A/N: Here's number five! This one came out much better than the last one! ^^
Also, special thanks to Aviantei for pointing out my 'tense' issue in the last chapter.
I have a problem with keeping my tenses straight, but I promise to do better in the future.
Thanks for the positive criticism!
I really appreciate it!
Please R&R!
Chapter Five
'This is just great,' Celty thought as she rode between the warehouses. She had tried to find the source of the loud bang from earlier, but to no avail.
'I was a second away from catching that girl and what does she do? She jumps over a wall! Damn that Izaya! He could've mentioned in his email that my target was a free runner!'
Fuming at the turn of events, the Dullahan takes a hard left onto a wide street, as if by leaving skid marks on the pavement she could relieve herself of her stress.
She had ridden halfway down the street when the headless rider heard something. Stopping her bike, she tilts her helmet as if that would make her hearing better, despite the fact that she has no ears.
'Were those screams?' Celty thought.
Through the stillness of the night, the sounds of yells and numerous thuds could be heard drifting from just a street over from where the black rider was now.
'There's a fight going on!' the Dullahan realized as her steed's wheel spun and carried her down the street and around the corner, 'Maybe that girl's there!'
Turning onto the street that the noises were coming from, Celty found giant steel rolling doors lining both sides of the road.
Coasting silently along, the headless rider finally came to a stop in front of a door on the right side of the street, where the noise was the loudest.
'Whatever is happening, it's happening in this warehouse,' the Dullahan thought as she hopped off her bike and walked to the giant door. Placing her left hand on it, she could feel it vibrating from whatever was occurring on the other side.
'She's here. I can feel it.'
Not bothering to look for another way in, Celty wedged her hands underneath the door's edge and pulled. The door resisted; its wheels had long since been covered in rust. In the end, it was no match for the strength of a Dullahan, and eventually began to slide up.
With a final heave, the black rider sent the door rolling almost all the way open with a loud groan and rattle.
Finally seeing what the door had hidden from her, Celty froze at the sight before her, not believing what it was she saw.
Before her, what nothing short of a battlefield, with a battle still raging upon it.
Scattered all around the huge room were the motionless bodies of at least two dozen people, and in the center, two dozen more were still fighting.
From where she stood at the threshold, Celty had trouble making out just whom it was these people were fighting. All she could see was a crowd of people with steel colored scarves encircled around someone. The Dullahan caught glimpses of an elbow here, a leg there, and then a face-
With brown curly hair and blue and green eyes!
'It's her!' Celty mentally cried.
Sora was in trouble.
Big time.
She had handled the first wave of Spades with ease; they had been overly cocky fighters and what little skill they had was greatly diminished by their rage at Sora for landing on their boss.
But the rest of the Spades were different.
After seeing the strange tourist's fighting prowess, they had calmed down enough to realize that they should all go at once instead of separately, crowding around the girl and attacking her from multiple sides simultaneously.
In the beginning, Sora had blocked their moves with ease while at the same time taking a few of them down.
However, despite her best efforts, more and more of their attacks were getting through to her and wearing her down. Already she had blood streaming from some cuts, and bruises were starting to form on her arms and legs.
It wasn't helping either that contrary to what she had said earlier, Sora was trying her hardest not to kill any of the gang members she was fighting.
Unfortunately, the Silver Spades were trying to do the exact the opposite.
'Damn! This is bad,' Sora thought as she blocked a bat and dodged a knife stab, 'At this rate, I'm going to run out of energy long before they run out of fighters! Damn damn damn!'
The tourist struggled to keep up with her attackers, but the stress of being chased by the black rider for so long and the fight itself was beginning to take its toll on her body.
She wasn't going to last much longer.
Spotting a break in the crowd, Sora dashed forward and found herself at the edge of the docking station. Placing the ends of her tonfa onto the concrete dock, she jumped/pushed herself onto the stage-like space, spinning around quickly to face her opponents.
Backing up as the Spades swarmed the dock for the second time that night, Sora surveyed the gang and couldn't help but note how her limbs felt like they were loaded with lead.
She was cursing under her breath when something behind the sea of steel caught her eye. The door to the warehouse, which had been closed when she arrived, was now open wide, but that wasn't it.
No, what had caught her eye was a random dot of yellow that had appeared in the doorway.
Realizing what she was looking at, Sora couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's the fourth time tonight! Damn. All those hits to the head must finally be getting to me."
If the members of the Silver Spades had been paying attention to what their target was saying, they might have thought to turn around and see what it was she had seen.
But, they didn't, and so they failed to notice a woman in a black suit and yellow and blue helmet moving towards them-
With a giant scythe clutched in her hands.
