Chapter 12 – The Warehouse Destiny Chose
Disclaimer: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
A less jokey chapter. More action and filling in plot points. Enjoy and review, anyway, though. I'm actually glad how this one came out.
Eight years earlier
The moist soil held down the grass as the wind rolled across it, attempting to uproot all the vegetation, and send it into a spiral in the air. The silence was raw, unnerving and cold. The man in the raincoat coughed up some phlegm as he dug his fingers into the soil. The cliff he had just traversed was tiring and painful, but it would be worth the while, he knew. He remained on his knees for a short moment, recovering from the ordeal. The black of the night sky was shunned away by the bright stars, which thanks to a lack of clouds, shone brilliantly, goading the man in the raincoat on. He slowly pulled his head up. A small house stood a short few steps away. It had the architecture of a traditional Feudal Japanese building, which short spires and concave roofing. However, it was mixed with the sensibilities and materials of a modern Western home, with brick and plaster and glass. The building was familiar to the man in the raincoat, who smiled nervously. He rose slowly, and staggered to the door. He hesitated.
"OK, Spike…" He murmured. "You can do this… 3… 2…"
"…1." Came a cruel voice from behind. Spike whirled around, suddenly feeling a horrible, searing pain in his leg, and a cloth gag slamming against his lips. He was dragged away from the door, slowly, but for some reason, he couldn't struggle, try as he might. He knew what was coming. "See you in a bit." And with that, Spike was thrown off the cliff. The door opened from behind. The attacker turned around, slightly startled. He sighed when he recognised the woman by the door.
"Johnny?" She asked. She started to smile, and ran over to him, pulling him into a hug. The hug smacked Johnny's breath away, but he returned the hug nonetheless.
"You alright, Jun?" He said. She nodded as she pulled away. "Look, I've just dropped something down that drop, do you mind?"
"Not at all, Johnny." Jun laughed slightly. "I'll make you a tea. That's what you British people drink all the time, right?" Johnny nodded, smiling warmly back as she backed away.
"You know me too well. No sugar for me, Jun. Milk if you have it, though." Jun nodded, running casually back to her home. As she turned, Johnny's warm, friendly smile turned into a vicious smirk containing nothing but malice. He turned and slid carefully down to where Spike was. He looked as Spike began to move. "No you don't." He said, plunging his syringe into Spike's right arm. It fell, becoming limp, and Spike collapsed again. He looked to Johnny, who sat down and summoned a cigar from his pocket. "She's a very beautiful woman, you know."
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Spike spat, venom in every word. Johnny smiled tastelessly.
"Looking for you, of course." He said. "Wang Jinrei said Jun had seen you last, so I came to her. She has a job for me anyway." Spike looked horrified. Johnny chuckled. "You still care for her so much." He spun his cigar in his fingers with a good deal of caution. "Now, are you going to tell me where your brother in law and your niece are, or shall I find them myself?" Spike smiled cruelly, and began to laugh himself. Johnny began to look angry, his brow furrowing and his lips straightening. "What?"
"I shouldn't really laugh." Spike murmured. "I've been ambushed, tricked and defeated by an idiot as well as a total wanker!" His laughter began to become louder. "You're the best assassin in the world and yet time after time they've been passing under your nose for over two years." Spike's laughter became nasty, unkind and strained. Johnny could barely contain himself, deciding to jam the needle into Spike's other leg.
"Stop fucking laughing." Now the tables had turned, with Johnny becoming angrier and Spike laughing, though he stopped to seethe with pain. "Now where are they?"
"Muscle relaxant? Really?" Spike murmured, weaker now. He put his two fingers into his mouth, and began to retch. Johnny's smile returned.
"Maybe we're both idiots." He said, laughing as Spike desperately tried to get rid of the relaxant by vomiting. "It contains opium. Your body's decided that the relaxant's good for it. You're not getting rid of it." He said. Spike looked pained as he turned to Johnny, whose smile returned. "Don't worry; you don't have to tell me. I'll find them myself." He sat closer, turning Spike over with his foot and pointing the syringe at his heart. "Changing the subject, what did you do to Jun?" His smile became wider and wider, crueller and crueller, as he watched Spike's face turn slightly worried. "She hates you so much." Johnny watched as Spike's eyes began to well. "Don't think I'm lying. She hates you more than she can bear. She sometimes wakes up at night, crying and wailing. She refuses to speak about you. She hates you so much. You've caused so much pain. You're the devil to her." Johnny smiled at Spike's despair as an eagle would while watching the mouse he had ripped apart died slowly in his claws. "I must say, you're an inspiration to me." He then jabbed the syringe into Spike's chest. "You'll die in four minutes." He said. "Think about Jun as you do. It makes me smile to watch you weep."
