Part 19: Role Reversal

Long trails of smoke hung over the ruined city in the twilight, pitilessly emphasizing the havoc wrought. Here and there little flickers of light marked the resting places of destroyed vehicles. The two destroyers were rafted side-by-side in the harbor to the south, one of them visibly listing to starboard. The landing ship lay with its bow ramp ashore, the procession of tanks having given way to a trickle of light trucks, wagons and even hand-pushed carts. Somewhere out to sea, the submarine lurked unseen.

Ferenil hit the ground with a wet smack, pale blood seeping out of her torso as she spiraled down into infinite nothingness. There was a brisk shrick-shack and a muted tapping as her reaper's boots receded, leaving one more Arume to die alone in a foreign world. Mother, she thought, sisters... will I see you across the river?

The last thing she heard was that man's voice, quietly singing as he stalked her comrades: "I can saw – a woman in two... But you won't wanna look – in the box when I'm through! I can make love – disappear... For my next trick I'll need a volunteer..."

Kaboomph!

Shrick-shack!

"Incoming call," Eripol announced tersely, a drop of sweat trickling down the bridge of her nose. "Not Schuhart, but it's another satellite phone."

Renaril answered it herself. "Hello?"

"Good evening." The speaker was a man she didn't recognize. "Is that Group Commander Renaril?"

"Who are you?"

"A bearer of unpleasant news," the stranger replied grimly. "As a representative of the Eto Delo group, it is my distasteful duty to inform you that Rule Three-Oh-Three has been declared and remains in effect until oh-eight-hundred hours tomorrow. Arume forces within the Hong Kong zone of operation are subject to neutralization by any necessary degree of force."

"Rule what? I don't understand!"

"So I surmised. Briefly, Rule Three-Oh-Three is an emergency defensive measure invoked when employees of the organization have been attacked by an ostensibly friendly power, or are in imminent danger of being attacked."

"What!?" Renaril was aghast. "We had no intention of betraying you!"

"Schuhart appears to think otherwise, and I can assure you that he does not issue such commands lightly."

"This is a mistake," the Arume insisted. "This must be a mistake... Please, I'm sure we can work out – "

The caller cut her off. "I'm not authorized to negotiate," he informed her brusquely. "If you want to reduce casualties, your most viable option is to advise your troops to surrender immediately."

"How do I know you won't kill them anyway!?"

"It might happen," the man admitted, "but it would be detrimental to business, so I expect not... In the meantime, I have a growing mountain of paperwork to climb. Goodbye."

"It's getting quieter out there."

"You're right." Sauer edged her way between two pews until she came to Krag's defensive position on the north wall. "Do you see any movement?"

The other gosta aligned her eye with the hole in the stained-glass window not already occupied by a Bren barrel, peering out into the darkness intently. "Nothing."

"Johnson?"

"Same here," the other gunner called softly from the south side.

"All right," Sauer muttered, moving back to the center aisle. "Maintain your watch... Astra, Krieghoff, Mannlicher, you're up."

That meant Richardson, Rubin and Harrington were off duty for a while, and the first of the trio was especially gratified by the announcement. Releasing her grasp on the .30 caliber, she collected her gear and left Krieghoff to cover the main door of the church. Such a strange place, she thought as she walked up the middle. How do forime derive comfort from celebrations of a man being nailed to a piece of wood? Lowering her eyes from the carved effigy on the wall ahead, faintly gleaming in the dim light of the candles placed all around the cavernous space, she saw Colonel Kang still sitting on the step at the foot of the altar. The gosta's face scrunched into a frown as she strode towards the prisoner.

Kang slowly looked up as she drew close, but kept her own meek silence. "Why did you do it?" Richardson asked bitterly. "I thought you were our ally." Her voice rose a notch. "I thought you were a good person! Why did you side with the Arume?"

The Chinese woman looked away. "I – "

Richardson's voice plunged to a pained whisper. "I trusted you."

"..."

"Who is she?" The gosta stooped so that she and her opposite were face to face. "Who is the good person you found up there?" When Kang tried to avert her gaze a second time, Richardson reached up and turned her face back. "Who marked you?"

