Maki laid on her bed reading an old magazine while kicking her feet in the air. It had been a few months since the two of them had left the cage so the cabin fever was starting to drive Maki crazier than she already was, "Hey Umi...?
"What is it?" she sat at her desk as usual. The only things that were on Umi's desk was a laptop, a notebook and a picture of her and Maki. Every now and then, she would glimpse at the portrait and wonder why she keeps something like it as sentiment.
"I'm bored..." Maki groaned and stretched out across her bed, tossing the old magazine across the room and into a recycling bin.
"What do you want me to do about it?" she refused to pay Maki a certain level of attention because she already knew what Maki would say. She has been acting up like this for the past week and some time outside of the cage would really do them some good.
"I don't know," Maki curled herself up in a blanket and rolled around on the bed as she answered.
"Then stay bored." Umi shot down Maki's shallow attempts at an answer and went back to focusing on her laptop.
Maki sat up and barked back at Umi, "Hey at least try to sound like you care!"
"I don't know how I could relieve you of your boredom," she answered back calmly with a distasteful tone.
Maki rocked back and forth while she sat on her bed with her legs crossed. She thought to herself for several seconds before she let a gasp escape through her lips and snapped her fingers, "Let's watch a movie together or something and cuddle."
"I'd rather not." Maki's proposal was immediately shot down.
"Aww, please Umi? Please please pleeeeease," Maki started to get into her habit of constantly repeating the phrase in a childish and annoying way.
Umi's eyebrows furrowed and she knew where this would end up going. Maki always got her way, but that was only because Umi didn't have the patience to deal with her. She sighed and got up from her seat, "If it will shut you up, fine."
Maki swung her arms up into the air in celebration and cheered, "Yaaaay, you didn't threaten to kill me this time!"
Umi shook her head, "You're better fighter in this situation," she knew that if the two of them ever got into a serious fight, Maki could easily overpower and injure her.
Maki thrusted her chin forward in a cocky manner and smirked, "True."
"What do you want to watch?" Umi knelt down and opened a cabinet to reveal a wide assortment of DVDs. She insisted on Chief giving them a streaming service, but he would refuse and drop a bag of these every month.
"Hmm... Something scary and very bloody?" Maki poked around in her head for a movie that she may want to watch.
Umi pulled out a DVD and presented it to Maki,"How about this?" the cover of the case read, 'Kill Joy'
"But I've seen that one so many times and I'm tired of it," Maki complained when she saw the case. She's been watching that movie over and over again for the past few months and she honestly felt like if she were to watch it again, she would have to cut her eyes out.
"What are you talking about? It's your favorite, you love this movie to death," Umi tossed the DVD over to Maki.
She caught it and tossed it to the side, "Don't we have anything else?"
"I'm pretty sure you've watched everything the Chief gave us for this month," Umi traced along the DVD cases to see if she could spot any that were still in their shrink wraps.
"This sucks..." Maki blurted out.
Umi closed the DVD cabinet and sat on her bed across from Maki, "Don't complain to me."
She threw her hands up to the back of her head and leaned against the wall, "I'm not, I just wish Chief would let us out for one free day."
"What would you even do?" Umi questioned.
She shrugged in response, "Well normally I would like to kill something, but if I do," Maki closed one eye and used her hands to imitate a giant explosion, "pop goes the tomato."
Umi looked at her disapprovingly "Don't you want to do normal things?"
"Of course! I'm not THAT insane, we could watch a new movie and go on a date if we had a free day," Maki defended herself with some normal activities for a change. Although most people see her as a deranged killer, which she is, Maki can do normal things just like anyone else.
"A date, huh?" Umi pondered the thought in her head.
Maki sat up straight and leaned in closer to speak with Umi, "I know this great restaurant that we can go to."
Umi thought back to the last time she had professionally prepared food before ending up here, "That doesn't sound too bad."
"Of course it doesn't! To compare it to the food we get here would be an insult to humanity," Maki boasted about the restaurant as if it were her own.