And he did watch. And Spike did die, his face contorted with many emotions, self-hatred, despondency, anger and disappointment. And Johnny clambered up the drop easily. And he met Jun again, and standing with her was a young girl of maybe ten or eleven.
"Found it." He said triumphantly and friendlily, back in his usual, polite, meek lie of a demeanour. He showed Jun a small bone necklace that had some mud staining it. "Took me a while to find it." In fact, it was Spike's. He looked to the girl. A small blonde, with her short hair atop her freckled face, which was kind enough, but conveyed that she had seen things and anyone, would be unwise to upset her. Johnny immediately distrusted her. "Who's this then?" He asked Jun.
"Hannah, meet Johnny, an old friend of mine." She said to the girl. The girl nodded, though her eyes had a slight fear. "Hannah's a little homeless. Her dad came here. She's going to help me with the meditation. Jin's helping as well, you don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all." Johnny said. "How is the little tyke?" However, his mind went into autopilot. He processed the information, but didn't hear the words. He didn't look back at Hannah but immediately knew that she could be…
No. Don't take chances. If she's innocent, then you'll be killed too.
Johnny nodded, smiling as Jun told him how good Jin was with his kicks now, and that punch Johnny had taught him the last time he was here really surprised her in their daily spar, but he didn't hear. He only heard Spike's laughing, and somehow thought that even as his face lay with a despaired emotion, humiliated and angry at himself, Spike was still laughing…
"You're the best assassin in the world and yet time after time they've been passing under your nose for over two years."
"Come on, you two. Jin's got it all set up." Jun said, walking to the house. Johnny looked to Hannah. Hannah looked to Johnny. Neither followed her, watching each other for tricks. The girl went first, and Johnny followed.
Present Day
Rain rumbled on a metallic roof, the sound a great howl of a fighting beast that screamed and snarled and twisted this way and that with lightening paws and snarls of thunder. A monochrome world with a towering, unmoving behemoth in the centre; the warehouse destiny chose as the fighting ground. In the far distant, the sky took a yellow shade from the lights of the buildings of the city, a world away from the midnight at Warehouse 324, Tokyo Docks. The sky was brown and red and yellow here, with dead grey rain dropping through a dead grey air onto a dead grey ground. The warehouse itself was black, with a small, dark grey window on the first floor, where Johnny Showdown sat, spinning the yoyo in his hands, watching for his opponent and prize. He contemplated Spike's final words. He had only managed to confirm the identity of Hannah once she had left Jun's home, but then it was too late. She was gone, escaped again. This time, however, there was no complication. Morris was coming. No doubt. No failures this time. No escape. His cigar illuminated the window pane he sat on. The fire burnt through the leaf slowly, as Johnny drained the heat from the cigar. Then his eye caught something. His silent mouth that held no emotion now curled into a cold smirk.
"And here you are." He murmured. A small, moving figure, just close enough to notice if one is looking especially hard. A figure wearing what may be a raincoat, or may be a cape, or may be some other garment too far away to make out. Johnny turned his eyes to a small clock, a digital red-lettered box. 23:59 it said. And then it said 00:00 as if on command. Johnny moved quickly, looking to the beige sack that lay at his feet. He swung it over his shoulder in one simple swing, and made his way down the metallic steps. The echoing sound of his feet ringing on the steps made the three musclemen, distracted with their card game, turn their heads. Johnny reached for his English-Japanese phrasebook. "Men…" He mumbled clumsily. The musclemen watching, he placed the sack on the floor and looked to the rope on the top, tied in a small bow. He tugged at a loose end. "Your payment." And with that, he dramatically revealed the contents. Asuka Kazama rolled forward, her hands and feet tied together behind her back. She looked a mess, her decency a shred with her clothes replaced with a few short cloths wrapped around her abdomen and thighs. Her left breast still had the burn mark from Johnny's cigar, just low of the nipple, with cuts and bruises all over the rest of her body. The cuts had healed with time, but were still raw and red. Her brown hair fell to her neck as she looked up to see the hungry faces of the musclemen. She tried to move, but the restrains did their work as she dropped clumsily to her face. Johnny sneered at her pathetic form. "Come on, Kazama…" He murmured, this time in his native language. "… don't be so miserable. Your Morris will come." He said, fingering at the tape on her mouth. He quickly snapped it off. Asuka took a sharp intake of breathe through her closed teeth and looked to Johnny.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Asuka screamed incoherently in Japanese. "I'LL GET OUT OF THIS, AND I'LL BREAK YOU! I'LL SNAP YOU! I'LL TEAR YOU APART WITH MY BARE HANDS, YOU FUCKING BASTARD-CHILD OF A DOG!" She writhed and wiggled and thrashed about, Johnny simply watching blankly. She barked more obscenities, unheard as he seemed to giggle at her helplessness.