Celty had seen enough of what was going on to realize that if she didn't step in right now, her target wasn't going to make it.
And she was not going to let that happen while she was around.
Summoning her scythe, the Dullahan began to run towards the crowd as it set about to climb onto the docks where Sora was.
Making sure the blade was blunt on both sides, Celty swung from right to left at three gangsters at the back of the crowd. Catching them at their ribs, she followed through and sent them flying straight into the far wall, where they landed in a heap.
At the sound of them landing, more gangsters turned around to find the urban legend of Ikebukuro swinging a big black scythe straight at them. Before they could react, Celty had swiped her shadow weapon-SWISSH-sending three more of them flying.
As the Dullahan took out more and more gang members, the crowd began to split in two; one half turned around to face the new threat, and the other continued gunning for the girl on the dock.
Sensing a chance that she might actually make it out of this mess alive, Sora felt a rush of energy and dashed towards the Spades, crying out a war cry every step of the way. She met them head on; literally crashing though them and nearly went over the edge of the dock in her enthusiasm.
And so the battle went on. The gangsters, who had held great numbers just a short while ago, were slowly being dominated until less than ten remained standing. Between Sora's tonfa and Celty's scythe, they had no chance.
Finally, nearly half an hour after the fight had started, the only fighters who remained were the tourist on the dock, and the black biker on the floor. Surrounding both of them were the now immobile bodies of the Silver Spades.
Sora, even bloodier than before, looked around the warehouse to see if anyone else was still in a fighting mood.
They weren't.
Satisfied, the out of breath girl stood with her arms akimbo and flashed an impish grin at her pursuer turned savior.
"Well-huff-Rider-no, with that thing it seems-huff-more appropriate to call you-huff-Shinigami-san," she gestured towards the scythe Celty still holds in her hand, "At any rate, it looks like-huff-I one you one. He he, big time."
Celty waved her left hand in front of her as if to say, "don't worry about it" as she hopped onto the dock.
Sora immediately bounced backwards and got into a fighting stance.
Celty froze.
The smile was still there, but the eyes were hard again as Sora said, "Sorry-huff-Shinigami-san. I'm grateful for the-huff-save, really I am, but-huff-there is no way in hell-huff-I'm going anywhere with you without-huff-a fight."
To herself, the girl thought, 'This is bad. I barely have the strength to stand let alone fight. And running is definitely out of the question. But what choice do I have?'
Realizing that her scythe was still out, the Dullahan instantly dissolved it and lifted her hands up to show that she meant no harm.
Sora didn't relax her stance. "I appreciate that-huff-but it doesn't change the fact-huff-that I'm not going-huff-with you."
As Celty whipped out her phone, probably to try and convince Sora to come with her, the person in question noticed something off to her left.
Forgotten as soon as the fight started, the Boss of the Silver Spades had cowered behind the couches, leaving his followers to attack the tourist by themselves.
He had been confident that the gang would defeat the girl, and was about to leap out to finish her off when he spotted the legendary black rider baring down on his gang. Ducking behind the couch again, the cowardly Boss watched as the duo took down the rest of the Spades.
Stunned by this turn of events, it wasn't until Celty got onto the dock that the final Spade had an epiphany. These two girls had taken out an entire gang by themselves.
They were strong.
Hell, they were more than that!
They were monsters!
And the person who took them down would be considered the strongest badass ever!
The Boss realized that if he defeated these chicks, no one in Ikebukuro would dare mess with him!
With that, the cowardly, and insanely stupid, Boss crept around to the left side couch, stood up from behind it-
And pointed the gun he'd had in his pocket at the oblivious black rider.
Sora saw the Boss appear from out of nowhere. In less than in instant, she recognized that he held a gun in his hand.
In less time than that she realized he was aiming it at Shinigami-san.
"LOOK OUT!"
Without thinking, the already bloodied and bruised fighter dashed forward and rammed her right shoulder into Celty's stomach, knocking her back just as the gun went off.
Straightaway, Sora felt an intense pain explode in her left side, right at her lower ribs.
Ignoring it, the girl flipped the tonfa in her right hand so that she was grasping it by the long shaft, regained her footing on the concrete, and sent it flying end over end-
Until it collided end first into the Boss's nose, sending a geyser of blood into the air as he fell back unconscious.
Sora had but a moment to appreciate her shot when the pain from the bullet wound flared up and sent her to her knee, her right hand clutching at the red stain on her shirt.
Celty, recovered from the tackle she received from Sora, moved towards her to help, but the girl raised her remaining tonfa and glared from where she crouched on the dock.