"What..?"

"Her scent," Richardson murmured. "It's all over you."

Kang blinked a few times, trying to think through the fogginess induced by the drug in her body. "I don't understand..."

"An Arume wants you, an Arume you've been near. Is it Renaril?" The girl closed the remaining distance between the two, straddling Kang's thighs and placing her hands on the officer's shoulders. "It is her, isn't it? You abandoned us for her."

"No..." The colonel tried to push Richardson off without success. "No..!"

"You're afraid," the gosta whispered, blue eyes staring into brown. "Why?"

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

"Aaaaaargh..!"

Boom-boom!

Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep – bip!

"Yeah?"

"Schuhart, you..! You can't collect the money after this!"

"You think I'd take your money after the shit you pulled?" Boom-boom! "The lives of my employees are not for sale!"

"W-what are you doing!?"

"Taking out the trash – some of your grunts decided to ignore that last order."

"Wha..? No, stop! Don't kill them!"

"Tough shit." Boom! "We tried doing things your way and you blew it."

"You – you... There will be consequences if you don't stop!"

"Damn right there'll be consequences." Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom! "You sky eyes aren't very good at thinking about consequences, are you?"

"We haven't used even a fraction of our power! If you keep doing this, there's no way you'll be able to stand against us!"

"Then do it again! DO IT AGAIN! I DARE YOU, I DOUBLE-DARE YOU, MOTHERFUCKER, ESCALATE THE CONFLICT ONE MORE DOGDAMN TIME!" Schick... Click... Shachack! "You're pathetic, Renaril. You and your whole race... Without your Wunderwaffen and your shock-and-awe, you're a bunch of arrogant kids with more libido than smarts. I've seen your own bio-bombs beat you using guns our generals abandoned sixty years ago, and all you can do about it is cry and make impotent threats. We're shown your weakness to the whole world, so good luck conquering us now!"

"That's not true..!"

"Oh yes it is. It won't matter if you kill us: we'll just become tomorrow's martyrs, the shades of gray in our lives whitewashed to oblivion. The politicians will build altars on which to invoke our sanitized legacy, and they'll be singing our undeserved praise the day they nuke your homeworld down to bedrock... You'll go down in history as a spineless incompetent who let tens of thousands of innocent people be killed, maimed or driven from their homes, and Colonel Kang will be remembered as a deviant and a traitor."

"What do I have to do?"

"Gah..!"

"Please, you must help me! Maybe you're right about me, but I beg of you – if there's any mercy in you, don't let it end like that!"

"...Tell me one thing, Group Commander. Have you ever loved someone?"

"Well, um... I do have someone I like."

"Good enough. You'd be unhappy if someone else took her away from you, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would."

"And if that someone came to you at another time and begged for your help, would you grant it?"

"..."

"I'm not going to help you because you're the best option or because I feel sorry for you. I'm going to help you because it's what she would have wanted me to do. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

"Good. For now, just forget about Hong Kong. We'll take care of things here. You need to get a handle on what's happening up in Beijing, and fast. Tomorrow you can come down and pick up the colonel and whoever else is left... Nine AM is probably a good time. After that, you're going to have to be a model governor whether you're ready or not."

"I'll do my best, I promise."

"You'd better. Good luck, and good night."

Bip!

"Don't let us get sick, don't let us get old, don't let us get stupid, all right?" Click. "Just make us be brave, and make us play nice, and let us be together tonight..."

"Mmmmmmph!" Kang pulled herself free of Richardson's lips with a gasp. "What are you – !?"

"Renaril wants to do this with you." There was no longer any doubt in the girl's mind about that Arume's intentions. "You would do it with a person you liked."

"If I had..." The expression of sorrow which came over the soldier's features startled her. "I could have..."

"Could have done what?" Richardson prompted curiously. "Is there someone else?"

A lone tear formed at the corner of the woman's eye and ran down her cheek. "She didn't... want me."

"But if she had," Richardson pressed softly, "wouldn't you want to kiss her?"

