't out of the woods just yet!" Zeilla reminded her. "There is another checkpoint on the other side! Are you ready for round two?"
The girl swallowed, nodded, then pushed off the ground towards the sky and rapidly approaching shore. Once in the air again they disentangled themselves and hurriedly forced their lips together.
"The hammer of my pledge, shatter the enemy of my Ashikabi!"
They separated as Yashima began to glow. The heavy Spartan landed in a roll first which allowed her to spring back into the air quickly, narrowly avoiding what befell the soldiers at the checkpoint.
As Yashima came down she stabbed the head of the sledgehammer into the ground right in the center of the checkpoint with both hands, screaming at the top of her lungs. A shockwave broke the sound barrier and hurled everything in its path several meters away. Even the relatively large tanks on either side of the road were flung like they were made of plastic rather than metal.
The Norito also had the secondary effect of giving Zeilla a boost in midair as she passed over the epicenter and thus giving Yashima the time to take flight as well and catch her Ashikabi for a safe landing.
"Nicely done!" Zeilla said, pulling the girl off the main road and into the shadows. "I could kiss you on the mouth."
Yashima took that as permission and proceeded to spend the next twenty seconds depriving them both of oxygen.
Gasping for air when the Sekirei had finally had enough Zeilla sized her by the back of her jacket and dragged her in the direction of their next destination.
"Sorry Jorge, your lines suck. I'll never use that line again."
"Sempai..." she whined.
"Ever."
They knocked twice. They waited three minutes. They knocked again. A minute later the door cracked open as far as its chain lock would permit.
"What do you want?" a male voice asked. "It's the middle of the night, damnit."
"We need to talk to Haruka Shigi. Is he home?"
The inquiry was met with silence... Then the door was slammed in their faces.
"Umm... Did Matsu get the wrong apartment number?"
Suddenly the door was flung wide open for a young man wielding a steel baseball bat to come out swinging. The pair barely dodged backwards in time and had to split up or be caught between the railing and the bat. He followed after the taller of the two with furious swings that impacted anything but their target.
Then Zeilla reached out and sized the young man's wrist. She calmly pulled the bat from him despite him snarling and cursing in an effort to break her grip and maintain his own. Disarmed, she let him go.
He backed up quickly to his apartment and Zeilla followed just out of his reach. Yashima closed in behind him just in case.
Then a blond girl appeared in the doorway with a gun in her shaking hands.
"Haruka-sama!"
"Idiot! I told you to run!"
Zeilla cleared her throat. "Would you two calm down. We aren't here to fight."
The man hissed and pointed to her chest. "We will never go back alive you MBI dogs!"
The Spartan looked at the three letters on her stolen kevlar vest and rolled her eyes. "Do you think MBI would send only two people if they were going to come after you? We stole these vests when we broke out of the city." Taking a cautious step forward she delved into her cloak and withdrew a small booklet, holding it out to the fugitive. "We came to help you."
"Matsu's fugitive guide." he read in disbelief. Looking between the three women he sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. "Matsu, huh... I suppose we all better go inside."
"That would be best, indeed." Zeilla agreed.
Line break
"So, after all that trouble to break free of MBI's borders you only settled in the city next door?" Zeilla asked incredulously.
Shigi and Kuno nodded uncertainly.
"A good thing it is that Matsu tracked you down before MBI. You should have run as far as possible and done what you could to move countries at least."
"My family lives close by." Shigi snapped. "I couldn't just leave them after all that time we were separated."
Zeilla snorted. "Well now you have spent time with them you should consider following Matsu's recommendations. She can only cover your arses for so long before MBI figures out what she is trying to do, finds out where you are and sends an assassin to carefully end you. If I were them I'd kill you and frame Kuno for the local police. Then I'd get her killed by planting men among the officers sent after her. It would be so easy for them it's not even funny."
Kuno gulped and tightened her grip on her Ashikabi's hand.
"She can escape normal Humans." Shigi insisted. "It's just Sekirei that are a problem for us."
"You don't think sending a member of the Discipline Squad is a possibility too? What then? A last pitiful stand? If you aren't going to run then you need to hide better than a false name." she said, turning a few pages in the booklet before slapping it back on the table in front of them. "Change your clothing style, your hair style and colour, your typical behavior. Most importantly, learn to fight properly."
