Chapter VIII
Yashima sat up and looked around, causing Zeilla to frown. "What?"
"Something is... Wrong." she whispered with rising distress.
The door opened and Yuuma stuck his head in. "I think one of the others is fighting." he said tiredly.
The Spartan quickly got to her feet and threw her cloak over her shoulders, snagging the sledgehammer from beside Yashima. "Both of you get dressed. We're going to pull whoever is in trouble out of it before they get killed. Pulling no punches, people. Yashima, the big hammer."
The teen nodded and glared Yuuma out of the room before grabbing her old outfit, then hesitating and going for the black outfit Zeilla had picked up with her. The girl didn't seem to suit the pants and jacket at first but she had come to prefer it as her Ashikabi was wearing the same thing under the hooded cloak.
When they padded out to let Yukari and Shiina sleep Yuuma looked at his brown and grey clothes and hummed. "We supposed to have a uniform?"
"Black at night is just sensible." Zeilla answered curtly. "Can you find the trouble through the bond?"
He nodded.
"Then let's waste no time."
"The hospital?"
Zeilla frowned. "Ruso mentioned she would be here early. Perhaps she drew unwanted attention by hanging around for too long."
Yashima readied her huge hammer.
Yuuma wrapped an arm around Zeilla and made the impossibly long jump to the roof of the MBI hospital, Yashima matching him perfectly with a scowl marring her usually soft and innocent face. The Spartan merely rolled her eyes and led the two aliens to the lower roof with the fire escape.
There they found Ruso gasping for breath and leaning heavily on her weapon for support, snarling at a familiar looking swordswoman.
"You... You aren't even trying..." Ruso hissed at her opponent. "What are you?"
Zeilla narrowed her eyes. "Number Four, Karasuba. Funny meeting you here."
The woman smirked. "So, this really is your little bird? So pathetic."
Ruso roared and charged at Karasuba with a cleverly angled defensive yet offensive slash but the latter effortlessly smashed her weapon aside with sword-flat, then kicked the redhead through the door of the fire escape and scoffed.
Zeilla cautiously dropped down and slowly put herself between the two Sekirei, Yashima and Yuuma at her flank.
"Why are you here?"
"The Discipline Squad aren't just enforcers, Spartan, we are part of the game too." the Black Sekirei said, pulling a small vicious smirk.
Ruso stumbled back out onto the roof looking terrible, small cuts and bruising all over her body. She made to attack again but Zeilla restrained her by the back of her vests.
"Ruso will back down. Leave us alone, Karasuba."
#102 hissed but didn't press the matter.
Karasuba snorted. "But I won't. You have been a very interesting addition to the Sekirei project but now you are becoming a threat to my revenge. Time to cull your strength down to a more manageable level."
She lunged forward almost too fast to see, but Yuuma pushed Ruso out of the way and used his 'Iron' to take the thrust. Karasuba didn't hesitate to pivot on one leg and kick his ridged form away. #4 hacked at Ruso's guard as a feint to duck under the polearm and slam the hilt of her sword into the redhead's solar-plexus, knocking her down with the shock alone.
Yashima took the opportunity to raise her huge hammer high and drag it down on the Black Sekirei, but to everyone's surprise Karasuba reversed her grip on her sword and caught the hammerhead on the pommel and in her off hand. Yashima groaned with effort as she tried to crush the Discipline Squad leader anyway.
Karasuba did appear to have difficulty holding her off, but it didn't stop her from sliding over Ruso's semi-conscious form and lining up her sword with #102's chest, smirking the entire time.
Zeilla opened her mouth to give orders but Yuuma was already moving.
He dived between Karasuba's legs and enveloped Ruso, allowing Yashima to press harder without fear of harming either ally. #4 simply pushed up then rolled away as the hammer forced the two figures an inch into the roof surface. She lunged at Yashima first then at the last instant pirouetted around #84 and punched her sword hilt into the back of her skull with a resounding crack.
As Karasuba prepared to slash downwards Yuuma tackled Yashima out of the way. He was still turning his body to block when another figure burst out of the shadows and pushed him fully clear, deflecting the sword with a blade of their own.
Ikki slashed and jabbed at Karasuba rapidly and forced the single number back a few paces but with visible strain. The Black Sekirei on the other hand seemed almost relaxed throughout the exchange of blows. The swordswomen circled around for a moment after Ikki barely dodged and deflected a thrust from Karasuba, then they committed to a furious rally of attacks.
Number Nineteen was constantly moving and never let her blades stop for long under her opponent's strong blows. It was a wonder to behold, but she was outmatched even so.
With a flash of teeth in the night Karasuba's deadly and gracefully fluid defense became brutally efficient offense. She charged Ikki dead on with such force the higher number could not deny and proceeded to cut several gashes in Ikki's arms before she dropped to one knee to counter, only for Karasuba to put a boot in her face and send her tumbling across the roof.
Zeilla saw Yuuma helping Yashima up and Ruso still dazed.
My turn. She thought with a grimace.
