Chapter 21: Shining star
Picking up the dead soldier's discarded machine gun, Selina kept the barrel aimed at the cooperating soldiers, effectively keeping them at bay. Eric, Rose and I slowly made our way through the crowd of soldiers and into the hallway. We still could identify the screams of some of the citizens being mercilessly slaughtered from outside the hospital window and from down the hall. Before we left I decided to ask the one questioned that burned in my mind since this began. "Why is this bloodshed necessary?" I asked aloud. The soldiers looked at each other with confusion almost as if none of them could answer my question truthfully. "You don't even know why you kill your own kind?" I added to my earlier question. "It's because we were labeled the enemy and they were trained to simply obey their orders without question. It's only when we stop to ask those questions do we see the truth of it." Selina answered for the soldiers. I looked at her with a newfound sense of respect for her as she continuously surprised me. There must have been around twelve or thirteen soldiers and she had them all scared to death with just one single move and still displayed a certain wisdom, like she had experienced all of this before.
"You guys get moving. I can keep these guys at bay and catch up in a hurry." Selina ordered with a slight confident smile. With that, the other soldiers simply gulped with fear and she retorted, "Oh don't give me that! I'm not going to kill anyone that I don't have to." And the some of the soldiers released the breath that they have been holding. We made our way out of the hospital with Selina slowly following us and picking off any soldiers that decided to pursue. We finally made it to the ground floor and exited through an emergency exit only to wind up face to face with another squadron of soldiers led by a tall skinny man dressed completely in black. He wore a mask made from steel that still revealed his dark red eyes and the insanity swirling deep within them. The mask was shaped like his face only it had on it, red paint swirling around the top of the like a wispy eyebrow and made its way down the cheek. The mask was designed to be perfectly symmetrical and he even had a red headband around the mask's forehead. He cackled with delight in a high pitched laugh and said, "Out of the frying pan and into the firing squad! Any last words, Selina Alumsdale?" "Derik Umara!" Were her only words as she lowered her eyebrows in serious defense. "Eee, he, he, he! Who would have thought that you actually fall for one of my traps? You're losing your touch Scarlet Star!" Eric and Rose looked at Selina as if they had finally realized something. "You are the Scarlet Star?" Rose exclaimed. "I think the appropriate term would be I used to be the Scarlet Star." She responded through her teeth. I simply stood there confused. "I don't get it." I said finally. Eric stood by and answered my thoughts with a touch of fear on his face, "The Scarlet Star was both a famous assassin and thief. She was a master of the giant shuriken and was capable of decimating half of an army single handedly whilst picking their pockets." Selina seemed to take offense to the remark. "I never stole from the innocent. I only cleaned up the streets of the city and returned whatever was stolen in the first place. Sort of like the tales of Robin Hood."
"Enough of your prattle!" Derik screamed in insane delight. I'm going to enjoy watching the blood erupt from your body while these men pump you full of bullets!" "You were always insane, Derik." Selina said through her teeth. "Maybe so, but that's why I always win!" He shouted maniacally before jetting his right arm forward, pointing at our little group and screaming, "FIRE!" We all thought that that was it and we were going to get turned into swiss cheese. But nothing happened and it took us all a few seconds to realize that there was no pain. We slowly opened our eyes and saw the squadron of men standing there and Derik looking back, wondering why they didn't shoot. Moments later, the entire squad fell onto their faces with blood spraying from large slash wounds in their backs. "What?" Derik asked from behind his mask. He then turned back toward our group and pulled out a pair of strange looking blades. They pointed past his wrists and just beyond his elbows and the handle was latched sideways on the blades. "Fine then. I guess I'll just have to kill you all myself!" He stated in more insane delight. As he readied himself for battle, a giant eight pointed metal star with blades about as long as Selina's arm came in from nowhere and buried one of the blades into the ground around ten feet from Selina herself. The star was amazing looking, eight points evenly spaced and evenly long the edges of each point were sharpened to form a sword blade in the exact shape of the weapon. The center of the star had a hole with a single bar stretching across for a handle. The handle was even one and a half hands in length. Its silvery blue hue captured my gaze completely and had yet to release its grip. "Sensei, I got your shuriken for you. I thought that you might need it." We heard Ella's voice shout from afar. Instinctively, we turned our gaze to where her voice came from and found her atop the hospital roof behind us. In her hand, she held another star designed similar but only had four points instead of eight. Selina then nodded her approval to Ella and raced in toward her weapon.
Noticing her movements, Derik lunged at her to try and slay her before she could reach her weapon in time. Selina never turned her gaze from Derik as she reached across her body with her right hand, snagged her giant shuriken by the handle and brought it up to block Derik's attack who had come in with a quick stabbing motion. The weapons met and rang aloud from the clash, letting their song of battle be known to the entire world. The two struggled against the other's weapon, trying to push either one to his or her knees. "You think you're a hero of some sort. Don't you, Scarlet Star?" Derik taunted. Selina gritted her teeth and retorted, "And you have yet to fully master those Tonfa blades." With that, the pushed with all of her might and he flew off of her only to gracefully land on his feet just six feet away. He tilted his head back and began laughing insanely. He took a deep breath once he had emptied his lungs and glared at Selina through his steel mask and stated, "You truly have lost your touch, Scarlet Star! You would have killed me by now and searched my wallet for money four years ago!" "Shut up! I've never killed an innocent soul in my life." She answered him. "Oh, please! You think all of the people you had stopped were guilty of those crimes?" Derik asked maniacally. Now we all were extremely confused and Selina most of all. "I must admit, it was quite fun to improve my speed by stealing someone's purse, hand it to a nearby stranger and threaten his life if he didn't run away with it." A sudden realization hit Selina as she recalled one incident where she thought that she could hear the perpetrator actually pleading for his life as he ran away with a stolen purse. The person was a pretty fast and she had started out not too long ago and still was getting used to accurately throwing her shuriken weapon. The only way she could see to stop him was to try and make him fall by tossing the weapon in front of him to scare him but, she missed and the shuriken accidently slashed through the man's back, killing him.
She failed to notice Derik lunging at her once more while she was distracted and was barely able to dodge before he plunged one of his Tonfa blades through her right shoulder. "Sensei!" Ella called out as she saw the attack commence and fade. The two of them simply stood there for a time until, Derik pulled the blade out of Selina's shoulder and jump backward and away. Selina then collapsed to her knees and gripped her wounded shoulder. It began to burn intensely from the weight of her weapon and it was all she could do to hold on to it. Once again, Derik began to laugh insanely and shouted, "Your time in paradise made you a fool! You never even realized that I was the one allowing you to play 'hero' in the city alley ways. It was so enjoyable to figure out new ways to get you to cut people down. It's too bad I have to destroy you now. And while you are thinking about your penance, I'll be busy destroying everything you hold dear!"