"Fighting is impossible!" Kuno bawled. "I will be killed instantly-"
"There is more to fighting that clubbing someone with a bat or stabbing them with a blade." Zeilla interrupted. "Isn't that so, Yashima?"
"Hai, sempai. I've learned a lot from you already." the still bloody hammer-wielder said enthusiastically.
"Your Sekirei is a fighter, that does count!"
The Spartan huffed. "Kuno's power is her voice, correct?"
The two fugitives nodded.
"She can create incredibly strong oscillations at will without expensive technology and millions of dollars' worth of research and development. Have you not realised how much potential she has, boy? Do you know what an Earth quake is?"
"Tectonic collision." he muttered.
"Wrong. That's the cause. It is mere vibrations of a magnitude so great that the Earth itself can be reshaped because of it. Did you know that certain frequencies of sound waves can cause glass to shatter? Did you know that sound has been used in riot suppression and actually incapacitated people foolish enough to stay too close?"
Shigi stared at her slack jawed. "I never thought of that, but, she can't do those things."
Zeilla scowled. "Do you think I was born to be as strong and as clever as I am? I had to learn, train, practice and make mistakes. There are people all over the world who spend hours every day training their voices to sing. For Kuno to train her power it couldn't be easier."
Softening her voice and facing the fearful girl herself, Zeilla forced a smile to her face. "Instead of feeling like the weakest you could be among the most powerful. All you need to do is experiment with what you can do."
"But, couldn't this be dangerous?" Shigi spoke up hesitantly. "I mean, if Kuno really could break glass or whatever..."
"I suggest you devote some time to studying sound waves, and I can find some sound proofing to create a sort of test chamber. In theory at low volumes we can perfect the effect we want without huge consequences. With time and practice of control you could become deadly."
"Umm..."
Zeilla raised a brow at Kuno. "Yes?"
"Umm... How long did... Did you train for?"
She flinched. "Since I was a girl. I am now twenty-three."
Everyone sagged as if their small hope had been utterly crushed.
"Hey, relax." she sighed. "What I went through was many times more difficult than what lies before us now. Focus on your strengths first and train until you drop down in exhaustion, then think about what your weaknesses are and how to cover them up. Kuno, you need to find songs to sing to help you learn control. Shigi, you need to determine the most comfortable way to fight, then come to me and I'll help you figure out how to complement Kuno's power."
"And me, sempai?" Yashima asked with a twinkle in her eye and an excessively strong hug.
"Your fighting style is too dependent on your weapon. You should learn to use every part of your body and anything you can get your hands on."
"This is a lot to think about." Shigi said nervously, scratching the back of his head.
Zeilla snorted. "No, it's not, you just need to get into it. Let me think... First thing in the morning you can do your workouts, then have breakfast, then put your minds to the nuances of your styles and how they interact with each other to cover as much weakness as possible. After lunch repetition of everything you have learned and experimenting, possibly sparring if you feel ready for that."
"Workouts?" the three asked, clueless.
Zeilla frowned. "You have got to be kidding me..."
Shigi perked up. "Hey, what are you going to do?"
"I will be training too. I have gone too long without running through my own regime." she replied evenly before narrowing her eyes and smirking at the young man and his Sekirei. "You don't exercise? Well then, after dinner I shall have to correct this."
The pair shivered in trepidation.
One Human and two Sekirei staggered into the apartment drenched in sweat and gasping for air. One made it to a chair while the bonded pair collapsed in the middle of the floor just as Zeilla walked in, her breath already slowing.
"You did well again today, but we aren't done. Get up! Even though you pushed yourselves to your limits you still have to prepare for bed. I'm not your mother and you are old enough to take care of your selves!"
Fifteen seconds of inactivity later...
"Ah, still here? I suppose that means you want to go for another run-"
"We're going!" cried the Sekirei and they scrambled off to the shower.
Zeilla chuckled.
"What kind of monster are you?" Shigi gasped out. "Even the fitness junkie across the street can't keep up with you."
She chuckled again, dropping a towel on his head. "I have to confess I'm not used to this planet. Where I trained for most of my life the gravity was noticeably greater than here. Even before the surgery I could have done more than we are doing now. This is too easy."