"Of course..."

"Then why should we not be allowed to do the same?" The gosta stared into Kang's eyes, searching for some glimmer of comprehension. "Why would you deny that we also have these feelings?"

The colonel averted her face again. "You... can't understand."

"But I want to understand," Richardson insisted. "Uncle Roland said you should be admired, but now you hurt him and us..."

"Schuhart said that?"

"He told us you have something you believe in," the girl confirmed.

Sorrow was replaced by shame. "He... speaks too well of me..."

"Uncle Roland wouldn't – "

The gentle confrontation was interrupted by Johnson. "Someone is coming."

Sauer was beside her in moments, scooping up the Colt carbine taken from Kang as she crossed the Church. "How many?" she queried tersely.

"Just one," the gunner replied. "A large forime."

"Issue a warning."

The girl behind the Bren sighted in on the intruder. "Halt!" she barked. "This place is forbidden!"

"Easy, Johnson." The voice outside was Keiko's. "You okay?"

"Yes," Johnson called happily, "we're all right." She looked to Sauer. "Shouldn't we let her in?"

"That's right." The girls' acting leader waved towards the door at the east end. "Borchardt, Carcano, open it up!"

Those called upon scrambled to comply, grunting in unison as they dragged the heavy wooden halves of the entrance to each side. Richardson climbed off Kang's lap and was just starting to run down the aisle when Keiko walked inside. Her appearance set off an alarm bell in the gosta's mind: the giantess had shed her vest, shirt and equipment harness, leaving naked skin above the waist save for a flimsy sports bra. Her boots and fatigue pants were spattered with the dried blood of Arume and forime, their shades mixed indiscriminately. The silver .44 and three massive magazines were tucked into her belt, while her powerful arms lazily cradled what seemed to be an MG42 in mottled brown camouflage paint. The mounting strut under its centerline was bent as if it had been violently wrenched from a fixed position.

It took a moment for Richardson to find her voice. "Pack leader..?"

"Yo." Keiko's voice was low and throaty, her eyes clouded. "New toy for you, Sauer," she said casually, dropping the machine gun onto a pew. She looked right past Richardson as she approached, her gaze fixing on Kang. "I've been looking for you," the pack leader drawled.

The Chinese prisoner didn't react positively. "What... were you doing?"

"I was having fun, what else?" The big woman's lip curled mockingly. "Watching the little ones beg on their knees, offering all they had... It got boring after a while, though, even when I tried to mix things up."

"You abused them."

Keiko laughed brazenly at the euphemism. "I gave 'em what they deserved, that's all." She bent over Kang and plucked the dart from her flesh. "You, on the other hand..."

"...What?"

Keiko didn't answer. Flicking the dart aside, she reached into a back pocket and produced an injector like the ones she'd used to revive Richardson, Harrington and Sauer after the tunnel battle. After jabbing it into the junction of Kang's neck and shoulder, she discarded that as well. "Poor Roland," she sneered, turning her back on Kang. "He can't rely on you after this."

"I know."

"That's all you have to say, after he put his ass on the line for you?" The giantess shook her head. "If you weren't so damn sexy, I'd just kill you."

"I'm not – "

"Oh, you are." Keiko languidly ran her tongue over her lips. "I heard the tigress of Taiyuan couldn't be tamed." She rolled her shoulders, hard muscles shifting. "Let's see if it's true."

Kang grimaced at the nickname. "What are you talking about?"

"Ancient customs of war," the other woman declared. "I bet the tigress will purr like a kitten when I'm done."

The colonel's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't..!"

"Yeah?" Keiko stretched her arms. "I'm hornier than a rabbit right now. Stop me if you can."

Richardson looked from one to the other with rising fear. The situation seemed liable to explode at any moment: glancing about, she found that her siblings appeared to share this view. What should we do? she thought frantically. How can she say such things?

"Well?" Keiko goaded when her target kept silent. "The Kang Li dear cousin Roland talked about wasn't someone who'd take this lying down... Or are you just going to close your eyes and think of that little bitch on high?"

