In the Dark Skies

(October 9, 1992)

I finally woke up. It's been 7 hours since I went to sleep. I'm surprised that I slept so well, especially after what I saw last night. I have to admit, Kano never cuts corners on the truth. It makes me wonder if he was really lying at the time he lured my partner to his death trap. Even if it is truth, he still committed a foul crime. If it wasn't for Ciero, I would have killed him by now.

"Sonya, it's time." Stryker stated. He put out the fire we burned for the camp and stood up before everyone. Capitol was the last to wake up, which was no surprise. Kano was Kano, no matter what time of the day. Metric was still sitting on the ground studying his map of the Central HQ interior. I stood up to make my final decision on the matter of stopping the invasion. Before that, though, I wanted everyone's opinion on the situation.

"I know my answer, but I want to ask you all for your thoughts, concerns, and things like that." I know Capitol better than anyone here, and I trust him.

"I'm not comfortable with the idea of killing the boss. I mean, he brought us in. However, we got these uniforms to protect, not destroy." Capitol stated. Next up was Stryker.

"Earlier when I didn't explain my mission for coming here, I did that because I didn't want you to know the truth. That changes today. If Fang is alive, so is the mission. We need to stop him." Stryker stated.

"Metric?" I asked. He didn't look concerned at all.

"I'm not reading this map for nothing, that's for sure." He stated. We all chuckled a bit, but came back on a serious note. We all looked to Kano for a response. He just looked at us.

"What are guys looking at?" He stated.

"Aren't you going to state your opinion?" I asked. He looks a bit surprised.

"I didn't know I was part of the conversation." Kano stated.

"I don't have to like it, but you're a part of the team for now. In this situation, we need to be diplomatic about this." I explained. Kano must've thought hard about what I said. He looked impressed. "So, you still in?" I asked. He still looked hesitant to respond.

"Isn't this a surprise." A smooth voice commented. Someone was pointing a gun to my head. More people gathered around us; about eight of them. They wore red and black clothing with a very familiar dragon symbol. "I never thought I'd be able to capture all of you in one area. I work hard. I thought deeply about how I was going to catch all of you. I was hoping that the Oni and vampires wouldn't kill you since I wanted to finish you off one by one. This…this is a whole lot better." The man said. He wasn't the one holding a gun to my head. I don't know him. He made us sit on the ground. I eyed Kano with fury.

"Kano, this is an all-time low, even for you." I stated. He gave me a weird look. He seemed a bit furious.

"It's not my group, princess. I told you Jarek, Tasia, and No Face died days ago. We only had four members left since this thing started. You should already know this." Kano explained. I find it hard to believe some random people came and stole their uniforms, but he might be right. Our database showed that the only members left were the 4 we've heard about. Plus, the symbols are a different color. Also among them was Hsu Hao.

"Well, Well, Well. Look at what we have here. Sonya is working with her sworn enemy." Hsu Hao stated. "Now I see why your partner died so easily."

"You…big stupid jellybean!" Capitol shouted. Would it be lying if I told you I said the same exact words in my mind just now?

"Who are you all? What do you guys want? Why are you doing this?" Stryker asked.

"We are the Red Dragon. We have been hunting you all for the past few years. Mainly, we were hunting the Black Dragon clan." The supposed leader answered. "As for why, that's classified."

"I know you." Kano blurted out. "You're that assassin Mavado right? I'm guessing you're hoping to get some big payment out of this job eh?" he joked. It might be funny to him, but I'm not into dark humor.

"As always, you talk too much Kano." Mavado responded. I'm really losing my patience here. What do they think this is? Are they serious here to kill us with the state of the city like this? Do they even know the reality of the situation?

"What is the reason for attacking us?" I asked. "I don't care about your classifications. I don't care about the dark humor. I don't care about who you are and what you can do. I don't have time for petty grudges. My friends have been killed by these demons and vampires this entire week, yet you all want to settle on some bounty. You have up to 90 seconds to leave now, or you all die." I threatened. I'm definitely not playing around. In ninety seconds, they're going to see just how dangerous I can be.

"Hsu Hao." Mavado said as he looked directly at him. "Make sure your friends get their last 90 seconds then kill them. Mavado steps directly through a nearby portal, leaving the other 7 to take care of us.

"This'll be easy." Hsu Hao boasted. We'll see how easy this'll be in 76 seconds. I feel a heavy burning sensation on Ciero's bite. Not a painful burning; it's more like it feels really warm.

"Let's play a game." One of the members said. "We'll see how long you last." The member kicked me in my back. He went around to each of us one by one doing the same exact thing. He went around twice before anyone said anything.

