Chapter Five-Fly Away

Torina hit the roof, stumbled, but continued running; jumping from this roof to the next, finally close to Kagu, the admiral, and the hooded man. Willing herself forward, she dived for the man's legs. At the last second possible, he lifted up his legs easily, and Torina slammed into the roof tiles. Kagu jumped over her and continued running after the man, who was holding a struggling admiral as if Dane wasn't moving at all.

Then Kagu did a running jump, propelling herself through the air rather like she was flying. But right before she landed on the man's back, he turned and kicked an almost vertical roundhouse kick, catching Kagu in the stomach sending her literally flying back the way she came.

Torina slid underneath Kagu's falling body, and leapt up after the man, who continued running towards the transport ship docked a couple roofs away. Leaning down, Torina snagged an old telephone wire, ripping it of the wall and stuffing the end pin into her gun; still running as fast as her mechanical boots could. Hanging on to the end of the wire, Torina aimed for a church steeple, and fired. The pen went straight through the metal of the steeple and stuck.

Kagu blinked, shook of the guilt and unconscious feeling, and jumped; willing the air to carry her up and over.

Torina swung on the wire, half swinging, half running across rooftops to land in front of the man just as Kagu landed behind him.

The hood looked at Torina, swiveled to look at Kagu and then threw Admiral Dane up into the air where a metal claw hanging from the transport aircraft caught him and began to real him in like a fish.

Torina turned to rescue the admiral, when an iron muscle hit the side of her head. Holding the side of her head, she dropped to the roof, and spun her leg around as Kagu began a series of complicated punches.

Black-hood retaliated by kicking Torina in the face, knocking her to the floor, leaving him momentarily free to block Kagu's attack, produce a knife from a pocket in his elaborate cloak, and cut across her chest. Before he could stab Kagu, however, Torina grabbed Black-hood's knife and drove it into his stomach.

Leaving the knife where it was, Black-hood elbowed Torina, shoved Kagu to the roof, whipped around and punched Torina hard in the forehead. She fell to the roof, too weak, too tired to do any more.

The transport ship was still waiting for him. Leaving his opponents on the roof, he jumped up, twirled around and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The engine roared to an even higher level.

Torina barely heard it, so concentrated was she on pulling out her gun, pressing one of the buttons, and pulling the trigger. A small black ball cut through the air, smacking against the side of the aircraft as it soared upward and out of sight.

The two girls breathed heavily, somehow drained of energy. When Kagu spoke, her voice was greatly strained. "I feel…like…someone stabbed me."

"You almost were. Is that close enough?" Torina asked, panting herself.

"Too close. From now on, I'm bringing my quarterstaff." Kagu spoke quietly, but stronger and she was able to haul herself up into a sitting position. "Then I'll kick his butt."

"Kagu," Torina looked back at her, still lying on the roof, "You are doing sage stuff, aren't you?"

"Yes." Kagu self-consciously pulled the collar of shirt just a bit higher so it covered the scar which just a second ago was a gaping wound.

"Here," Torina said kindly as she sat up, and took off her jacket, revealing a blue t-shirt. Handing the jacket to Kagyu, she said: "Can you do…healing to my arm? It's scratched pretty hard from the roof.

Kagu smiled as she put on her friends jacket. "Of course. Just hold your hand out. Yes, like that. And now I hold it like this-"She demonstrated by grasping Torina's mechanical forearm, right where the scratches were.

"And now?" Torina asked respectfully.

"We wait. And try to remain in contact with a Greater Force…"

Torina closed her eyes, sat up straight and dug deep into her heart, where she could always count on finding…whatever she was looking for. Usually it was to make sure she made the right decision but right now-

"Oh…" She sighed, feeling heat sear through each scratch, eliminating any infection. She wanted to open her eyes, but she couldn't. Some internal sense told her not yet, not yet…

And then the pain was over, all of it. There was no stinging of fragments of roof tiles, no fiery sensation. Opening her eyes, Torina studied her left arm. There wasn't even any sign that she fell. "Thanks for that Kirikagu."

"I won't do it again if you call me that." Kagu threatened lightly, standing up and walking to the edge of the roof.

"Ah, come on! Your name is a classic!" Torina exclaimed, following suit.

"Do you even know what it means?"

"One who is awesome?" Torina guessed.

"Life of fire." Kagu responded just before she jumped.

"See? I told you it meant 'one who is awesome.'" Torina called before she jumped after her.