"So, where are we going again?" Anna asked, strapping herself into her seat in the team's SUV. "Also, why couldn't you have told us before?"
"Well, I couldn't tell you in the house because we've swept the car for bugs more recently." Nathan said, look. "We can't risk exposing potentially incriminating evidence, including recordings of questionable conversations."
"So then, where are we going?" Alex asked, from his seat next to Anna. "I've been wondering about that."
"We're meeting with an information broker who claims to have information about shady Japanese Government activities, which he hinted involved human experimentation." Nathan said. "It's probably nothing, but there's a chance that there might be a big payoff, so we have to take the risk."
"I thought we were supposed to be a command team." Alex said. "Not field agents. Shouldn't they be the ones gathering this information?"
"We are." Ishikawa said, turning around from his position in the shotgun seat. "But due to certain disruptions in travel," he looked at Alex, "we are facing an even greater manpower shortage on this mission than was initially expected. As a result, everyone has to pull double duty until more agents can be emplaced."
"Okay." Alex said. "So where are we meeting this information broker?"
"Akihabara, in Tokyo." Ishikawa said. "I believe there is a certain location that has been chosen for the meeting already."
"Why there?" Alex asked. "Wouldn't you want to have something like this out in the country, where people would be less likely to stumble into the meeting?"
"Not necessarily." Ishikawa said, as he pulled the vehicle out of the driveway. "Then we could track each other's vehicles, if we were so inclined. This manner of doing business gives both sides more anonymity, which people in the profession of our contact tend to value."
"That makes sense, I guess." Alex said. "What are we giving him in exchange for the information?"
"Taxpayer dollars." Anna said. "What did you expect?"
"I figure'd we'd have to give him information of our own. Isn't that how these guys usually work?" Alex said.
"No," Nathan said. "You always have to pay these guys for the meeting. From there, sometimes you have to trade pieces of information, tic-for-tac. Its a blatant rip off, but its better than trying to go through the official channels."
"I'd imagine so." Anna said. "So what exactly are we trying to learn from this guy?"
"We aren't entirely sure." Ishikawa replied. "But at this point, we're operating on so little information that anything will be of assistance. Really, we're hoping to learn anything."
"I see." Anna said.
Break
"A maid cafe?" Anna said. "Really?"
"If these directions are correct, yes." Ishikawa said, looking down at a handwritten sheet. "It does seem like a strange place to meet an information broker."
"It's definitely the strangest place I've ever met a dealer." Nathan said.
"I bet he's some kind of pervert." Anna muttered. "Meeting us in a place like this..."
Alex looked at his watch. "I wonder when he's going to get here." Alex said. "Isn't the meeting supposed to start soon?"
"Yes, it is," Nathan growled. "I hope this guy didn't stand us up, for his sake."
"I'm sure he's simply running behind schedule." Ishikawa said, looking down at Nathan. "After all, the traffic on the way here was quite thick."
Alex looked at Hikari. She was wearing the one of Anna's spare pastel dresses, through it was a bit baggy on her around the chest. She had a nervous look in her eyes, and glanced around constantly.
"Hey." Alex said, taking her hand and pulling her aside. She gasped as his skin touched hers.
"Y...Yes?" She asked, trying to keep a straight face.
"What are you worried about?" Alex asked, leaning down slightly to look the shorter girl in the eyes.
"I'm just scared that something will go wrong with this meeting." She said. "What if this Information Broker betrays us and the police come, and I have to go back to the lab?"
"I'm sure that won't happen. Even if it does, we can always fight our way out. With your barriers, I think we can take on five times our numbers in basic infantry."
"But what if they send a witch?" Hikari said. "I can't fight an A-ranked witch. I-"
"No." Alex said. "I'll handle it. I've already taken down one witch, and I can do it again. This time, I have alies. We can take on anything they'll throw at us."
He left the unless they throw the entire Japanese Military at us unsaid.
"But Alex?"
"Yes?"
"I don't want to go back to the lab." Hikari said, a sudden steel in her voice. "If it comes to that... I don't what to go back there."
"I understand." Alex said. "I promise." He had no idea if he would be able to follow through on that promise, if it came to that, but he could try. And besides, right now, what was important was keeping their witch as stable as possible.
And if that meant telling her that he would shoot her out of the arms of her previous captors, then so be it.
"Ah, hello there." Alex turned around. A purple-haired Japanese man wearing a long coat approached the storefront of the cafe where the team was waiting. He appeared to be the one who had spoken.
He was flanked by two men in nondescript coats wearing large hats. Behind them stood a strangely dressed girl. The moment he caught sight of her, Alex's gaze flickered toward Hikari.
The girl had long, silvery hair that hung below her shoulders, and she wore a bulky jumpsuit of a darker shade of silver covered in numerous pouches and pockets. The strangest part were her eyes, which were a dark violet color.