"I'll leave him a message then," Umi got off her bed and walked over to an intercom located near the "entrance" of their room.
"Oooo~ Let me help!" Maki scrambled to her feet and joined Umi by the intercom.
They pressed the button together and Umi spoke up first, "Chief, we have a request,"
"Can we have a free day?" Maki said suddenly without Umi's permission.
There was a long silence before a masculine voice came out of the speakers, "How did this come up?"
"I want to go on a date with Umi," Maki excitedly proclaimed.
"I can't allow you two to walk free in public for a day," the chief smacked down their request without a thought.
Maki frowned, "I won't kill anybody, I promise!"
"Her intentions are innocent," Umi defended.
"Please, Chief. We've done everything you've asked us to do and never failed," Maki tried her best to bargain with him.
The chief sighed before answering with an obvious response, "That's because you have no other choice but to."
"It's been months since you last let us out of the cage, some fresh air would be good for us," Umi tried to reason with the chief. She did believe that getting fresh air would be beneficial for their mental and physical health.
"You two are stubborn..." the chief let out an exhausted sigh.
"Come on, Chief. Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!" Maki leaned in closer and begged as if it would actually be effective.
The intercom remained silent for several seconds before they heard a heavy sigh, "Fine! However, you must fulfill one condition before your free day."
"Yes yes yes!" Maki ran off and danced around the room in celebration.
Umj remained calm and stayed by the intercom, "What do we have to do?"
The chief took a deep breath before he started explaining, "One of our drug busts have gone south and we lost an entire squad of undercover men, I want you two to eliminate the targets and secure the drugs."
"Oh my god, Umi, we get to go out twice!" She latched on to Umi's shoulders and cheered.
"I'll be down to bring you your gear soon," the intercom shut off and the two women walked over to Maki's bed. She clung onto Umi and sat them down next to each other.
"You can let go, you know," Umi tugged gently.
Maki hugged her arm tighter, "Don't wanna, I'm too happy to let go."
Umi brought her hand up to pet the girl, "Let's do our best, huh?"
Maki nodded and smiled brightly. She got comfortable and leaned her head against Umi's arm until the entrance opened.
The chief walked in with his usual squad of guards and tossed in the large case with their gear in it, "Your targets are hidden in an old glass factory just outside of the city by the docks. There are two entrances which are heavily guarded and we have no fix on where the drugs are," he started to explain.
Maki got up and tugged Umi's arm towards the keyboard sized case.
"Your job is to infiltrate the factory, eliminate any threats by any means necessary and secure the drugs." He finished his debrief and walked off, "A helicopter is waiting on the roof to drop you off near the factory."
Maki opened up the case and started getting her gear together. Umi did the same and looked over at Maki, her smile was large and for some reason it put Umi at ease. Then again, she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little excited herself. It's been months since that hostage situation and Umi's hands have been itching to pull a trigger.
"I'm ready to go! I'll race you to the chopper," Maki sped off and left Umi in the dust. She quickly stopped and turned around to see that Umi had just gotten up, "You're no fun sometimes..."
"There's no law saying that I have to," Umi replied.
"Even if there was, you'd break it anyways," Maki smirked at her snarky remark.
"You're right about that," Umi swung a rifle over her shoulders and caught up with Maki. The two began their ascent to the helicopter as Maki ran her mouth off about what they would do on their day off.
"We can go shopping, eat at that restaurant, go watch that new horror movie that we've been seeing ads of, and maybe even a walk in the park or-" Maki was cut off when Umi brought her hand up.
"We'll discuss it when we get back," They reached the helipad and climbed on. It lifted off into the air in a few seconds and headed off to their destination.
The helicopter slowly came to a stop and hovered slightly off the ground so the two girls could get off. The drop point was a few blocks away from the area but they could make it there easily without being spotted by the enemy or civilians.