"No wonder you were able to leave the city without much help. I bet you beat up even the Discipline Squad." Shigi sighed.
"No, I doubt I could."
"Huh?"
"I am still Human, less durable than Sekirei and have no power like they do. I am unlikely to defeat any of them in a straight fight."
"Then-"
"The only advantage I have is my experience in warfare and tactics. In our escape, we didn't give them time to corner us. They had to pull forces from the border to try and catch us."
They sat in contemplative silence for the next few minutes.
Yashima returned with a towel around her looking somewhat recovered thanks to the wonders of a real water shower. "The bathroom is free now."
"Off you go, shorty. I want to have a talk with Yashima."
Shigi gathered himself and lumbered out, rolling his shoulders.
"Those two have made some good progress." she said once he was out of earshot.
Yashima nodded. "Kuno is getting stronger faster than Haruka-san. I think she has about the same muscle mass as I did before we started training together."
"It must be another difference between Human and Sekirei physiology because nobody can bulk up to that from skin and bone in only two weeks. Being male is the only reason Shigi has survived training at her side this long but soon she will surpass him. I only hope she won't slack off to keep him happy."
"She won't." Yashima said firmly. "We have been talking a bit around training and she knows the best thing for her Ashikabi is for her to push herself hard."
Zeilla crossed her arms and leaned against the wall next to the door, indicating for the other to sit. "I think you have gotten used to the sledge hammer and unarmed combat now, but that is not all I have in mind for you. Tell me, what have you considered doing with your Norito if you don't have a hammer?"
"I'll use my fists and my feet!" the girl declared exuberantly.
Zeilla waited patiently with one brow raised.
"Oh! And if my opponent occupies my hands to prevent using it, I can headbutt!"
The Spartan grinned. "Good. I never even gave you a clue about that one."
Yashima grinned back at her with dreamy eyes.
"Now, I have given a lot of thought to this next idea." Zeilla continued, her tone conveying the serious nature of the topic. "Up to now I have heard nothing about your kind using more... Conventional weapons, for this day and age."
Yashima appeared confused.
The Spartan sighed and went over to watch the entrance through the small window. "Get dressed. I want to try something."
It took a few minutes for the tired alien, which Zeilla spent theorizing and checking her gear. When Yashima was ready to leave the Spartan opened the door, gesturing for her to follow.
They walked two blocks down the road to the park they often used for the passive sections of their daily routine. It was dark now so the place was devoid of sentient life.
Zeilla handed Yashima the revolver she had picked off a thug before they met. "You've seen me shoot before, right? Have a go at that trash can by the fountain."
The Sekirei took the gun carefully, surprised at is weight, then assumed the standard firing position Zeilla had used in the raid on the MBI outpost. Two hands on the weapon, one foot forward and turned about thirty-five degrees off being side on to her target. She depressed the trigger, then took the safety off and blushed sheepishly before taking aim again and firing.
The clang of impacted metal signaled a hit on the target.
"Good enough that you landed a target ten metres away for your first attempt." Zeilla said. "Now here is the real test. What do you think would happen if you used your Norito with a gun as your weapon?"
Yashima's eyes widened. "I don't know. Can we try-"
"Yes, that's why I waited for nightfall before giving you the chance."
The Sekirei made a happy noise and jumped onto her Ashikabi, wrapping her limbs around the tall woman and leaning in for a kiss. Zeilla rolled her eyes and gave in long enough to let wings burst into the darkness before shaking Yashima out of her little trance.
Sheepishly sliding off and putting a few paces between them she reassumed a firing position.
"Hammer of my pledge, shatter the enemy of my Ashikabi!" she recited, encased in a bright cyan light, then pulled the trigger. "Gravity-Hammer!"
With a sonic boom the trash can was hurled out of the park, leaving two noticeable components of a revolver and four bullet holes behind.
Yashima was left holding only half the gun. Everything forward of the hammer was ripped clean off.
Oh, for fuck sakes, I forgot about guns having a bloody hammer in them! Zeilla mentally cried and buried her face in a hand.
"Umm..."
"Don't worry about it." she sighed, adjusting her cap. "Just toss it into a bush and let's get out of here before people come to investigate."