"I believe we have an appointment." The man said. "If you would follow me."
He opened the glass door and walked inside the cafe. Nathan hesitated for a moment, then followed, and the rest of the group walk in after him. Alex waited until the rest of the CIA team, plus the information broker's people, had walked in before entering, keeping an eye on Hikari as he did so. This was the first time they were bringing her into a high-stress situation, and he wanted to be careful.
The large group entered the cafe and spread out.
"Welcome home, masters!" The waitresses, who were of course dressed as classic maids, said.
"Thank you." The information broker said, walking toward the hostess. "We'll take the private room."
"That room is by reservation only-" The hostess began.
The information broker reached toward her and pushed something into her hand. The girl looked down and her eyes widened, then spoke. "If you'll follow me, please."
The maid lead the group toward a side room, then stepped aside as they began to enter. Alex, still at the back of the group, cast a sideways look at the strangely dressed, violet-eyed girl. Something seemed off about her, but he couldn't put his finger on what. It could just be that it was here strange dress that was making him suspicious, but her clothing could just be a distraction, meant to draw a viewer's attention away from something else.
As he walked in, Alex considered the other two men that the information broker had brought. He couldn't spot any obvious firearms, but it was clear from their presence that the two men were gunners. There was really no other reason for them to be at the meeting.
It was, actually, pretty gutsy of the man to allow the group to outnumber him here. From what Alexander had read, that wasn't how these types of men normally operated. He suspected that they would have other people on site, perhaps mixed in with the restaurant staff, but he had no way of confirming it unless they pulled out guns.
Alex was the last to sit down, and as he did so, the waitress began to pass out menus. Alex opened it up, looked at it for a moment, then ordered an omelette.
The waitress walked out, and the information broker put down his menu. "So, gentlemen, how may I be of assistance?" He said with a smile.
"We've heard that you have certain information that may be of interest to us." Nathan said. "That's how you may be of assistance."
"Well, yes, that's certainly possible." The information broker said. "I specialize in interesting information. But is there perhaps an incentive for me to share my information?"
"This." Nathan said, passing an attache case to the information broker under the table. "I assume that you are sufficiently interested?"
The broker passed the case to one of his nondescript associates, who snapped it open on his lap, facing away from Alex, and nodded.
"I'm interested." The information broker said. "So what is it you want to know?"
"You claim to have knowledge about certain experiments performed by a certain Japanese Government agency." Nathan said quietly. "We want to know what's going on."
"That's a very interesting subject." The information broker said. "And one I'm not so sure that I want to talk about. See, people in the underworld who look too close into that matter have a tendency to start disappearing."
"I've already paid you." Nathan said. "If you intend to go back on our deal..."
"There's no need to worry about that." The broker said quickly. "I was simply requesting that you express discretion in your dealings involving this subject."
He leaned toward the center of the table. "From what I've heard, there's a group associated with the Government that's been abducting girls for experimentation. I don't know what they're up to, but everyone I've talked to has said there's something weird going on with them."
"Are they part of the Japanese Government?" Nathan asked, leaning toward the broker.
"I don't know, but I hear the scale they're operating on is something else." The broker answered. "I don't know how they'd be getting away with what they're doing otherwise."
"Huh." Nathan said. "Is that all you have?"
The broker passed Nathan something. "That contains the rest of the information I have gathered on this subject." He said, them stood up. "Now, if those are all your questions, I'm afraid this lovely meeting must come to an end."
Alexander glanced out of the door leading to the main space of the restaurant. There was no one there, and he didn't spot anyone walking by on the street, a marked change from only minutes before.
The strangely dressed girl also stood up, and walked over to stand next to the information broker.
Ishikawa elbowed Anna. She nodded and pulled out her smartphone.
"It was a pleasure talking to you all." The information broker said. "But I have confirmed that you are my targets."
He turned to the girl standing next to him. "Audacia, destroy them."
"Yes... sir." She said, then slowly turned to face the CIA team. The girl, Audacia, held out a hand and snapped her fingers.
Immediately, a billowing cloud of white mist appeared behind her. Alex watched, dumbstruck. A shadow began to appear in the depths of the cloud of mist. A large one.
"Witch!" Alex shouted, reaching down toward his belt.
As he drew a smoke grenade, the shadow in the mist behind Audacia became more defined. The mist began to clear.
A metal arm shot out of the cloud and grabbed the girl under the arms, lifted her into the air, and pulled her back into the mist.
Alex threw the smoke grenade toward the information broker. As it flew through the air, leaving a trail of grey behind it, Nathan drew his handgun and fired three times into the cloud of mist.
As the gun fired the second and third shoots, the sound of bullets ricocheting off metal echoed out of the could.
Alex had no idea what was going on, but he knew he was already at a disadvantage. He reached down to his belt, drew two smoke grenades, and threw them at the cloud the enemy witch had materialized.
