The darkened room was thick with the smoke of candles set in their sconces on the walls. She struggled to breathe, trying to escape his grasp. Those red eyes of his stared hungrily at her as he licked his sharpened teeth. His steel arm grew tiny red and black blades, drawing little trickles of blood from her arms. She had come so far only to be beaten by him. She watched in horror as he chuckled menacingly at her and aimed to attack her throat…
Maka jumped into a battle-ready stance, her hunting knife still in hand. It took a moment for her to realize that she was safe, that she was not in that black room at all, but rather her room. She fell backwards to the floor with a sigh. "It was just a dream…" she murmured, throwing an arm over her eyes. Nightmares weren't new to her. She was a solider after all. She had seen plenty of horrors in her waking hours; it made sense that they would haunt her sleeping ones as well. She thought of the man she had allowed to sleep on her couch while she slept. He was a stranger. For all she knew, he was supposed to be an assassin whose plan was to lull her into a false sense of security until he felt it was the opportune moment to strike. She knew better than to trust people. That's how her father died. That's how her mother left her. That's how she had been hurt numerous times in the past. "Guess I'll never learn."
"Maka!" a voice called from the other side of her bedroom door, a quick knock accompanying the voice. The soldier tensed again. She wished it wasn't her knee-jerk reaction. "It's Tsubaki! I came by to give you a tour of the city, remember?"
Reluctantly, she set her hunting knife on the bedside table. She might as well try to play along, even if it was all just a trap. Tsubaki smiled warmly at her as she opened the door. "Tour of the city, huh? In these rags?" Maka asked, motioning to her tattered uniform. She had been so tired the night before that the idea of changing out of her clothes hadn't even crossed her mind.
"I took the liberty of buying you some clothes while you were still unconscious at the hospital. I hope you don't mind." Tsubaki entered the room and opened the closet door, revealing a few different tops and bottoms, brand new and very stylish. "Here's hoping there is at least one outfit to your liking. Go ahead and change, I'll meet you at the car outside when you're ready."
As the woman turned to leave, Maka stopped her by asking, "What about Evans?"
"Oh, Soul? I sent him home when I got here. He stayed up all night making sure you were okay. Even a cyborg like him needs his rest, right? Don't worry about him, it'll just be a girls' day for us." She winked at the girl and waved goodbye before heading out the door.
Maka leaned on her bedroom's doorframe. "A cyborg? So it's more than just the arm then?" she whispered. Her thoughts drifted to those piercing red eyes, the ones that had looked like they could stare into her soul. Maybe there was a great secret behind those eyes. Pushing herself off the frame, she turned to her new wardrobe. She appreciated Tsubaki's kindness, but she felt like the girly outfits that hung in the closet weren't exactly suited for a soldier such as herself. Not that she didn't enjoy dressing like a girl. She just hadn't for such a long time. Eventually she settled for a nice combination of girly and tough, black leather boots and jacket combo with a red plaid skirt. The only problem with the ensemble? No place for her knife. "Whatever. If utopia is as it should be, I won't be needing it."
Tsubaki seemed incredibly excited to see her when she exited her home. "You look great! Hop in!"
"Where are we going?"
"City Hall. All the higher ups want to meet you, you know? You're kind of a legend." The woman sunk into the driver's seat of the vehicle, Maka taking her place in the passenger's. "They probably want to show you off, too, to be honest. That our utopia has one of the greatest warriors guarding it now."
"So how do you keep the peace here? Aside from muscle-heads like Cyborg-Boy," Maka asked as they pulled away from her home.
"Half the population is pure bioroid," Tsubaki answered matter-of-factly.
"Bioroid?"
"Don't tell me you don't know!" she exclaimed. She sighed and turned her focus back on the road as they made their way through the city. "Bioroids are artificially created humans. Their genetic makeup is nearly identical to humans, so you can't really tell them apart. I bet you didn't know I was a bioroid, too, did you?" Maka shook her head, eyeing the woman cautiously. "Although technically physically superior to humans, bioroids by no means wish to dominate them. Our role is to protect the peace. Human emotions are so unpredictable and lead to conflict, eventually war. Bioroids don't experience a full range of emotion like humans do, as many have been suppressed. We don't argue or get jealous, but we can't love either. We act as role models for humans, in a sense."
