Chapter Six – Flight of Dragons
Kage and the young captive Zhi were making excellent progress in their brazen attempt to force their way out of the belly of the temple, for none of the guards could stop them and no sign or sound had been taken of the resident aliens. As they had proceeded out of the area that had been sensitive to Oberon's cause, there was no longer the procession of flashing lights to weary them, but rather the deceptive white glow radiating from the endless mirroring metal of the main areas, areas that Kage had become familiar with at his introduction. Although the lair had become a hive of activity due to their escape, encounters were becoming more and more infrequent, though this did little to quell the growing concern in Kage's mind. Inwardly, we wondered why this young girl had been regarded as the key to Oberon's success.
Currently, as he sat on the back of a dazed, bulky guard, those matters that had weighed heavily on him were set aside, demoted from his attention as something far more interesting played on before him. Zhi was fighting. True, it was still a sloppy slandering of whatever art form she was trained in, but he watched as each passing moment led to the full realization of her abilities and, as he would undoubtedly enjoy, the full capability of this girl he had rescued. His cheek laid heavily on his fist, his Ryuugan eyes lazily half open but none the less for attention, Kage wore a small smile at the sight, for nothing was as agreeable as the seeing the satisfaction on another's face when the joy of revenge swept them away. Kage was an advocate of revenge. Without a doubt, his own had nearly destroyed him, but this small dose seemed rather healthy for her, for every bone-crushing kick granted a new breath of life into her, making her seem closer and closer to the person she was before. Although, by her very nature she appeared to be a gentle soul, he could tell that this was venting very dangerous emotions that would threaten to turn into the same hardened creature that he had become.
He didn't wish that upon anyone.
Kage casually punched his temporary seat in the head once more to quell him, then continued to observe. It was so bothersome when his furniture protested. Yet another thing that became obvious to him was that, although her ability to elude the Ryuugan was scandalous, there was something else decidedly bizarre about Zhi. He had noticed it before when she had attacked him, more specifically when he had kicked her in return. It struck him as odd before, but now he was becoming more aware of it. The way she moved about her opponent, or opponents in this case, was shocking, for it wasn't as much the strategy in which she moved, but the movements themselves. Even for a girl as slim as she was, it was not possible for her to behave the way she did. To be nimble as a fighter was certainly admirable and something to be considered, but the way Zhi moved was a place far beyond nimble. Her movements were inhuman. The way she leapt about, perched one moment on the head of her enemy and the next raking two others with her feet – it was a feat beyond mere men. It was certainly possible, if not highly likely, that Zhi possessed an ability that set her apart from the gray masses of fighters that she was currently sweeping aside with grace, fire and brilliance. That intrigued him.
"Damn, you're annoying!" he snarled to himself, once more punching the huge guard in the helmet, causing the tremors pulsing through the perch to become simple stirrings once more. The massive, oafish man was lucky Kage hadn't done worse to him, though certainly casually lounging on the body of a beaten adversary was no great honor for any fighter. Still, Kage had his flair, and he wanted a good seat to watch his new companion fight.
By the time he had turned his attention back, Zhi was standing in front of him with a heaving chest, her sore fists clenched at her sides and her eyes locked on the cool demeanor of her supposed savior. "One guard! You took only one guard and left me to fight the rest!" she yelled and considered adding one more body to her little monument. She was well-aware of how well he could fight, and the fact that she had beaten so many guards when he had beaten her proved that the only explanation was that he was too lazy to participate. That riled her up. She wanted to smack him.
"Oh?" he said lightly, looking about at all of the guards that lay strewn about the hallway, "It looks like you took care of it well enough. Besides, this fella was the biggest one." At the end of his statement, he gave the huge guard a shuddering slap across the buttocks and stood up, towering over the fuming Zhi and smiling his great, Cheshire grin. "I wanted to see how you do in a fight. I ain't gonna drag your ass out of here. But, since you did so well, I guess it won't be too hard, eh?" he said, and in a moment of tenderness that reigned singular for his nature, he set his gloved hand on her head thoughtfully, tousling her hair gently as a matter of well-deserved praise.