When Kang moved, she moved fast. Richardson was cognizant only of a frustrated shriek and a blur as the Chinese woman whipped past her. She closed her eyes, anticipating that something horrible would happen when that mass of fury slammed into Keiko's back.

Whump!

The gosta gingerly opened one eye in time to see Kang tumbling down the aisle, Keiko standing in the same place. "Oh, that's right," said the latter airily. "Roland did mention that you have terrible self-control."

"Shut up." Kang bared her teeth, her whole body quivering. "Shut up!"

"Ooooh." The giantess placed her hands on her broad hips. "Are you going to show me that awesome Wing Chun again?"

Kang pushed herself onto her feet, her breathing harsh and shallow. "It'll be the last... thing you ever see!"

She charged at her tormentor a second time, and now Richardson saw it clearly: Keiko had not been fighting at her full strength when these two clashed earlier in the day. She blocked the soldier's attacks with seemingly insignificant effort, but made no strikes of her own until Kang whipped an arm towards her throat. The biggest woman seized her opponent by the wrist and threw her to the floor, stunning the colonel for a few vital instants. In a flash Keiko peeled off her bra, flung it behind herself and fell upon her prey, bridging Kang's legs with her own as she pinned her victim's wrists above her head. "You're good," she cooed, now face to face with the woman trapped beneath her, "really good... But you can't beat me at rukopashka."

Kang's reply was to slam a knee into her captor's groin, but the action failed to free her: Keiko let out a brief grunt as she clamped her thighs around the raised leg and began to make a grinding motion with her pelvis. As the gosta looked on, captivated by the spectacle, her back arched until she was nearly pressing her bared upper body against Kang's. "Nnn... Nnnngh... Eargh... Eyaaaaaaaaah..!"

Richardson shivered as Keiko threw her head back, giving voice to a piercing cry. It trailed off into ragged panting after several seconds. The giantess changed her grasp, freeing one hand. "Dammit," she groaned, feeling between her thighs once her grip on Kang's leg was loosened. "Soaked right through..."

"Are you finished?" Kang's mood wasn't immediately discernible from her voice, but Richardson thought she seemed strangely calm given her predicament. Was the colonel feigning weakness until she could break loose, like Uncle Roland had done to save the gosta?

"Fuck no." Keiko's unoccupied hand slid under the back of Kang's neck, pulling her up into a kiss. "Mmmmm..!"

This act made Richardson uneasy to a degree the pack leader's climax had not: when she kissed the prisoner, it had been impulsive and clumsy – yet wholly sincere. The greedy, insensitive contact she witnessed now was nothing like that. "Stop," she whispered. "Stop..!"

Either Keiko could not hear, or would not hear. Her fingers trailed down the side of Kang's neck and then over her chest, deftly undoing the safety pin and opening the ragged shirt. "Your turn," she murmured as the clasp of the Chinese woman's bra came unfastened. "Don't disappoint me, hm?" Kang's eyes were closed, her immobilized hands clenched into trembling fists as the marauder reached her waist. Belt, button and zipper parted in turn before Keiko's fingers pushed into the waistband of the plain underwear underneath. A sudden, convulsive motion yanked everything down nearly to knee level: Richardson caught a momentary glimpse of a dark patch of carelessly trimmed hair before the giantess covered the exposed body with her own, forcing another kiss upon her victim.

"Stop!"

This time Richardson got the woman's attention. "Stop," she repeated. "Please don't touch her any more!"

"You don't like this?" Keiko's voice dripped with menacing sweetness. "Or would you rather do it yourself?"

"No," the gosta replied firmly. "Even if Colonel Kang betrayed us, even if she is a bad person, you mustn't do this against her will."

"I agree," Sauer declared. "This isn't what Uncle Roland would want, so... if you want to feel good, please let us care for you instead!"

"That's very noble of you," Keiko laughed as her hand slipped up over Kang's breast, strong fingers kneading the soft mound, "but you're too young for these adult things."