"Let's make this quick," Umi grabbed a hold of her rifle and checked the chamber to see if it was ready and loaded. She made sure to check the clip to see if she had enough ammo for the attack. It was a bolt action rifle with an 8 round clip.
Maki checked her pistol in the same fashion and inspected her favorite knife, "I want that date, how about we make a bet?"
"What kind?" Umi made her way towards a ladder and Maki followed.
"Whoever kills the most enemies has to give the other a full body massage," Maki gave her a rather seductive look.
Umi raised her eyebrow in question, "Why a fully body massage?"
"I like your hands," Maki glanced at Umi's hands and poked at them.
Umi pulled her hands away and spoke up, "You haven't won yet, if I win, you have to stay quiet for a whole day."
"Hey! Don't make it sound like I never shut up!" Maki stamped on the ground in reaction to Umi's proposal.
Umi wore a smug look on her face when they made eye contact, "Then you better beat me,"
Maki's eyes showed a fire burning in them, she was determined to win, "I'll show you... And I'll make you massage everything... EVERYTHING!"
The two smirked at each other with determination to win the bet.
"Same plan, I'll attack from the top, you sneak from the bottom," Umi started climbing up the ladder left Maki standing there.
"I wonder if you're a bottom," Maki called out of the blue.
Umi looked back down and shook her head, "Not now, idiot."
"I love you too," Maki blew a kiss and started jogging for the nearest entrance.
When Umi reached the top of the building, she stepped quietly to make sure the metal roofing underneath her feet didn't echo across. When she spotted a skylight, she made her way to it and glanced down.
She spotted numerous people inside of the factory, just from her position alone she spotted maybe 12 people standing around the main floor, "Hey Maki, I spotted 12 people so far in the main floor, I'm not sure if there are any others."
She waited until she got a response, "I'm about to infiltrate, I'll handle what you don't see."
Umi nodded to herself and looked around, there was a layer of sheet metal laying on the roof. Perhaps it had been left over when the factory was abandoned, but it was perfect for what Umi had in mind. She set down her rifle and carefully walked over to pick it up, afterwards she made her way back and laid it down. Umi took her place on top of it and was ready to begin her attack.
She looked into the scope and fixed it's crosshairs on an enemy that looked to be isolated from the rest. She pulled the trigger and watched through the scope as the man flew back and died before he hit the ground.
No enemies were alerted thanks to the suppressor that she had on her rifle. She maybe had another 20 shots until it would be rendered useless. She waited until another target popped up and picked him off.
10 people remained in her line of sight and she set the crosshairs on another target that was on the catwalk. She shot and added another kill to her list. The man she had just killed was blown back so far by the shot that he flipped over the railing and crashed to the ground. This caused everyone in the room to go into high alert.
"We've got a man down! Check your surroundings!" one of them yelled. He ran over to check on the body and noticed the bullet wound on his head, "Eyes out everybody! It looks like we have an enemy snip-"
The man's speech was cut off as he slumped to the ground from Umi's bullet. The entire factory went into full alert, "A lot of our guys are down! Find the bastard that did this and kill them!"
Umi picked off more of them one by one as they scrambled around in search of her. She used all 8 of her bullets and retreated from the skyline to reload.
Maki listened to the chaos that Umi brought upon the factory. She could hear two people talking by the door, guards most likely. She braced herself and pulled out her knife. She reached for the handle and used her shoulder to forcefully smash her way into the guards. She trapped one of them against the wall and used the door as leverage to push herself forward and cut the other guard's neck with her knife.
She jumped forward and let the handle go. The guard that was trapped before fell down and Maki took the chance to drive the knife into the back of his neck.
"Hey did you hear that? It came from the back entrance!"
Maki looked up and saw an open ventilation shaft. She kicked herself up from wall to wall and climbed in before she could be spotted. She waited until a guard came in sight, "We got two guys down over here! Send backup!"
Maki pounced from the ventilation shaft and wrapped her arms around the man's neck, "What the hell?! Let go of m-"
Maki flexed her arms and twisted them in opposite directions. The man's neck snapped like a twig and the both of them fell to the ground.