Zhi felt her anger subsiding a bit, mostly because it was something very unexpected for him to be this candid when they had just met, or even in the manner of it. The way he effortlessly perplexed her in his duality sent frustration through her core, but once more she was attacked by the drizzling warm feeling in her chest at his proximity. His hand, although covered by his glove and marred by years of ruthless assault, was big and comforting, even as her body was still quivering from the lash and chain that had bound her to this dismal place. It was even more infuriating that she was feeling this way, when all logic and expectations demanded that she be cold and careful in the wake of her recent captivity, yet reality tended to stray as far from logic as possible. Loneliness was loneliness by definition.
Feeling the warm spreading to her cheeks and knowing that his hidden eyes were looking at her, she knocked his hand away half-heartedly and protested his arrogant behavior. "Don't treat me like a kid! I'm not a little girl, you know!" she said, mostly in reaction to the chaos that stirred inside of her.
"Oh, I know. You're a little brat," he said casually and retained his great smile, mostly because he saw that tender blush on her cheeks turn into a flush of fury consuming her entire face. It was Kage's affectionate way of interacting with people, as ridiculous as it seemed, but it was affection nonetheless. It was a defense tactic that resonated throughout the centuries; never allowing one moment of clarity in hopes that anyone so victimized by their reactions would have no time to think – no time to moderate. Kage pushed people away even as he pulled them close, causing whiplash in the weaker hearts and resignation in the insincere. It was movement that didn't allow honesty, but it was the only way Kage knew how to act. Even without thinking about it, Zhi was seeking his acceptance and, certainly without thinking about it, Kage was keeping her away. That was a habit that lingered with him, but the past had brightened and he was almost ready to be human again. If it hadn't been for a sudden shadow appearing in his sunglasses, the scene may have progressed.
Zhi found it rather surprising how fast her position had changed. Only an instant before, she had been ready to slug him again for teasing her, yet now she was clutched tightly to his side, her weight slipped out from under her and resting solidly in his protecting arm. Her fingers instinctively gripped at his shirt, her eyes opened slowly to reveal the look on his face that was at the opposite side of the spectrum of his Cheshire grin. Even at this angle, she could not see past the rim of his glasses to his elusive eyes and minutely craned her neck to try, but with the sound of screeching metal filling the air like the hollow shrieks of some lost soul in wandering, her head instead turned quickly to see what had caused him to hold her so. Three rifts of jagged metal tore down the wall, forever distorting the flawless sea of reflective metal and, for the first time, noticeably marring the endless progression of mirroring surfaces. A great and lumbering creature was slowly turning, pulling three great metal claws from the rifts in the wall and facing the two without a sound or concern, if only that they escaped the first strike and now required a second. The bizarre and inanimate mask regarded them, though only great holes of blackness cared to look upon them. As if some curious animal trying to contemplate its prey, the goonish creature canted and turned its head about, like a kitten pursuing a string, and clicked its long, devilish claws on the ground as a sign of apprehension. Due to Kage's quick movements, they had eluded the fatal blow. Now the creature would have to strike again.
"How much do you weigh?" Kage asked with some incredulity. The entire peril instantly faded and Zhi clenched her fists, breathless at whatever existed in Kage where tact was supposed to be. Having her in the position he did, his suspicions had been proven and he was now keen on the reason why. He wanted to know, but Zhi's trembling body signaled that his inquiry was not a wise one.
Making a fatal error when it came to the fairer sex, he now suffered a blow from Zhi's trembling fist and was forced to let her stand of her own accord, stumbling a bit to the side and cradling his rocked jaw, eyes and lips parted in shock. "Ow! What the hell was that for!" he roared. Although she was leering at him greatly, he could tell that she was embarrassed about that subject and that his folly was in his asking, as if it were the most indecent thing to ask a girl. Zhi simply seethed at him, still trying to accept his offensiveness while feeling her mind reeling with a thousand thoughts and considerations brought on in a girl by the mere suggestion of displacement.