"That isn't important." Richardson was surprised to find the speaker was Astra, the smallest and most timid of her sisters. "Please consider what Uncle Roland – "

"Screw him," the big woman snorted. "What's he gonna say?"

"I'm not going to say 'YES, DO IIIIIIIT!'"

All eyes jumped to the door. Schuhart stood there, cradling the slender figure of an Arume in his arms. His clothes were even more blood-spattered than Keiko's and he looked much the worse for wear. As his charge weakly turned her face towards the onlookers, Richardson recognized her: Ferenil, the pilot of Isobael's hovercraft during the tunnel battle. The middle of her body was clumsily wound with bandages and her grip on life was fading fast.

"AAAI-YAAAI-YAAAAAAA!" Phil Darwin burst in behind Schuhart, a flowerpot perched on his head and a pair of pinstriped boxer shorts dangling from the tip of his bayonet. "SURRENDER DOROTHY!"

In the stunned silence which followed, a large cardboard box scooted through the doorway, weaved between the two men and charged up the aisle, only to snag a corner on the end of a pew. It disintegrated, revealing Errol Darwin crouching in a plaid kilt, welder's goggles and snorkel. With his cover in tatters, he jumped to attention and saluted Schuhart. "Distraction complete, sah!"

"Thanks," the arms dealer muttered irritably. "KK, get up."

"Fuck you." Keiko kissed Kang again, despite the latter's squirming.

"Figures." Schuhart shifted Ferenil so that she rested in the crook of one arm. "Cue Plan B."

He started to reach for the shotgun strapped to his leg. Keiko rocked back onto one foot, then catapulted herself down the channel between the long benches. Richardson ducked, hearing a dull boomph and a loud whap! "Yeeooooow!" the giantess howled. "You bastard!"

"Sorry," said Schuhart, not sounding sorry at all. Richardson raised her head in time to see him tip the Remington vertical and release his grasp, catching it by the fore-end as it fell. "You know I hate to do this," he added, tucking the plastic pistol grip into his armpit, "but you'll regret it in the morning if I don't." Shrick – shack!

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..!" Ferenil went stiff at the mechanical noise, wide eyes staring blankly at the far wall. Her reaction earned a chagrined look from her bearer, who quickly deposited her on the closest pew.

"Hold it!" Karan rushed into the church, brandishing a long-barreled automatic rifle with a flashlight duct-taped to the side of its triangular wooden handguard. He did a double-take when he saw Keiko and Kang. "What's going on here?"

"I don't want to know," Schuhart replied evenly, "and you shouldn't either... Was there a holdup?"

"No," said the Indian. "I simply couldn't find my way at first." He unclipped one of the two large bandoleers which hung across his chest and held it out. "I ran into Singh on the way here – he gave me the One-A and some ammunition for you."

"Much obliged." Schuhart put the shotgun's safety on and holstered it. "What'd you do with the Gepard?"

"I left it with Freebooter. He said he knew how to use it."

"Considering where he came from, he'd better know how." Schuhart took an empty rifle magazine out of his vest and started loading rounds into the top of the flat rectangle. "Is Daemon expecting any trouble?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Good. Do me a favor and call in a Hip, would you? That kid ain't gonna make it without help."

Karan surveyed Ferenil's weak state with a wince. "Friendly fire?"

"Nah," said the one-eyed man absently. "I nailed her before the surrender order was passed down. She was still alive when I came back."

"Ah..." The Indian retreated without further comment.

"I hate those beanbags." Keiko stood up, rubbing the front of her thigh. Her demeanor was comparatively placid now. "Gonna have a huge bruise."

"You could have settled for just the hangover," her cousin needled. "And fix your top, would you?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Keiko looked around for the sports bra, neglecting to cover herself all the while. Webley recovered the garment after a few moments of searching and brought it forward. "Thanks," the muscular woman grunted, pulling it on. She threw one last, longing glance at Kang, then limped down the aisle and out into the night.

Schuhart let out a sigh of relief. "That could have gone worse," he opined, looking to either side. "Is everyone else okay?"

"No losses or wounds," Sauer reported.