"Hey, what the hell?!"
Maki turned around to see another guard and she quickly grabbed her knife. The guard had a split second to react before Maki tossed the knife that stabbed into his shoulder. He was thrown off balance by the knife and by the time he looked back she jumped at him. She wrapped her legs around his head and twisted her hips until she heard a cracking sound.
The man fell back and Maki pulled the knife out of his shoulder. She placed her finger inside the hole at the end of the handle and swung it around in circles, "Still got it..." she looked back to inspect her work and smiled.
"I better hurry up if I want to win," she holstered her knife and pulled out her pistol. She rushed down the hallway and turned the corner only to feel a fist crush against her cheek.
She fell to the ground and rubbed it, "Jesus christ that hurt like hell!" Maki got up to see two large men in front of her and pointed her pistol at them.
"What the hell is a tiny girl doing here?" one of them boasted.
"Put that gun down, sweetheart. You wouldn't want to hurt yourself," one of the men stepped in closer and Maki brought the gun up to her head.
"What do you think you're doing?!" one of them yelled.
"Grab that thing from her!" the other instructed.
One of the men lunged forward and grabbed Maki's arm just like she wanted. Now that she was close enough she thrusted her hand up and smashed the man's jaw with her palm.
He stumbled back and let go of Maki's firing hand. She reached for his arm and flipped him over, stuffing the pistol's barrel against his cheek and firing it, "I'm sorry 'sweetheart', just returning the favor."
The other man screamed and rushed towards Maki, he swung his arms out and attempted to grab her. She jumped to roll off the man's back and swept his legs. He came crashing to the ground and Maki walked over to him. She stepped on his throat, "How many?"
"W-what?"
"How many are here?!" Maki added pressure onto the man's throat.
"I'm not telling you anything!"
"Talk or I'll crush your larynx!" Maki threatened and added enough pressure to strike fear into the man.
"T-thirty of us! There are thirty!"
"Thank you," Maki lifted her foot off of the man's throat and watched as his face showed relief. She brought up her handgun and the man's face was back to fear, "I didn't say I wouldn't shoot you."
"Y-You're a monster!"
"I'm not such a sweetheart anymore, huh?" she smiled and pulled the trigger.
Maki walked off and radioed Umi, "Just got someone to talk, there are 30 of them."
"How many have you killed?"
"Hmm... 2... 4... 6! I killed six so far," Maki answered proudly.
Umi smirked to herself, "I'm at 8."
Maki frowned and yelled into her mic, "Well you can take that 8 and shove it up your butt! I'm winning this bet!" she tore out her earpiece to focus.
"Okay if there were 30, I just have to count to 16 kills and I win."
Umi reloaded her rifle and resumed her attack from above. She killed two more enemies until one of them noticed her shadow on the ground.
"The sniper is on the roof by the skylight!"
Umi scrambled to shoot one more but only got his arm. The rest of the enemies in the building pointed their guns up at Umi's sniper nest and started firing a hailstorm of bullets. She took cover and felt as the sheet metal she placed under her vibrate intensely.
Her predictions were right and the sheet metal protected her from harm. The roof's metal was too thin to stop a bullet so if she didn't have this sheet of metal, she could have gotten injured or died. She waited until they had to reload before she stuck her rifle out and began her attack again, she picked off more enemies but it was more difficult now that they knew where she was.
Maki snuck down the hallway quickly and took out any of the guards that stood in her way. She reached a doorway and peeked inside to see a few guards huddled around a crate, "This must be the drug room..." she snuck in carefully and hid behind a box.
"Let's see... how am I going to do this?" Maki looked around and spotted a glass bottle. She smirked, "Perfect..."
She held the bottle in her other hand and tossed it up and down gently, "Let's hope this works."
Maki chucked the glass bottle into the air towards the middle of the guards. She aimed her handgun and shot the glass bottle which exploded and created a small grenade like impact. The glass shards flew outwards from the force of the bullet and blinded the guards as they held their faces in pain.