"Sorry-"
"No, it was my fault. Come on, let's go."
Half way back to Shigi's hideout a police car rolled up next to the park, proving her case to Yashima. Zeilla then spent the rest of the walk explaining the implications of a gunshot to her and a little about the mechanics of the weapons to help her understand what happened.
"So... Instead of the bullet impacting with the effect it was the firing hammer impacting the bullet." she thought out loud as they entered the apartment.
"Yep. Looks like any impact within the aura of your Norito is magnified many times over." Zeilla carried on the train of thought. "I hate to burst your bubble but 'gravity-hammer' is an incorrect technicality... Unless this is just the most basic expression of your ability... Hmm..."
"Sempai?"
Zeilla checked that the door was locked and settled against the wall again - as was her custom with the only couch serving the others or as Yashima's bed. "I mean... Why an increase in the force of an enveloped impact? Gravity isn't like that at all. I wonder if-"
"/ /Z-tan! Z-tan! Can you hear me?/ /"
Zeilla froze as the voice exploded from her earpiece. "Matsu?"
"/ /Yes, it's me! MBI has just sent two of the Discipline Squad to your location! They detected a Norito in the area just a few minutes ago./ /"
Zeilla cursed internally. "Yeah, that was Yashima and I experimenting."
"/ /Aww, why do you experiment together but my Ashikabi flees at the mention of the word?/ /"
"That, Matsu, is because you have a mind filthier than my drill sergeant's mouth right now, and he spent two weeks decomposing before I came here. I meant actual experimenting - with her power, Matsu, not her body."
Yashima's face turned bright red.
"Matsu, where are they and what are we facing?"
The redhead shut-in cleared her throat and resumed behaving professionally. "/ /They just leapt across the bridge and are rapidly closing in on you. I can't keep track of them for much longer or MBI will spot me in their network. Both are close combat types, one unarmed, the other uses claws./ /"
"Thanks, Matsu. Good of you to use the speakers once you knew I was receiving your signal. You must have some good tech to break through MBI's communications barriers."
Matsu laughed smugly. "/ /Oh, I'm not using tech at all. Later./ /"
Zeilla filed that confusing sentence away for future pondering. More pressing matters took priority. "Yashima, get dressed. We're going to have to face a pair of Sekirei. Shigi and Kuno don't stand a chance if we don't draw them off."
Yashima merely nodded and obeyed. Zeilla was glad she had a talent for compartmentalizing, even if it allowed her to return to her lovey-dovey-clingy ways quickly. It was these moments when it paid off.
The Spartan checked her own gear, then left a note for Shigi and Kuno outlining the situation and instructing them to keep doing what they were doing. She also left them a large portion of the cash sneakily extracted from MBI to aid them.
"Zeilla-sempai, what will we do? The Discipline Squad are some of the most powerful Sekirei."
"I don't know what will work but I have some ideas." she told the teen plainly. "Just follow my lead. Keep your eyes and ears open for any signs of attack, yet appear passive - I don't want to start a fight we can't win."
Yashima gave her a solemn nod. "I've heard that these two don't play nice at all. Sekirei fights are supposed to be one on one and no Humans are to be harmed, but they gang up on anyone involved in the game."
Zeilla grit her teeth. That was bad news. "Well, let's go and meet them. Ready?"
"Yes." she whispered, holding her sledgehammer to her chest.
As quietly as possible they slipped out of the apartment and into the shadows, making their way to the park. The police had gone by then and the trash-can had been returned to its prior placement as if the large hole punched through it didn't matter. The park was empty once more until they entered it.
"I don't see anyone." Yashima whispered, sideling up to her Ashikabi.
Zeilla squinted up at the rooftops around them. Again, she wished for her helmet's capabilities.
Footsteps approached from the east, drawing their attention.
Zeilla searched and found a few blotches of grey in the darkness, which after a few paces was revealed to be a young woman clad in bandages and a tattered black robe ending just below her blue-black boots when she stepped under a street lamp. She had metal plated forearms and long shining claws on her fingers held out by her sides.
"Number one hundred and four," announced the white-haired girl with a pale face. "Haihane."