Before they could proceed further, another slashing claw came down right between them, forcing them to leap in opposite directions to avoid another killing blow. It seemed the goonish creature would allow no allowance of tangent, for it came in the most unnatural times and in an unnatural rhythm, which tweaked Kage's annoyance.
After landing from his escape vector, he regarded the creature fully and dismissed his playtime with Zhi for the moment. "You're gonna tell me about it after we bury this thing," he ordered, pulling his glove tight and letting it reign freely as a reflection in his glasses. Zhi only frowned, not wanting to discuss it further and took the opportunity to look the creature over as a way of deflection.
Its burlap metal skin, long rakish arms and bizarre mask all cemented the fact that it wasn't human, and that was enough to genuinely disturb her beyond the convenience, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to fight against something with such dangerous merits. "What is it?" she asked, settling into her fighting stance as it tried to determine a course between the two targets.
Kage frowned as well, not quite sure how to explain the extraordinary to a girl that was just barely recovering from a prolonged distilment. This situation also presented a new and bitter realization for Kage, one that had been a fundamental reason for his leaving Tokyo in the first place. While he had no doubt that he could effortlessly subdue the creature in style, a sideward glance to Zhi reminded him that he was no longer merely looking after himself and that blatantly whipping his new powers around would be the fastest way to seeing another victim. The chilling sweat running down her slender throat, the reflective pensiveness in her eyes and the unnatural rhythm of her breathing reminded him that his actions were no longer without consequence, reminded him that there were those that depended on him and even looked to him for protection and affection. In this paling moment of rediscovery, he felt that sickening feeling washing over him again. It was the mind-killer. It was the soul-killer. It was the one thing that everyone felt at a point in their life when the future promised absence and the suffering it brought.
Kage was afraid. It wasn't the kind of fear that one felt when their own mortality was pressed, nor was it the kind when pride became threatened. This was not the same fear that Zhi was feeling. This was the chilling helplessness accompanying the prospect of losing someone that meant something, to lose something precious. He hadn't known Zhi for more than thirty minutes, but it was the personification of Zhi that struck him. Zhi was his new self. She was the resolve he had attained in order to find himself again, to claw his way back from the depths of insanity, inch by inch, until he was able to stand on his own again. She was the first rung he had grasped on his own, taking his weight off that last and final anchor which held him desperately aloft. If he were to lose his grip now, he could very well plummet through his final lifeline and tear everything down with him into oblivion. He couldn't let himself lose this new feeling so easily. He had to preserve it, even if it meant denting his great pride and dignity.
Further propelling this was the fact that many more figures had appeared behind Zhi, though she hadn't quite noticed them yet, which was probably better in Kage's mind. Finally, the singular thought of saving Zhi permeated his chaotic mind and he resolved to hold tightly to this first delve back into humanity, to preserve the first free beating of his heart. "Move!" he yelled abruptly and promptly kicked the creature between them with no flair. As it had been busy trying to decide which figure to attack first, the creature was instantly sent sprawling towards Zhi in a fit, its extremities flailing about in the tumble and nearly clipping the surprised girl as she dodged. The crash and tumble of the creature into the appearing others made a horrific sound, yet Zhi had no time to look. Kage had already grabbed her arm and pulled her painfully in the other direction, running at full sprint so that the short legs of the girl had to work twice as hard.
The move had jarred her, if only for the fact that she had judged Kage as someone that never backed down from a fight, someone that was as reliant on his pride as he was the air he breathed. But he was now fleeing, pulling her along with a silent determination that made her wonder what was going through his mind. Once more, his unpredictable nature whipped up her thoughts about him. "Wait a sec! Why the hurry?" she hollered after him, but for a moment he was content on simply leading her out of here in the fastest way possible. Even if he succeeded in getting her safely from the clutches of Oberon, then never saw her again, he would be satisfied that a human heart still beat within his chest. But even his minimum requirement suddenly became very questionable as he and the young girl came barreling to a halt in the main hall, the one that Kage remembered to have the large stone doors that would offer them escape.