Maki stood up and smiled sadistically, "That worked better than expected." She held her handgun up and swiftly took down the injured guards. She skipped her way over the dead bodies and opened up the large crate, it showed nothing but a bunch of packing peanuts, "Where are the drugs?"
Maki lifted up the crate and poured all of it's contents on the ground. She spotted a medium sized package and picked it up, "Is this it?" she looked back and forth between the now empty crate and the package, "Why was this the only thing in the crate?"
She thought on it for a few more moments before shrugging and stuffing it into a small bag she pulled out from her pocket, "Okay so with everyone I've killed including these three, that puts me to 14. I just need 2 more to beat Umi!" Maki psyched herself up and quickly left the room.
It took her some time, but Umi was able to pick off her enemies one by one. She was up to 13 kills now and if she could kill everyone left in the room, she would be blessed with a day of silence from Maki. She retreated to reload her rifle and came back to see that the man she set her eyes on was already dead.
She looked into her scope and saw a head with red hair slightly poking out, "Maki's already here?" Umi scanned the floor for any other enemies. She spotted two making a break for cover and picked one of them off while the other made it to temporary safety.
Maki was ahead by one kill and if Umi can't get this last one, Maki will win the bet. She waited until the target stuck his head out but he refused to. He blindly fired out of cover and forced Umi to retreat from the skylight until he stopped.
By the time she got herself set up again, she saw Maki sneaking towards the man with her knife ready. He popped out of cover and started firing at her, she was able to get a shot off but it barely missed his head and hit his shoulder instead. It wasn't something fatal enough to kill him, "Shit..." Umi cursed under her breath and admitted defeat.
Maki walked up to the injured man and swung her knife around her finger, "Hey buddy!" she smiled sadistically at him.
He started to scream and beg for his life, "Please, spare me!"
"Oh no, I can't do that," Maki knelt down next to him, "I made a bet."
"A bet?"
"Yep," Maki licked her knife, "A bet to see who could kill the most here."
"M-most kills?! You're crazy!" he yelled.
"I prefer psychotic, it rolls off the tongue nicely," Maki held her blade up to the man's face and smiled.
"Do you want to know how I got this knife?" Maki presented it to him and laughed, "I feel like monologuing so you have no choice but to listen!"
She sat on top of the man and held the blade close to him, "Are you familiar with this type of knife? It is a Karambit, I'm sure that you know much about it from pop culture. Other than it being aesthetically pleasing to most eyes, it is an easy to conceal weapon and gets the job done."
She glided the knife across the man's face and watched his eyes follow it in fear, "A special woman gave me this knife, the one you were shooting at just now. She said that she didn't need it so she gave it to me and I've been holding onto it ever since."
Maki leaned in closer, "She said that this knife was perfect for me, and do you want to know why?"
She didn't wait for an answer, "Because these knives are believed to be inspired by the claws of big cats."
"W-why does that even matter?" the man finally spoke up and his voice cracked.
"Because they call me Panther," Maki brought up the knife and stabbed it into the man's throat. She watched the life disappear from his eyes and stretched to let out a satisfied groan. She wrapped her hands around the handle and pulled the knife out, using his shirt to clean up the blood on it.
"Come on, let's get going," Umi appeared behind her and it made Maki jump.
"Ahhh! Don't scare me like that! I almost threw my knife at you," Maki stood up and pouted.
"It would have been easy to dodge," she replied.
"Yeah for you, but still!" Maki yelled back.
"Let's hurry back," Umi walked off without Maki.
"Hey Umi, wait! Don't be sour just because you lost the bet," Maki scrambled to catch up with her.
"I'm not, let's leave already," the two made their way out of the factory and headed towards the drop point from earlier.
"Umi look," Maki presented a bag, "Ta-da! I got the drugs!"
"Good job."
Maki pouted, "Umi... Are you mad that you lost?"