"Take what he's doing with a grain of salt. In 55 seconds, the pain will be much worse." Hsu Hao explained. His threats don't faze me; neither do the kicks from this guy. I've endured much worst by Kano. All of us have. Even Kano himself was snickering at how lame this torture was. I looked at each of them to see if they had the thought as me. They all agreed by eye contact to finish these guys off as soon as I finish counting down to 0.

"I advise you increase the strength of your legs. You don't have a lot of time left, and we still have a feeling in our backs." I taunted. I want this. I need to feel them. I need to look them in the eye. When the countdown hits zero, I want to remember why I slaughtered these guys. After 25 more seconds since the last countdown announcement, the guy finally stopped.

"Why'd you stop?" another member asked.

"That tech looks familiar." The kicker stated. He was looking at my gravity boots. The same boots I used yesterday to escape my workplace.

"What kind of shoes are those?" A female member asked. She stood behind Stryker. I know he's going to hate killing her; especially after he just finished leaving suspension for beating a man who'd been physically abusing his girlfriend. That girl just so happened to be friends with Stryker when that happened. Hopefully, he knows what's at stake.

"The boots I'm going to kill you with." I counted down from the final remaining 7 seconds. I saw a mysterious shadow lurking around each of the seven guards. As I counted each second, I'd see the shadow slowly walking around us. Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two…

"One…" Hsu Hao's head suddenly departed from his body. It shot directly into the air. That surprised all of us. I looked behind his body and saw a masked vigilante. He was using Kabal's signature hook swords. I didn't think to see who it was. I began my red dragon slaughter.

I grabbed my assailant's neck with my garrote wire and flipped over him. As I landed on my feet, I use the most of my strength to pull the wire and decapitate his head. It worked excellently. Next, I grabbed another nearby assailant with my boots and held them in the air. With all of my strength, I split the guy in half in a stylized manner. Stryker used his Taser to shock the assailant behind Metric and proceeded to use the guy's pistol to blow a large whole in his head. Metric used his combat skill to disarm the female assailant and he quickly cuffed her. Capitol used his combat skill to roundhouse kick the guy in the jaw. He literally destroys the guy's bottom jaw area. I doubt he'll be alive. Finally, Kano rose up and punched his assailant, causing him to turn around. He stabs him in the stomach and diagonally slices the guy's ribs. He then proceeded to wrap his arms around the back of the guy's neck and completely snap his vertebrae. We looked around and saw the ultimate death we bestowed upon our foes.

"We're clear." Stryker shouts.

"No…we're not." I responded. Two of them were still alive. Hsu Hao's head magically reattached itself. The girl was still alive. I'm not letting them get away.

"Good idea." Kano agreed. This is definitely the first time we've seen eye to eye. I walked over to Metric and grabbed the captive girl. I threw her on the ground and forced her to watch as Kano ripped Hsu Hao's false heart from his body. The sight terrified the woman as she tried to beg for me to let her go. I'll let her go alright.

"I thought I told you that I'd show you my boots." I told her. I proceeded to stomp her head with my right foot. I increased the force with each stomp. This isn't me. I don't release anger like this. However, no one even tried to stop me. Eventually, her head was caved in. I knew she was definitely dead now. We all took a breather and looked at each other. I focused my attention on Kabal. I was glad to see that he had returned.

"Sonya, I—" Kabal's words were cut short. We were all shocked at the sight we had just seen. A feminine hand was sticking directly out of Kabal's chest. It was holding a big lumpy object covered in blood. I hope that's not what I think it is.

"You idiots." The woman said. "I gave you a clear warning. My armies are preparing for a takeover soon. We are planning to make this building our base of operations." She was pointing towards the Central HQ building with her other hand.

"You…won't…win…" Kabal stated. The woman used her power to completely drain all of Kabal's blood. When she finished, she toss his body to the side along with the object. It was Nitara. Unlike last time, she a cold look on her face. It looked like the burn marks healed rather quickly.

"Ladies first." Kano stated as he looked my way. He checked his knives and adjusted his mechanical eye. "You ready baby?"

"Police brutality coming up." Stryker said. He pulled out a frag grenade and his pistol.

"It's not a brutality, it's a fatality." Metric added. He loaded his Uzi and aimed it directly at Nitara.

"I've got a knack for survival. You, on the other hand, are going to die here." Capitol taunted. He already had his assault rifle trained on Nitara.

"I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." I stated. Nitara's rage was definitely evident, even though she tried to cover it up with a weird fake smile.

"Fine." She said. "You wanna do this, then let's freaking do this."

End of Chapter 4

(Upcoming—In The Darkness)