"You kids get all the luck," the man quipped wanly. He turned his attention to Kang as she – having corrected her clothes while group focus was elsewhere in the room – stood up. "With a little to spare for you, even."

The colonel didn't look at him. "...Why did you stop her?"

"Why shouldn't I have stopped her?" Schuhart shook his head. "She isn't normal, Colonel. When she gets too much of a combat high, it hotwires her libido... Indulging her doesn't make it any better." He limped closer to her. "If you need to blame someone, blame me for pushing her too far."

Kang lifted her face. "I'm the one who should be sorry – "

"Damned right you are," said Schuhart bluntly. "You're getting off lightly because you're an irreplaceable asset, understand?"

"You intend to use me as leverage against Renaril."

"I thought about it," the one-eyed man admitted, "but Miss Zheng would put the hurt on me for sure." He swung the rifle off his back and latched a refilled magazine into it. "You'll be miserable enough before long, anyway. The PRC has ceased to be."

"What..?"

"We're short on exact details, but it's a mess all around: army units in Beijing are shelling the Zhongnanhai and the Forbidden City, an Islamic republic has been proclaimed in Xinjiang, and in Shanxi some general has declared martial law. Last I heard, there was total anarchy in parts of Heilongjiang and Jilin." Shachack! "So you'd better pull yourself together."

When Kang responded, she did so in a numb murmur. "What would you have me do?"

"Stick to the plan, more or less... You've frittered away the years waiting for a political messiah to appear – how about you show some initiative and be one yourself?"

"I – I can't..."

"No choice," said Schuhart gravely, re-slinging his weapon. "No choice for any of us." He glanced behind himself as the beating of helicopter rotors rose far away. "We're moving out, people – pack your gear and douse those candles."

Richardson was ready to leave in seconds. Since others were already extinguishing the myriad points of light, she gravitated towards her patron as he took out a compact flashlight, switched it on and clipped it to his vest. "Uncle Roland..."

Lebel got to him first: "Here," she said, holding out a pair of pistols. "You dropped these earlier."

"Thanks." Schuhart tucked away the Hi-Powers and carefully picked up the still-catatonic Ferenil. "You were saying something, Richardson?"

"Um, yes... Is your arm all right?"

"It's not serious," Schuhart grunted, cradling the Arume with deceptive gentleness. "I've been hit by bigger bullets."

Richardson could believe that. She started to close the gap only to bump into someone else in the dark: looking up, she found herself facing Kang. Her first impulse was to push the Chinese female away, but then she remembered their conversation during the afternoon ceasefire and the great troubles which must weigh on the forime's mind. She expected to experience repulsion, even hatred for this woman, but she was instead filled with a great feeling of pity.

"I'm sorry."

Richardson snaked an arm around Kang's waist, slipping her other hand into the gap in the officer's shirt. "I know," she whispered, laying her palm against the adult's warm, smooth belly. "Even a good person can make bad choices." She stared into those brown eyes with all the severity she could project. "Renaril will want to touch you, kiss you, plant her seed in you... If she is also a truly good person, please don't make her sad."

"I'll try."

The accidental tenderness was broken by Sauer. "Uncle Roland, what about Miss Camilla?"

"The docs told me she could have one or two visitors," Schuhart answered, raising his voice proportional to the din outside, "but not everybody at once." He turned this way and that, panning his light over those gathered in the aisle. "Follow me, folks."

As the procession began to move, Richardson felt an arm link with her own. Turning her head, she saw Harrington at her side. "Are you all right?" she asked in soft Arumic.

The sharpshooter nodded. "Yes..."

The gosta smiled for the first time in a long while. "I'm glad." They walked to the helicopter together, waiting patiently while Ferenil was placed on an improvised stretcher and carried aboard. Schuhart stood outside the door until everyone else had entered the fuselage, then abruptly stepped back a pace.

"KNOW THIS," he roared, thrusting a defiant fist towards the sky. "KILLIN' IS MAH BUSINESS, LADIES... AND BUSINESS – IS – GOOD!"