"Who's idea was all that?"
"That's why I'm so surprised you don't know. Your mother was the lead researcher on bioroid technology, before she disappeared, of course. She used her husband's genetic code to create bioroids. Your father's DNA can be found in half the population of Mors!"
"Some things never change huh? It was the same way back in Nevada," Maka said, venom on her lips.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, forget I said anything." The soldier set her elbow on the armrest and rested her face on her knuckles. Being angry and bitter about her father's past mistakes was pointless. He was gone. There was no one to be angry at. Her eyes flickered up to the rearview mirror for a moment before returning to the road. But a double-take was in order. A van behind them was just a little too close for comfort. "Hey, Tsubaki, take a left up here, would you?"
"What? Why?"
"Just a theory." Tsubaki did as she was instructed. The van followed closely behind, just as Maka had predicted. "We're being followed," she informed her driver. Suddenly, she took the wheel and jerked the car over into a nearby alley. Being who she was, Maka knew better than to take chances with a vehicle following her. It usually meant trouble, and she didn't want Tsubaki involved. Halfway out of the passenger's seat, the blonde took control of the steering and maneuvered the car through back alleyways, the van still hot on their trail. She watched two figures leap out of the van, leaving it to crash into the buildings behind them. One of the figures lobbed an object up and over the car, far ahead of them.
Maka realized too late that it was a bomb. It detonated, crashing the car in the middle of the alley. Although very shaken, both women appeared to be okay. "What was that…?" Tsubaki asked, holding her head in her hands.
"Just another day in paradise," the younger woman replied. "I'll take care of them, you stay here." She exited the car to face her adversaries. They were feminine-looking robots, one silver, holding what Maka guessed were more bombs, and one pink, with elongated and probably sharpened fingernails. "Yeah, that's about right," she sighed, regretting leaving her knife at home.
She rushed towards the two, sweeping a leg under her targets. Both dodged easily. The silver one threw another bomb at her feet. She back-flipped away just in time before it detonated. Lunging at the bomb carrier, she landed a swift punch to the side of its head. It knocked her back into the side of a building with its own punched aimed at her stomach. Grabbing her throat, it held her against the wall, another bomb ready to blow in its hands. A bullet knocked it away before it could be activated.
Both soldier and robot looked to the source of the bullet to find her white-haired bodyguard, armed and ready to fire again. "Soul!" she exclaimed before kicking the robot away from her.
Soul shot a few more rounds at the silver robot. It attempted to lob more bombs at him, but the bullets rendered them and it useless in no time. A few acrobatic flips from the pink robot brought it closer to him. It made quick work of the gun in his hands with its blades, slicing it to ribbons. This didn't faze him. A well aimed kick sent the robot flying back to Maka. With one final punch from the blonde to the face, it crumpled to the ground, immobilized.
Maka watched its jaws move as it tried to speak. She came closer and heard it repeat the words "The secret of Resonance must never be unlocked." Another shot fired, silencing the machine. She looked to Soul, now holding a smoking handgun. He must have had a spare with him.
"This going to be a regular thing for us, Tiny Tits?" he asked with a grin. "You get yourself in trouble, and I come in to save your ass?"
She glared defiantly at him. "No one asked for your help! I could have handled them myself!"
"Right, so you weren't about to be blown to smithereens before I got here?"
She moved to argue with him, but Tsubaki finally stepped in. "If you don't mind, we do have an appointment to get to. Shinigami has been excited to finally meet you, Maka. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting, would we?"
"Guess we'll continue this another time then," Soul said. He motioned to his motorcycle at the other, still somehow undamaged, end of the alley. "Think you can handle that thing?" he asked Maka. "I gotta take care of the mess you made or Spartoi'll be on my ass."
"Anyone can drive it if you can," she scoffed as she and Tsubaki climbed aboard the motorcycle. She had only driven one once before. But it was like riding a bike, right? You never forget.
"Just don't get into another accident, you got me? That thing's my baby, and I don't want to have to take it back to Black Star to get it fixed again!" he shouted as they pulled away, headed for City Hall.