Boldly the Spartan stepped forward with the sledgehammer held near the head in her left hand and her stolen MBI issue rifle in her right. #4 raised her head and looked down her nose at Zeilla, even as the distance between them diminished.
"What's the plan, Karasuba? Kill one or two of the mere one hundred and eight of your species you know of? If you play the game and kill them all, then what?"
The Sekirei chuckled. "Then I travel the world, of course." she sneered and brought her sword up to guard.
Zeilla narrowed her eyes and stopped just beyond the other woman's reach. "I find it hard to believe you care nothing for the future of your species."
"These children don't matter at all unless they win" Karasuba replied. "Neither do you."
"By that logic, you recognise your own insignificance."
At that the swordswoman lunged forward with a slash for Zeilla's throat.
The Spartan barely raised the sledgehammer in time to fend off the sword with its head, then attempted to bring the rifle to bear as the Sekirei leapt up and over. A rushed upward swing with the hammer met a boot and the sword cleaved right through the rifle, singing as it parted the metal with ease. Karasuba ignored the thump of the hammer's grip connecting with her shoulder on the way down into a crouch to kick the towering mutated Human's legs out but Zeilla didn't try to fight the move. Instead she clubbed Karasuba on the left shoulder with the hammer and punched with the remnants of the rifle.
The Sekirei let the hammer blow spin her out of the way. On the follow through she too let fly a punch with her sword fist which Zeilla took on her right shoulder and sized the offending wrist, having discarded the rifle during her punch. Karasuba brought her free hand in to stab at Zeilla's throat but she blocked with the hammer head again. Zeilla let the Sekirei pull her off balance in an attempt to free her sword arm in order to raise the sledgehammer for an overhead strike.
Karasuba caught the hammer between her hand and the head. The Discipline Squad leader sneered with smug satisfaction: Zeilla's arms were crossed - a notoriously weak position to be in.
In response, the Spartan set her jaw and resolved to show the relatively shorter woman just how strong she was. Before the eyes of the four Sekirei she had easily defeated Karasuba was steadily forced back a step. Then down to one knee.
In a crouch #4 had the stability to match the Spartan's strength.
"I thought you were a warrior of honour, Karasuba." Zeilla said through clenched teeth. "I thought I could find an ally in you who would fight to free her people from MBI's control."
Karasuba grinned. "You were wrong. Oh sure, this has been fun, hasn't it? However, why would I ever want to work with a Human?"
Zeilla had crossed her arms for a reason. Before Karasuba could react, the Spartan's grip slipped and the hammer went high, allowing her a moment to backhand #4's jaw and snatch the sword from the Sekirei's loosened fingers in one motion.
#4 was quick to adjust by wrenching her wrist free and bringing the hammer down across Zeilla's own jaw as the Spartan spun away, lashing out with a kick to counter the motion of her right arm. Zeilla rolled across the roof with the force and came up ready to stab but Karasuba threw the sledgehammer straight into her gut and the force ended up carrying her into the wall next to the fire escape.
Karasuba kicked her sword mid fall and sent it at the cloaked Spartan… Only for Yashima to leap into its path and be skewered through the thigh, forcing a blood curdling scream from her lips.
Zeilla was back on her feet before #84's flailing hops landed her heavily against the railing. She charged with the sledgehammer in motion but Karasuba ducked under it and executed a butterfly kick to fend off Ikki. The move landed her beside Yashima and #4 clearly took pleasure in ripping her sword free, eliciting another scream from the teen.
Karasuba raised her sword to deliver a chop. Ikki was still too far away, Yuuma was obstructed by Zeilla and Ruso was barely stable on one knee so a surprise attack from her was out of the question.
Zeilla wished she had another gun.
Ruso shouted "Decapitator!" and thrust her polearm forward.
With incredible speed the 'H' shaped blade of her weapon launched itself across the distance and slammed Karasuba's sword off target.
The Black Sekirei ducked under the blade as it zipped back to its place and straightened in time to brutally collect both of Ikki's swords and slash across her face in one strike, following up with another downward chop that split #19's dress down one side and spilt plenty of blood. Ruso levered herself to her feet and launched her blade again, this time at Karasuba's feet. The swordswoman hopped over it and side stepped its return to meet Yuuma's grab for her shoulders with a nasty uppercut to the chin followed by a lateral slash powered by a quick spin. He enveloped himself in time to save his midsection from being split in half but she just used brute force to shove him into the railing next to Yashima.
Then Ruso was in range and unleashing her fury in the form of crazed strikes, completely disregarding her weapon's primary means of inflicting damage. Karasuba backed up quickly to back flip into the wall of the adjacent hospital wing, then launch herself to land on top of the redhead. Ruso swung up at her but Karasuba kicked the pole down and landed a bone shattering stomp to Ruso's left shoulder before thrusting her sword down into her side for good measure.
Yuuma came back with a section of railing in his grasp. Karasuba hesitated at the spectacle and Ikki - the one who cut it free for him - hid her eyes. The male Sekirei held it by one end and swung it down at Karasuba from over his head, to which she simply blocked and her sword split the supporting bars. Yuuma took both halves and tried to clap her between them but she nimbly stepped between the support bars and let them collide.
