Act 3 Scene 4 虫を食べる花 [Mushi-o Taberu Hana] 'Bug Eating Flower'

Ran's ears were ringing. What just happened? She was on the floor. Dust was everywhere, and the acrid scent of burning plastic. An earthquake? No, wrong. The earth wasn't still shaking. There was so much smoke. Where was it coming from? She looked at the window. The glass had shattered inwards. Good thing she hadn't been by the window. There was a column of smoke rising outside. An explosion? No, given their situation, a bomb.

Where was Conan? Before the blast, he had been sitting at her desk, making phone calls, using both of his cell phones. She stepped gingerly around the glass. Her winter boots were stored in her closet. Those would help. Conan moaned. The chair had overturned, hiding him from view.

"Conan!" she yelled. Her voice sounded distant and quiet, but he responded, waving his hand. Good, still alive. Where were those boots? She dug through her shoes, many of them old pairs she'd gotten years ago, when her feet were smaller. There. She gripped the heavy, dusty boots and wrenched them out. They were tight, but fit well enough for what she needed.

The phones… Hers was hopelessly broken. One of Conan's still had a glowing screen, but it was cracked, and unintelligible. The other didn't respond at all. She stuck them into her pocket, and picked up Conan. His eyes didn't seem to want to focus, and he couldn't stop coughing. She could hear sounds outside now. Her ears were readjusting. People outside were screaming. The building groaned.

The floor slumped toward the street. She leapt, Conan under one arm, reaching for the inner bedroom wall, just as most of her bedroom peeled off the building and collapsed into the street. The cold night air rushed to greet her and swept away the fumes of the burning lower floors. They were trapped on the two-foot wide strip of floor, wall on one side, burning debris and a three story fall on the other.

They'd have to wait. She held Conan tight, wishing she'd grabbed a blanket off the bed, but then remembered that the bed had been covered in glass.

Neighbors were wandering into the street. They had flashlights, and pointed them at her through the smoke, and called out to her, telling her that it'd be okay, that help was on the way.

It didn't come.

An hour waiting in the cold, breathing the fumes of burning debris, and they were nowhere in sight. Her neighbors started clearing out the stairwell. Had there been other bombings? Maybe the police were occupied with those. She could hear sirens from every direction, all in the distance. They weren't in immediate danger.

Wait.

Conan was shaking too much and having trouble breathing. Where were they? The neighbors broke into her apartment and tried to reassure her. Someone said he knew just the thing to get them out. He returned a few minutes later and told them he was going to break through the wall with a sledgehammer. The wall flew to pieces, one strike at a time. He poked his head through. It was Amuro.

Bourbon.

He'd probably planned this, she figured. That placid smile on his wretched face had to be wiped off. He beckoned. Ran had to gather all of her acting ability. He was the only way out. Through him was the only way out.

Challenge accepted.

Ran smiled, and put Conan down. She buried her aching muscles and exhaustion deep. "Amuro!" she said in what she hoped was a grateful tone. He appeared to be fooled. "Hey, do you remember the first thing you taught me about getting into fights?"

Amuro held out his hand, laughing. "Yeah, I think the bombers hit first."

She grasped it. Then yanked. He was off balance. There was too little floor here for him to land on. She flung herself on her back. There were pieces of shrapnel still imbedded in her back, she discovered. They made a grinding noise on the floor as she put her boots in his stomach. With a cry, half out of pain, half out of exertion, she rolled with him over the edge. She landed crouching on top of him, in the remnants of the other half of her bedroom. His ribs made a very satisfying crunch.

"Hello Bourbon," she hissed.

His eyes were wide in panic, his mouth open, trying to suck in a breath. He might die.

He might die?

She jumped off him, trying not to make further damage. To her relief he started to breathe. She grabbed the quilt on her bed, and threw it aside, shards of glass pouring off of it. The sheet beneath was the best she could do. She rummaged through Bourbon's pockets, looking for a cell phone or anything he could use to hurt her or escape. She threw his knife down the street. He had a burner phone. She tucked that in her pocket. She wrapped him up like a sushi roll. That should keep him stuck while she grabbed Conan and went somewhere safe.

A shadow appeared in her way. A tall, black felt shadow, with cold, dead eyes and long, grey hair. Her body hummed with adrenaline.

"Impressive, Miss Mouri," Gin said. "And certainly creative. What warranted that?"

"Hello Gin," she replied. That was all she needed to say, she figured.

Bourbon coughed and sputtered behind her.

He frowned, and tilted his hat to cover more of his face. "Little girl," he hissed. "I'm not holding back this time." Gin pulled a gun and fired, all in one smooth action that was a blur to the human eye.