"Back-huff-off," the girl growled even as she winced in pain, "I'm-I'm fine!"
The Dullahan got her cell phone again and typed on it, showing the screen to Sora when she finished.
[You're not fine! You're bleeding from at least a dozen wounds, have a patchwork of bruises already forming, and have a gun shot wound!] Pulling the phone back, Celty erased the message and typed a new one. [You need medical attention NOW!]
Shaking her head vigorously, the stubborn girl declared, "No! No-huff-doctors! I'm fin-grrgh!" she groaned as she tried to stand up and instead sunk back down to the ground.
[You're wounded! Please let me help you!] Celty typed urgently.
The tourist was about to reply again when she paused and tilted her head, as if listening to something. The Dullahan stopped and listened as well.
A sound was drifting to the two figures through the open doorway, from somewhere outside.
It had been faint at first, fading in and out of the human hearing spectrum, but was slowly becoming louder and clearer with each passing second. Before long, both the headless rider and the strange tourist recognized what it was they were hearing.
'Sirens! Damn, someone must have heard the fight and called the cops,' Sora thought as she tried to get up again to no avail.
Sinking back to the ground, the girl's eyes kept flickering between the rider before her and the open door.
'Damn it! I can't let the cops get me! "They" will find me for sure that way! But I can't move and Shinigami-san is still here! Damn damn damn damn DAMN!'
While Sora lamented her position silently, Celty had been typing on her phone. She showed the screen to her again.
[You don't want to be here when the police arrive, right?]
Sora just glared at her defiantly.
[Well neither do I. Let me get you out of here! I have a friend who can help you!]
With each second that passed, it was becoming harder for Sora to read Celty's screen even though it was right in front of her.
'Shit…I'm losing too much blood…gonna pass out…'
Out loud she said, "No…way…. you'll take me to them…. not going back…never going back…. I will…die first!"
Staring at this girl, who was still so defiant even when she was so beaten down, Celty couldn't help but be impressed.
'Anyone else would have passed out already from those wounds but she's staying up through will alone. Just who is this child? And more importantly…. what does Izaya want with her?'
As she looked into Sora's eyes, which were slightly glazed but still alive, Celty made a decision and typed onto her cell.
[Listen, I was hired to take you to someone, someone who wanted to talk to you. But I'm not going to.]
The girl looked at the rider with an expression of disbelief and suspicion.
[I don't know who 'they' are or what they've done to you, but I'm sure that they'll find you easily in a hospital or in a police station, right? I can take you were they won't find you.]
The sounds of the sirens were drawing nearer.
'If I go with this lady, there's a chance I might be found by them again. But if the police get me…then it's a guarantee they will,' the girl thought as she listened to the sirens.
[You are injured. You may die! Please, let me help you!]
Vision getting worse, Sora asked, "How…do I know…that I…can trust…you?"
Celty paused for a moment before typing, [You don't.]
Reading that, the tourist couldn't help but laugh, and ended up doubled over and grunting in pain as she jostled her bullet wound.
The Dullahan knelt down in front of her and held her shoulders lightly as if to ask if she was ok.
Sora lifted her head and stared straight into Celty's helmet, right into the space where her eyes would be and said, "Fine…I'll go with you…but only because…I think…you're a.…good…person…"
With that, the girl's blue and green eyes completely glazed over and she slumped forward onto Celty's chest, as limp as a ragdoll.
Shocked for only an instant, the Dullahan gently pushed her off of her chest and checked her pulse.
'A bit slow, but still strong. I need to get her to Shinra, now! But first I need to stop the bleeding.'
After prying her remaining tonfa from her left hand, Celty sent her shadows flowing over Sora's inert body, creating a tight bodysuit that acted as a tourniquet and a black helmet.
Laying her down gently onto her back, Celty moved around the concrete stage, collecting the girl's bag and the tonfa she had thrown at the Silver Spade's Boss. Tossing both tonfa into the bag, she zipped it closed and slid the straps over Sora's shoulder.
Picking her up bridal style, the Dullahan called for her steed as she dropped off the dock. Whinnying, the black motorcycle drove itself into the warehouse, weaving between the motionless bodies of the gang members.
Meeting Shooter half way across the concrete floor, Celty gingerly placed the unconscious girl on the back of the bike before taking her place in front of her. The headless rider positioned the girl's arms around her waist, using her shadows to keep them there.
Satisfied that Sora wouldn't fall off of her steed as she rode, Celty revved the silent engine and sped out of the warehouse and into the night just as the police rounded the corner onto the street.
A/N: I'm really happy with how this chapter came out.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Please R&R!^^