She shook her head, "No, I'm fine."
"Will you still give me the massage?" Maki asked shyly. She didn't want to push on Umi's nerves more than she might already have.
"Yeah, after we shower," Umi replied.
The helicopter was already waiting for them when they arrived and they were on their way back to the cage. The two watched each other from opposite sides of the helicopter in silence, "So I was thinking about how I want the massage…"
"Full body, just like you said," Umi replied.
"Can I have a happy ending?" Maki joked at her with a hint of blush.
"Only if you stay quiet during the whole thing," Umi answered.
Maki's eyes lit up and she sat up straight, "Wait! Really?!"
"Of course not," she quickly denied Maki's hopes.
The light from Maki's eyes quickly disappeared and she pouted, "That was mean, Umi!"
"Anyways, isn't that bag a little too small for the drugs?" Umi pointed over to Maki's side where the bag laid.
"One pack was all I found. It was in this large crate and it made no sense," Maki explained.
"That's odd…" Umi thought about it for a moment, "It must be some very valuable stuff."
Maki made a sound with her mouth, "It'd better be, this was guarded by 3 guys and was hidden inside a crate full of packing peanuts."
Umi held out her hand, "Let me see it."
Maki reached for the bag and presented it, "It pretty much looks like a generic package of illegal drugs. Wrapped in paper and taped just like on TV," she pulled it out to show Umi.
"I see..." Umi remained silent and picked up on something with her ears. She looked around the helicopter, "Hey Maki, do you hear that?"
She cocked her head, "Hear what?"
Umi couldn't put her finger on it, "It's like... a soft beeping noise."
Maki shrugged, "I don't hear anything, maybe it's just the pilot controls?"
"No, this sounds different," Umi looked around and her eyes fell onto the drug package Maki was holding. She grabbed it from her hands and held it up to her ear, Umi heard a faint beeping from inside, "Maki! Open the door!"
"What? Why?" she was caught off guard and remained still.
Umi had no time for questions and yelled, "Just do it!"
Maki scrambled for the latch and swung the door open. Umi quickly tossed the package and got up to shield Maki. It fell a few meters before detonating and sent the helicopter into heavy turbulence. Umi could feel the heat of the explosion singe the back of her clothes and skin. She held on tight as the helicopter swung back and forth trying to regain its orientation.
"Umi?!" Maki yelled in all of the confusion.
"Just stay down, Maki!" she tried desperately to cling onto the railing of the helicopter so she wouldn't go flying out the door.
Maki wrapped her arms around Umi's waist and held her tightly, "I've got you!"
She kept her grip on Umi until the helicopter slowly returned to its original orientation. She let go and Umi took a seat next to her, letting out a deep breath.
"Are you okay, Umi?!" Maki undid her seat belt and knelt in front of the girl. She patted around her body and turned her around, "Your back is all burned!"
"I'm fine, Maki, don't worry about me," she turned herself back to face her.
"Like hell I'm not going to worry, the second we land I'm taking you to the infirmary!" Maki held onto Umi's shoulders.
"I'll be fine! Some antiseptic and bandages will be enough and we have those right here in the first aid box," she replied back and pointed to the side.
"Well turn around then!" Maki demanded. She reached for the first aid kit and unlocked it to pull out some bandages, rubbing alcohol and gauze. She waited until Umi turned around before pouring the rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball. She carefully touched one of the burns with it and Umi flinched in pain.
"I'm sorry! Just bare with it, please," Maki continued to clean Umi's burn wounds. Every time she made contact with the rubbing alcohol, she could see Umi's muscles flex in response to the pain. She hurried up and cleaned all of the wounds before placing bandages over them.
"Okay lift up your shirt a little..." Umi did as she was told and Maki started wrapping the gauze around her body until the bandages were secured from falling off.
"We're done..." she packed up the items into the first aid kit and placed it back where it was.
"Thanks, Maki," Umi turned around to face her and bowed.