"Cute." He said, before suddenly slapping her across the cheek, the sound that of a whip. Asuka's angered wails became a tamed whimper. Johnny's smirk grew horrifically, his gaze piercing her. "Save your breath. You'll need it to scream." He stood up and walked to the door. He grasped at the handles of the doors, and forced them apart. The wind shook him slightly as a draft entered. He looked back as he stood into the wall of water that had formed from the heavy rain. He looked back to the scene behind him, extinguishing his cigar with his fist. He nodded, and turned as the musclemen walked to Asuka greedily, maliciously, evilly. He walked through the rain, shivering slightly. He put the hood of his trench coat up, but the cold and water still hit him. He rolled his eyes angrily. He didn't like bad weather such as this. It distracted him. Annoyed him. Drew attention away from the task at hand. He looked up, as the figure he had seen earlier came into focus. He suddenly felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. "No way." He murmured. He looked back. The warehouse was a long way behind. He looked back to the figure, who had broken into a run. Johnny bode his time. The figure came closer, and closer, and closer.
"YOU BASTARD!" The woman shouted, leaping to kick Johnny in the chest. Johnny spun to the side, drawing the syringe that contained the relaxant and jamming it into her airborne leg. The woman rolled painfully onto her stomach. Her raincoat flew off, stuck to the end of the syringe, along with a tear of her jeans. She tried to guess when Johnny would reach her, but she heard nothing but the stomping of the rain, like the chant of a crowd hungry and baying for blood. She pushed herself onto her hands, but suddenly her right leg fell. She tried to force herself up, but nothing was moving. Her brain screamed in panic. What was happening?
Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum.
Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum.
Thump.
And Johnny's footsteps were heard, slowly coming closer.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The woman trembled, trying to move with all her might.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Then suddenly she was turned over. Johnny stood above her, gazing emotionlessly at her. He summoned a cigar but didn't light it. He bent down to her level.
"Ling Xiaoyu." He said. "You've just made the second biggest mistake of your life. Now do you know where Morris is?"
"Where's Asuka, you fucking pig!" She shouted back. Johnny's blank face became angrier, as his eyes thinned and his brow rutted.
"That was your biggest mistake." He said, placing the cigar sideways into her mouth. The cigar pressed into the insides of her cheek, so she couldn't spit it out. Her legs couldn't move. All she could do was watch as he paced around her. He stood over her feet, and then rose his right foot. He looked to her body, then her. She tried to reply with an icy gaze, but was confused. What the hell was he planning on? Johnny's foot delicately balanced in-between her hips, right over her core, making sure she saw every single inch of its steady movement. Suddenly, Xiaoyu understood. Her eyes gave away her terror as it slowly made contact and retracted, hovering just an inch above. Johnny smiled. "First time?" He asked. Xiaoyu squirmed in vain, unable to scream. Johnny smiled. "It's so nice to be one's first." He said sweetly, before suddenly pressing his foot down hard and twisting it in.
The three men pulled Asuka off the material that was imprisoned her. Asuka suddenly felt a great fear tremble through her body as greedy hands pulled at her skin. She was forced to sit up, and pushed onto her knees. Two of the men restrained her while the third stood in front.
"I've got something for you." He sneered callously. "Stop squirming, and I'll be a little gentler…" Asuka looked into his greedy eyes, blackened by the darkness of the warehouse. Then suddenly his eyes changed. The man clutched his eyes in pain. The other two stood up.
"What's wrong?"
"Some dickhead's just dropped his trousers in front of me!" He shouted. The two men looked up to the scaffolding. A cape hovered in the draft and blew to their feet. "He wasn't wearing anything undernea…" The first thug looked up, shocked. "Where'd he go?"
"Don't know, but he left some old curtains." One of his friends said.