A cracking of concrete behind them spun both Zeilla and Yashima one-eighty degrees to find a pink haired girl in a crouch. This one wore a shorter robe with a large red bow under her right arm tied around her waist, shorts, red fighting gloves and boots of the same colour. This one had a vicious look on her face where as her counterpart was bored.
Pink hair stood and held her fists ready. "Number one hundred and five, Benitsubasa. We are the Discipline Squad."
Zeilla's instincts screamed at her to open up with the rifle under her cloak but her brain told her a wiser course of action. "Pleased to meet you two. I am the Ashikabi of number eighty-four Yashima." she said evenly.
Benitsubasa scowled. "Huh? Why are you being polite? We're to bring you back or kill you, don't you realise?"
"Oh, you are? You needn't have bothered as we were already on our way back from sightseeing." the Spartan ventured, not entirely sure where she was going with the idea. "Shall we return together, then?"
Benitsubasa's jaw dropped. "What kind of idiot are you?"
Haihane chuckled quietly. "You get irritated even when they are cooperative."
"Shut up." pinky snapped. "You! Why break out at all only to go back?"
"I'm finished exploring." What the hell am I doing? "Okay, let's cut the crap. You have instructions to return us to the game and we are willing to be returned."
Benitsubasa folded her arms and snorted. "Fine. Let's go."
"Wait, where's her hammer?"
Zeilla coughed. "It's big and would draw attention. I made her leave it behind."
Yashima slowly tucked the sledgehammer under her jacket. In the dimly lit park neither Sekirei noticed the motion.
Under the watchful eyes of both enforcers they started east. Zeilla's ability to traverse by rooftop surprised them but neither questioned her or made any acknowledgement of it. The Spartan half regretted revealing her strength so blatantly but she felt it was better than having Yashima carry her and risk disclosing the fact that she was armed. If things went bad she preferred to have a weapon in the girl's hands.
Besides, regardless of how easy Yashima made it look, it was awkward for someone of her size to be carried around - especially by someone in their late teens.
Eventually they managed to hide the sledgehammer under Zeilla's cloak again when they stopped and sat down in a bus shelter for a break a few blocks away from the check point they had obliterated. It was back in order now of course, so the bridge was likely cleared and repaired for civilian use. MBI worked fast.
Zeilla looked over at Benitsubasa, the more talkative of the pair. "Hey I was just wondering... You all seem to have some powerful Norito that can only be used after a recent kiss, so why send Sekirei out but not their Ashikabi? Isn't that limiting your effectiveness?"
"I could kill you instantly." #105 scoffed. "There is no need for Natsuo to come too."
"And he is too busy staring at that naked man photo he has in his wallet." Haihane snickered.
"Shut up, blue! I know he loves me!"
"It's pitiful." the goth giggled. "You are so flat, but still not flat enough to catch his homo eyes."
Benitsubasa growled and leapt to her feet. "Let get back already!" she ground out through clenched teeth.
Zeilla and Yashima shared a glance, both shocked at the revelation in their different ways. Yashima felt sympathy for the Sekirei, saddened that she would be stuck in a one-sided romance. Zeilla on the other hand was surprised at the combination of denial and persistence.
"Haihane, how do you feel about your Ashikabi?"
#104 shrugged. "He gives us the space we need to do what we want. I am disappointed, but ultimately don't care so long as he keeps his homo stuff in his room."
Benitsubasa was practically on fire with the amount of rage pouring off her. It had nothing to do with the golden glow of the rising sun either.
Better change topics, I think. "What number is Karasuba?" she asked as she stood up to began walking.
There was a pregnant pause as the others stood also before Haihane answered. "Zero four, the Black Sekirei. Head of the Discipline Squad."
Zeilla filed the information away. "I met her once. Does she hate everyone or just me?"
"Everyone." the goth snickered. "She is the strongest Sekirei in the game and it annoys her that nothing can come close to a challenge for her. Natsuo said she only once had fun when she slaughtered an entire Human army."
The Spartan raised a brow. "An entire army? Impressive."
"Even more so is that she is also bigger than Benitsubasa-"
"Say another word, Haihane, and I'll make you wish it would be Karasuba killing you."
The threat had little effect as she was still snickering to herself.
What an interesting pair.