However, as five figures stood motionless between them and the doors, Kage felt his neck trickling with anger and disgust at their bad luck. Instantly, his eyes were on Oberon, the Ryuugan focused intently on the greatest threat and constantly weighing the odds of his victory.
Unconsciously, he was holding Zhi's hand even tighter, though she hardly noticed. Instead, she was breathless as she stared at the five figures that were familiar to her, yet completely different this time around. They were all deformed images of themselves and blatantly odd, as if their entire beings had changed from those five menacing suits that had come to her village and wiped it aside. They had gone from greedy gangsters to infallible aliens by simply showing their true form. It was a lot to take in. "What…what is this?" she stumbled and, also unconsciously, held to Kage for protection and reality.
Oberon had lost his good humor when it came to dealing with this human and, in light of discovering the truth about the images, was purely intent on using Kage as a source of much desired information about his enemies. Everything was becoming much clearer now and he looked upon Kage with a new sense of lust and satisfaction. "Can you imagine my surprise, my boy, when one of those interesting new figures I spoke of…was you? Is there really any greater humor in the Universe? I had hoped to persuade you to fight for me, for you are a dark and vicious creature, Yamamori Kage," he said with a underlying grin and showed his fangs and amusement at the expression on the human's face, "But now you serve a far more valuable purpose as someone who will tell me about these Sailor senshi." That thought alone made him grin wickedly, barely able to keep himself from imagining what the boy could reveal to him about his foe. This was all becoming so easy that he nearly forgot the girl behind him, or the reason he had kept her for so long in that cell. "And I see you have found our little princess as well. How splendid. If I am able to get the information from you that I hope, I should not even need the use of the Dracos Speculum – at least, not yet," he continued, looking to them both with a sense of satisfaction that rippled through the others.
Andromeda had been looking upon Kage with sad eyes, almost regretting the fate that awaited the young man. The others were seemingly amused, but it was Flute, the colossus that had time and time again been chided by the human that stepped forward, not taking his eyes from the two unfortunate humans but speaking high tones and endearment to his leader. "Please, Commander, let me subdue the human for you. It would be my utmost pleasure," he said with a snarling tone, obviously eager to pay back the human a bit for the insolence.
Oberon was expecting it, and he really saw no harm in letting the general have a little appeasement. The humans could not escape and certainly Flute knew neither was to be permanently damaged. With a consenting nod, Oberon watched as Flute leapt in a surprising show of fleetness, landing with a heavy thud before Kage and Zhi that shook the ground and nearly toppled them both. While Flute seemed extremely pleased to be able to finally unleash his fury on the human, Kage was more or less annoyed at the deferment and kept his eyes on Oberon. Flute was powerful, but had this been a singular encounter for them, there would be no concern. However, with Oberon and his insanely powerful aura in the stands, Kage was cursing his chances.
"I know you," came a voice from behind Kage, making his skin chill and hand grip at empty air. He knew that tone, for he had heard it on his own voice countless times before. It was blind hatred, the kind that only came when someone truly vile was in sight of the one injured. Kage spoke in layered tones of it when he had finally confronted Senso, and even foamed at the mouth with it when he had finally found the two Legendary Scion and felt the chill of his revenge run like liquid metal down his spine. Hearing it come from Zhi was unnerving, yet he had no time to even turn and stop her. She was already rushing past him in a fit of fury, her hands clenched to the point of breaking and her voice howling. No senses prevailed. The only thing clinging to the red haze in her mind was the memories of a fallen friend, the destruction of her village and the particular part in the tragedy that the colossus played so gleefully. In that rage, Zhi flung herself at the grinning, waiting General Flute.