"Could I have my cape back?" Came a voice, when suddenly a metal disc rocketed from underneath the one holding the curtain. Morris leapt out, landing his two feet on the sides of the gap. The musclemen stared at him. "You enjoy the view?" He asked. One swung his fist, but Morris dodged easily. "I could see why, for I am amazingly beautiful." More punches, more easy dodges. Morris danced this way and that, waiting for a good gap. One foot was misplaced by a thug, and suddenly all three of them were rocketed into the air with three straight uppercuts. Morris watched as they slammed onto the floor. One was about to get up. Morris looked behind him, and saw an oil drum. He lifted it above his head. "Lo, for I am Donkey Kong!" He flung the barrel into the thug, ricocheting it into the other two and knocking them out cold. Morris checked and ran over to Asuka. He lifted her up. She looked to him.
"MORRIS!" She shouted, pulling him into an embrace.
"I just jizzed." Morris murmured. Asuka pulled away suddenly, disgusted and angry.
"Now's not the time for jokes!" She shouted angrily, though she was inwardly glad he was here. Morris shrugged.
"You're not wearing any top and you hug me, are you really that surprised?" He asked, flinging her his 'cape'. "That'll have to do, though I prefer you didn't wear it." She obediently tied it around her chest, still shivering with cold and fear. "Now." Morris said, with all humour lost in his voice. "Where is he?" Then he was suddenly pulled back by a few inches. He dropped to his knees. He and Asuka stared in shock to his stomach, which had a bladed wheel embedded in it. It bled freely, and suddenly tugged upwards, throwing Morris kicking and screaming onto his back. Asuka looked up. She cowered away slightly. A figure of nightmares stood at the door, with a shivering body at his feet.
"She's a glutton for pain, she is." Johnny said, his voice literally rolling in evil like a pig in mud, gesturing to the cowering body at his feet. "Your little friend Xiaoyu." He jerked hard on the yoyo string, pulling Morris ever closer. "She didn't know, of course, but I made sure." He pulled once more, turning the occasional hard yanks into a steady constant pull. Morris left a trail of gore as he reached his deadly shadow by the second. "I was wearing my best shoes, too, and boy did she scream and roll and kick and beg and…"
"SHUT UP!" Morris shouted, desperately trying to get a grip on his feet. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
"Oh, like you didn't know it would happen." Johnny said. "You knew as soon as you tricked her into your plan she'd get herself in trouble. I'm actually surprised, Morris, at your underhandedness. I know it runs in the family, but this is quite shocking." Morris attempted to stand up. Johnny pulled very hardly this time. The yoyo broke away from Morris, rolling onto the floor, bringing with it flesh and bone. Morris rolled, gasping for air. "Clever, but shocking." Morris got to his hands and knees.
"Up… yours… you…" He collapsed. Johnny rubbed his hands, walking closer. He glanced at Asuka, who was crawling towards him, trying to look strong. He looked at her, and she backed away again, her eyes wide with terror. He laughed louder than ever before.
"So, your girlfriend shuts up after a little beating or two!" Johnny said triumphantly. "Come on, she's a fighter, and there she is, gibbering in fear." He plucked Morris up and forced him onto his feet. "Let's see if you're any better!" Morris snarled, punching angrily, but missing and falling. Johnny simply caught him as Morris collapsed forward. He held Morris by his collar and punched him to the floor, blood literally flying across the room. "Oh come on! I haven't even administered the relaxant and you're done!" Morris lay curled, holding his stomach, from which blood came out by the litre. Johnny picked him up. "And again!" Another punch, another miss, and Morris stooped down in pain. Johnny kicked him to the floor easily. Morris couldn't move. His body had shut off.
"As… Asuka…" He murmured. Asuka backed away further, fear controlling her as Johnny put Morris onto his feet for another beating. She began to cry. Please don't… for god's sake…Asuka fell onto her stomach in a faint. Johnny watched as she did, smiling and cracking his fingers in preparation, as Morris staggered slightly.
"Oooh, this is fun, this is!" He stood there, lighting a cigar and taking a big breath from it. "Are you?" He punched Morris again, but this time held him up. He punched the great gash that was in Morris's stomach, causing gore to spill onto it. He plucked his hand up, looking at it. "You might want this back, actually." He said, rubbing his hand into Morris's face. He pulled out his syringe and plunged it into Morris's leg. Morris dropped like a stone. He moaned awfully. He just wanted to die. Johnny knelt down besides him. "Any last words before I give you a little euthanasia, Morris Wellington?"
"… p…"
"What? Speak up."
"… p… piss… off… home…" Morris's eyes closed in pain, accepting the inevitable. Johnny shrugged.
"You escaped death." He said, turning Morris onto his back. "Your sister and your father escaped death." He gave the syringe an experimental squirt. "Third time lucky for me." He raised the syringe above his head.