"No, it's my fault. I didn't know I picked up an explosive..." Maki hung her head and started to cry.
"Hey why are you crying?" Umi lifted up her chin and wiped away her tears.
"I almost got you killed," Maki muttered.
"We both would have died," Umi replied.
"That's not my point here!" Maki yelled back and Umi retreated to collect her words carefully.
"Look Maki... There was no way you could have known it was an explosive. The chief told us that we were to secure the drugs and you made a logical decision," she explained. It seemed that her words started to calm Maki down, but not entirely.
"Plus, I'm all better now that you fixed me up," she patted the sad girl's head and saw a smile come across her mouth.
"... I'm glad we're both alive..." Maki rested her head against Umi's shoulder and closed her eyes.
"Yeah... Me too..." Umi looked off to the side out the window. She remained silent and thought to herself, "If that package was an explosive... then where are the drugs? Was this just a setup to get the two of us killed? Or was the Chief unaware of this...?"
"Hey Umi...?"
Her train of thought came to a stop when she heard the voice next to her. She glanced down to meet the lavender colored eyes, "You don't have to massage me anymore if you don't want to."
"What? Are you that worried about me?" Umi tried to play it off casually. Maki nodded sheepishly and she sighed in response, "A bet is a commitment and I must honor it."
"But you're hurt because of me," Maki was being stubborn, but Umi could understand why.
"It doesn't hurt anymore, don't worry about it..." she observed Maki's face to see if her mood changed but it didn't, "... if you cheer up I'll give you the happy ending..."
"... You mean it this time?" Maki's words were barely audible. Umi nodded and felt Maki's hand grab hers tightly. It was hard to get Maki upset over something, so to see her thrown off like this forced Umi to change the way she acted around her.
They remained silent in each other's company until the helicopter landed. Once they stepped out they were surrounded by a team of guards and approached by the chief.
"Where are the drugs?"
Umi pointed past her shoulder with her thumb, "200 feet in the air and gone."
"What do you mean?" He asked.
Maki got in front of Umi and started yelling, "The damn thing was packed with explosives!"
"Were you trying to kill us?" Umi poked her head out from behind Maki to get her question out.
"You're too valuable to kill," the chief dismissed the suspicions halfheartedly
"Then how come we got explosives instead of drugs?!" Maki was trying her hardest to contain her anger, "The whole chopper almost went down!"
"I don't know, maybe they were moved elsewhere and that was just a decoy," he offered his insights.
Umi stepped forward to ask another question. "Why protect a decoy with 30 men?"
"I told you I don't know, now go back to the cage," he pointed towards the doorway and the guards surrounded them.
Maki gave the chief a dirty look, "We still get our day off right?"
"I'll inform you if you do," he replied.
Maki's fire lit up and she rushed at the chief. She grabbed his collar and lifted him up against the wall, "You bastard, we held up our end of the deal!" the guards surrounded Maki and raised their guns.
"Stand down," he held his hands up and the guards lowered their weapons as they were commanded.
"We eliminated everyone in that factory!" Maki continued to yell.
"But you did not secure the drugs," he replied.
"How're we supposed to know with your faulty intel network?!" Maki was furious, she didn't care about the drugs one bit. The two of them risked their lives to kill everyone on that factory and almost died from an explosion. She could feel her hands getting numb from her own strength and her teeth started to ache from having them chomped down so hard.
"Let go, Maki," she heard a cold and stern voice from behind her.
"But Umi!" Maki offered her objections but the glare from Umi's eyes were unsettling. She loosened her grip on the chief and let him down hard, "... Fine..."
The two started walking off and the chief followed, "I would like to remind you two of your place here, you're expendable, if you die, that is all. You have no connection to the police. We can just dismiss it as you escaping prison and dying outside of it."
Maki opened her mouth to talk back but it was quickly covered by Umi. The two made eye contact and Umi shook her head. Maki looked towards the ground and frowned in response. Her hands clenched into a fist and her fingernails dug against her palms, she was furious and wanted to get more words out of the chief, but Umi prevented her from doing so.