Then #4 frowned as 'Iron' instantly enveloped the railing, fusing it whole again and making defending herself more difficult.
Zeilla hurled the sledgehammer into Karasuba's back while she was distracted and was rewarded with a wet thud of bone struck through flesh, also managing to whack her in the head with the handle.
Yashima suddenly arrived hissing in pain as she brought her massive hammer down hard, crushing Karasuba into the roof a way in spite of her shock absorbing crouch. Yashima prepared to strike again but the Disciplinary Squad leader had other ideas. She used 'Iron'-ed Yuuma as a club to bash the hammer aside and lunged forward to drive her bloodied sword through the girl's dominant shoulder, barely missing bone.
Number Eighty-Four's eyes widened with shock, then rolled back in their sockets as her body went limp, dragging itself off Karasuba's blade.
Ruso took a wild swing with one arm as she leapt to her feet which Karasuba side stepped and backed out of range. Then the redhead pulled a fork out of her pocket with her bad arm and stuck it in her mouth. The darkness gave way to the dazzling brilliance of #102's orange wings.
The young woman roared something unintelligible around the fork and launched her blade at #4, who deflected it easily and started to advance. Ruso grunted and swung back hard, managing to tear the train of Karasuba's haori when the single number dodged the 'H' blade sailing through the air. #102 didn't let up. She kept sweeping her forked polearm from side to side and forcing her opponent to dance around.
The blade wasn't returning, rather it was changing its distance to home in on Karasuba with each swing. Hotaruso's Norito in action.
Twenty seconds after activation the orange glow infused into the weapon began to fade. The Black Sekirei took notice and smacked the next swing into the ground, grinding the blade along the roof as it returned to the shaft.
Ruso launched her blade again but the single number leapt into a high backflip, landing on the upper roof and her sword shimmering with streaks of red in the moonlight. Ruso tried to raise her weapon to try once more but she was spent. She gasped and collapsed to her knees, the fork and polearm clanging as they dropped also.
"Let this be a lesson to those who would break the rules." Karasuba sneered, no signs of injury or exertion visible.
Then she was off into the night.
Zeilla scowled. She took us apart. I need to deal with her if I'm ever going to break the game. Musing can wait. I must see to my allies... My Sekirei.
The Spartan glanced at Ruso. Besides her exhaustion and dosens of injuries the only concern was her shoulder and the long gash down her side. Looking to Ikki revealed a need for new clothes and stitches but nothing life threatening. Yuuma of course was completely unharmed.
But Yashima...
Zeilla rushed to her side and checked her pulse. Determining the teen had passed out from shock the Spartan beckoned to Yuuma.
"We need to apply pressure to her thigh and her shoulder." she told him. "Ikki, bring what's left of your dress and slice it up to give me long strips. Yuuma, I want you to apply pressure to both ends of the thigh wound and localise 'Iron' if you can."
They both rushed to comply.
"Ruso, keep an eye out for scavengers looking to pick us off."
"Yeah, Z." the redhead panted, forcing herself to crawl over to the railing with her weapon and use both to get to her feet.
"I can't localise enough." Yuuma said calmly.
"Then don't worry about it. Ikki?"
"Here."
"Hack off two squares from the edge of Yuuma's shirt under his hoodie. Place one over each wound and begin tying a strip around her shoulder: under arm, over shoulder, across chest and repeat. Tie it off as tightly as you can, then do the same with the thigh."
"Okay."
"What will you do?" Yuuma asked, blushing slightly as Ikki started fiddling with his clothes.
"You'll lend Ikki your hoodie." Zeilla continued as she carefully raised Yashima's head and shoulders to find her Sekirei crest remained at the nape of her neck. "This is an MBI owned and operated hospital. I'm going to bust my way through until some actual medical professionals get up here to tend to Yashima."
"Shouldn't we carry her inside?" Ikki inquired, pulling on the remnants of her dress as instructed.
Zeilla shook her head and laid Yashima flat. "I'm no medic but I can tell from the placement of the open wounds that there could be some serious damage to her femur. She also received a blow to the head in the fight and likely hit hard when she fell. Do not move her any more than you have to."
Ikki paled. "Poor girl."
The Spartan stood and turned towards fire escape. "We will talk about your little saliva sampling later, Ruso." she called back, then dropped down the three flights of stairs in one go and kicked the interior door clean off its hinges.
An MBI security guard gawked at her and went for his radio as soon as she marched into the hall beyond.
"There are three injured Sekirei on the roof, one of them seriously: possible broken femur, a concussion and is in shock. Her number is Eighty-Four. Get a medical team up there now!" she ordered him with a tone that dared anyone to defy her.
The man hesitated but a second before he sent out the information via radio with a nod.
Karasuba... She is a bad enemy to have. If she really will not side with me... Well, it's going to take a lot of work. I suppose it's fitting in a way - since when have I ever gotten the easy missions? Hell, I am almost missing the 'war' with the insurgents.