"No…" Came a weak voice. Johnny stopped. Then suddenly his hand was clasped in an iron grip. He looked to Asuka, who stood behind him, literally glowing with a white light, crushing the syringe in her hand. She threw Johnny away. He slid along the floor, rolling and smacked by the force and harshness of the concrete. He slowed to a halt and got up quickly. He looked to Asuka, whose auburn hair began to fly from the draft. Her expression was one of stern power. Her eyes were completely white, with only a fire within them. She seemed to radiate raw strength. Johnny scowled.
"Grew a bollock, did you?" He asked angrily. He felt his own rage boiling. "So you want another beating?"
"Johnny Showdown!" Asuka shouted suddenly, with a force that knocked him back. Suddenly, all the windows and doors flew open, allowing in a swarm of birds. Johnny covered his head as they swooped a little above their heads, like dead spirits watching the battle that was about to take place. They flung in a great circle as Asuka took up a fighting stance. "This ends NOW!"
"Too right it does." Said Johnny, drawing his yoyo, but he was inwardly nervous. What had just happened that made her so confident? He frightened her; he silenced and had broken her. What was happening? "I'll just remind you who I am, you little bitch! I am JOHNNY SHOWDOWN!"
The fight began with Johnny flinging his yoyo, spinning and dangerously towards Asuka. However, Asuka rolled onto her knee and it flew harmlessly above her, embedding itself in the wall. She leapt onto the yoyo string, rushing to Johnny. Johnny pulled the yoyo back, forcing her to jump into the air. As she leapt, he flung the yoyo again. This time, however, it met its target, sending Asuka high into the air, and her blood even higher. She landed on her feet, taking up a stance again. Johnny's jaw dropped when he saw where the yoyo hit her.
"Where's the cut…" He murmured, for too long. Asuka had got past his defences and landed a tremendous kick flat onto his chest. She spun into a crouch on her foot, kicking Johnny up with the other. She began to spin wildly fast, elbowing and kicking Johnny as she saw fit, before finally landing another kick, smacking him straight across the room, caving the steel wall of the warehouse in and breaking through. The rain pitter-pattered onto Johnny's body as he got up again. Asuka came rushing forward, the flight of birds following and engulfing them like a tidal wave of black and brown. Johnny couldn't see Asuka's fists coming at him time and time again, causing him to yowl in pain.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" He screamed, swinging back wildly, angrily, with his yoyo. It tore the air, shredding and spinning and screaming as it went, as Johnny spun himself, a whirlwind of destruction. Even as the yoyo landed on the floor, it tore through easily, and it came at unearthly speed. Asuka leapt out of its range, waiting for a chance. Johnny stopped spinning as the yoyo became vertical, wailing and whirring like a machine. He watched Asuka, keeping the speed going.
"I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" He wailed, out of mind and control. Emotion was all that was left. All his plans were breaking one by one, and he began to slaver and drool in anger. "I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU, AND BREAK YOU, AND BASH AND BEAT AND SMASH ND CUT AND RIP AND SLASH AND HURT AND BURN AND SNAP AND KILL YOU!"
"Just try." Asuka said calmly. Johnny spat and screamed, his eyes piercing her like knives. He threw the yoyo at her at the speed of freight train. It spun like a bullet, hurtling, shredding through the air as if it could not be stopped. Asuka didn't attempt to move. The yoyo came within ten feet of her. She didn't move. Five feet. She didn't move. Six inches. She suddenly raised her hand, catching the yoyo in between its talons. It kept spinning, shredding through her bone and flesh. Johnny smiled as she winced in agony. He pulled the yoyo back, but suddenly dropped forward. He looked up. Asuka was still holding the yoyo. She crushed it in her bleeding hand, before it suddenly started to heal rapidly.
"No…" Johnny said, suddenly losing all nerve. Her once bleeding and broken hand now became white, and burst into a flame like no other existing flame. Johnny stood up. "No no no NO NO NO NO!" He backed away, fear now beginning to set in. "I HAD YOU! I ANNIHILATED MORRIS! I BEAT YOU BOTH! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU CAN'T!" He turned and broke into a run.
"This is for Morris." She said, punching the air. White flames escaped her hands and immediately engulfed Johnny. He dropped immediately, screaming and wailing like a mad man. As he did, the white light around Asuka collapsed in onto her. She felt stunned and dropped to her knees. "What… happened…" She looked up, her eyes beginning to close, just as she watched a burning body writhing in pain and anger. She reached out for it, thinking it was Morris, before falling forward, unable to go on.
Black took over her vision.