Ran was faster. She moved in time to his finger, dodging the bullet. She felt the branding heat of its path as it cut through the top layers of skin on her left shoulder. The adrenaline burned inside her, pushing her beyond what she could otherwise do. It also gave her tunnel vision, and that tunnel led to Gin. She closed the distance in an instant.

Gin was caught off balance. He'd never seen someone do that. When your opponent is off balance, strike the hardest, and keep the blows coming. Thank you Amuro, she thought. She knocked the gun out of his hand as he tried to squeeze out another shot. It skittered across the ground. She snatched the hand he'd fired with, yanked it straight, and punched his elbow from below to make it bend the wrong way. It made a satisfying snap.

A sliver of ice-cold pain sliced into her flesh under her outstretched arm. His other hand had a knife, and it was cutting into her. She had to break loose.

Gin grabbed his arm, and re-bent it, jaw locked to prevent any sign of weakness from showing.

Ran grabbed her side. The blade had scraped against her ribcage. Good skeleton, it was doing its job. She was breathing hard, and she could feel every breath as it moved her scarred ribs. This would limit her movements. She spotted the gun she'd tossed aside earlier. Attacking from a distance would be better in her condition. She feigned a jump to the right, slid to her left and grabbed the gun.

Gin laughed. "You'd better hit me in the head little girl! If you want to live, that is. How about it, wanna become a murderer tonight?"

No. She wasn't going to let that happen. Not with her childhood friend watching. He was covered, from the neck down with various types of body armor. There had to be another way through it. Her aim wasn't good enough to hit a small target, like his knees or ankles. She smiled, raised the gun, and fired the remaining eight bullets into the lower right side of his chest's body armor.

The gun was empty. She dropped it loosely from her fingertips, letting an ounce of her exhaustion come to the surface. She slowly climbed up, favoring her cut side, and limped towards him, breathing hard.

He laughed. Her first blow was easily blocked, but her second blow was her foot, crunching through the fractured body armor she'd filled with bullets, taking a few of his ribs. It felt like the last remnant of her strength had been burned up. He'd better stay down, or she was done for. She picked up a brick, crouched by his knee, where there'd have to be a weakness in his armor, and brought it down as hard as she could. It made a pleasing sound.

"Stay down," she said, her voice hoarse.

He knew better than to move. This orchid was the type that devoured the insects who wished to dine on it.

Conan.

She spun and sprinted up the cleared stairs to their apartment. "Who are those men?" asked Azusa, owner of the coffee shop on the ground floor. A damp bucket was in her hands. She trembled as Ran approached.

"They're the ones who blew up my house, and tried to kidnap me and Conan."

"But wasn't Amuro your father's apprentice?"

Ran realized that she must be covered in dirt and blood and ash, and her eyes must be red from the smoke, like a demon freshly crawled out of the abyss. She tried to rub some off on her pajama top, but it was in the same state. "He was spying on us. Where's Conan? Did you move him?"

Azusa covered her mouth, shaking. "Was one of them big? He was dressed in black, said he was a doctor, and he had sunglasses on at night…"

Ran thought on all of the descriptions Conan has given her. Vodka? "It could be one of them."

"That man, he took Conan!"

Ran was already exhausted, in every possible meaning of the word. Now she was truly furious. She pulled out the burner phone, and punched in the phone number for That Person. She wanted to strike him, hit him in the gut and take him down.

"Hello?" the voice was distorted, using some sort of machine to change it.

"Hello. This is Ran Mouri. I just wanted to let you know that I took down two of your agents. You should let the ambulances through, if you don't want to lose them."

Laughter. How could this possibly be funny?

"Why keep two weak agents when I could have a powerful agent like yourself at my side?"

"You'd let them die?" she hissed. Her breath caught as her injured ribs moved.

"Me? They'll die of the injuries you gave them. How does it feel to have completed your first two kills?"

Ran's vision blacked out.

"I was thinking of a code name for you. What do you think of Rum? Rum is made from fermenting molasses, and it packs quite the punch. Fitting, wouldn't you say? Normally I name women after wines, but I also enjoy alliteration."

This couldn't be happening.

"Little Conan will be kept safe with us. Now, why don't you-"

She hung up. Then passed out.

Author's Note

Sooooo... my fanfic is so dated... First Sera's mystery child, second Bourbon, and third, the member named "Rum." I wrote this back in November, for Nanowrimo. Right before all of the plot stuff started happening. Oh well.

I'm too tired right now to make one of the usual author notes, but I am preparing a topic: The Vanishing Vowels. I also am a fan of alliteration.

また来週！ (See you next week!)
dreamingfifi

P.S. This was my second favorite chapter to write.