When they reached the cage, they took of their gear and were pushed inside forcefully, "Hey watch it! Her back is injured!" Maki raised her hand to attack but it was stopped by Umi. She looked back at her and lowered her fist, she didn't like the way they were treating them, not after today at least.
Umi pulled Maki into the cage and it closed shortly afterwards. Maki stared at her bandaged back and frowned, "That damn Chief... He isn't keeping his end of the deal."
"Lay down," Umi commanded.
"What? Why?" Maki was confused with Umi's command.
"Your massage," Umi turned around and motioned her hand towards Maki's bed.
"Can we take a shower first?" Maki began to pick up on the nasty odor of blood and sweat around herself and a tar like smell from Umi. She didn't wait for a reply from her and reached for her hand. She pulled the two of them into the bathroom and essentially forced Umi to shower, "Let me help you take off the bandages..."
She pushed Umi's arms up and started unwrapping the gauze from earlier. Her fair, pale skin and soft complexion was replaced with blistering red second degree burns and Maki cursed herself in her head. She carefully helped wash Umi's back, making sure to not damage her any further, "Are you okay?" she asked timidly.
"I'm fine, let me wash you now," the two switched sides and Maki became the one on the receiving end.
"Your back is worse than before..." Maki muttered.
"Don't worry about it." Umi focused her attention on cleaning Maki up.
"We're going to bandage you up again when we're done, got it?" She said with a forceful voice.
Umi nodded and finished washing up Maki. The two stepped out and dried off before Maki reached for the first aid kit under the sink. She did the same routine as before on the helicopter but instead applied burn cream. After a couple minutes, Umi was all bandaged up again.
The two made their way out into their living room and Maki forced Umi to sit next to her on her bed, "How are you going to sleep? Since you sleep on your back, wouldn't it hurt?"
"I can just sleep on my stomach, you're overreacting here," Umi replied.
"I can't help it, you're hurt..." Maki looked down at her hands.
Umi sighed quietly, the two of them still haven't changed into their clothing so they wore towels, "It's time for your massage," Umi pulled Maki's towel off and pushed her onto the bed.
"Wait! Umi, I said you didn't have to!" Maki forced herself up but Umi insisted.
"A bet is a bet, Maki. Let me do this," she managed to get Maki down on her stomach and sat on top of her.
"B-but!" Maki objected but Umi ignored.
She reached her hands down and glided them across Maki's fair colored soft skin. She pushed down and started massaging her back, there were many tight areas and knots but after a little massaging they became relaxed.
Minutes passed and the room was filled with nothing but Umi's breathing and Maki's slight moans from the massage, "That feels... amazing, Umi..."
She worked her way up to Maki's shoulders and released the tension in them. She continued down her arms and back up to her shoulders. Her hands glided down to Maki's sides and she massaged them gently, "A little more, Umi..."
She did as Maki told her and she reached to feel a soft sensation in her hands. They were Maki's breasts but Umi remained calm and massaged them gently. Small gasps and moans escaped Maki's lips and Umi reached lower.
She massaged Maki's hips and continued down her legs. They were long and slender, but easy to massage. She worked her way down the thighs, to the calves, then her feet.
"You missed a spot, Umi..." Maki called out tiredly.
"Where?" Umi thought she massaged everything.
Maki wiggled her butt in front of Umi.
"Really?" Umi tilted her head in question.
Maki nodded weakly and Umi just went with it. She placed her hands on Maki's rear and massaged them gently. Afterwards, she did one more massaging sweep across Maki's body, "There, we're done..."
Maki let out a yawn and stretched, "That felt too good..." she flipped over and stared up at Umi, "so... are you going to...?"
"Happy ending?" Umi finished Maki's sentence, and caused her blush and nod. Umi leaned in forward and kissed Maki's neck,
"Tonight, the Panther becomes the prey..."