Then he turned and, with the rest of the team, ran like hell.
Nathan took the lead as the group fled the cafe. As Alexander had previously noticed, there was on one in the front of the restaurant, and no one on the street.
"Where are we going?" Anna asked, as they ran down the street.
"To the car." Nathan responded.
"Are we running away?" Anna continued.
"No, we need to get something."
"What?" Alex shouted.
"You'll see." Ishikawa said.
They reached the car a couple dozen seconds later. As crashes echoed from restaurant, Nathan and Ishikawa grabbed the back doors of the van and threw them open, revealing a large black plastic box. They pulled it out and slammed it onto the concrete, then flung it open.
Inside were five FGM-244 Jaeger missile launchers.
Nathan grabbed the top rocket launcher and slung it over his shoulder. Ishikawa did likewise. As Alex stared, Ishikawa grabbed another rocket launcher and pushed it into his hands.
"I take it you know how to use these?" Nathan said.
"Yeah, but... You brought rocket launchers to a meeting?"
"And lo and behold, it paid off." Nathan said, grabbing two bandoliers carrying three reloads each and passed one to Alex. "Make your shots count. That thing might be a paper tiger, but I doubt it."
"What's the plan?" Anna asked, as she took a rocket launcher for herself. "What do we do?"
"Split up." Nathan said, as Ishikawa retrieved a machine gun from behind a false panel in the car. "Alex and I take cover on the street, you and Ishikawa climb up into the buildings and provide us with covering fire."
"Got it." Alex said, already scanning the street for cover. There was an elevated overlock with some cover, as concrete street decorations and plenty of parked cars. "What about Hikari?"
"She runs away." Nathan said. "Maybe we can hold this thing here for long enough for her to get away. You still have your Death Suppressants on you, right?"
Hikari nodded.
"Good." Nathan looked back at the maid cafe, from which loud crashes were issuing. "Hikari, you run away and try to get to the U.S. Embassy. As for asylum. The Agency should get involved and get you back to the states, where we sent the rest of the Death Suppressants."
"No." Hikari said.
"What?" Nathan said with a start, clearly shocked.
"I'm tired of running away." Hikari said, voice wavering. "You have an extra rocket launcher. Give me one. I'll cover Alex with my powers. He'll be able to do a lot more damage that way."
"You'll die," Nathan said, staring straight at her. "Do you want to di-"
"I should have died yesterday." Hikari said, closing her eyes and smiling. "This life I have is just an extension. If by sacrificing it, I can help even one of you survive, I think I owe you that much."
She paused, then smiled. "Besides, I'm tired of running," this time, she declared it firmly.
Nathan rolled his eyes. "Fine." He muttered, and passed her a rocket launcher. She staggered slightly under the weight, but recovered quickly. She looked down the sight and fingered the trigger.
"Don't do that until you're ready to fire." Alex said. "There's no time to teach you to lock on, so just fire it like an RPG, just point and shoot, or hold it until I need it."
She nodded. "Got it."
Alexander could tell that she was doing her best to sound brave, and he didn't fault her effort. He glanced back toward the restaurant and saw a colossal metal figure in crouched position moving toward the storefront, smashing the ceiling as it did so.
"SCATTER!" Alex shouted, and began running toward a raised concrete street planter, Hikari following him. He ran in a low combat couch, cradling his rocket launcher as he did so. He looked back and saw Hikari running at her full height, not doing anything to make herself a less conspicuous target. Alex was about to shout something when he spotted the shimmer of one of her shields in the air, sheltering her.
Just as Alexander reached the cover of a concrete street planter, the massive enemy machine stepped out of the ruined cafe and into the street. While Hikari took cover, Alex took a hesitant look at the enemy machine.
It stood in the rough shape of a bulky man, with bright silvery surface metal. It carried a massive gun in both arms, and two pods extended from each shoulder. Alexander guessed they carried missiles. The barrel of an additional gun peeked out from a protrusion on the back of the machine, which looked something like a backpack. In all, the robot stood about sixteen or eighteen feet tall, including the head-like cluster of what Alex assumed to be sensors, and was a downright impressive machine.
As Alex readied his rocket launcher, the enemy robot raised it's weapon.
A stream of tracers shot out from from the weapon with a massive, repeating roar and impacted the car where the team had been standing scant seconds before.
While the pilot of robot continued to hose down the SUV, Alex cautiously rose up from behind his planter.
"Hikari, cover me!" He shouted over the continuing sound of machine gun firing.
"Okay!" She responded.
Alex popped up from behind the planter and looked down the sights of his rocket launcher and activated the targeting system. It wouldn't do much good at this range, but he needed the shot to count.
The rocket launcher began beeping, searching for a target. Alex centered the targeting sight on the enemy mech, but the auto-targeting system refused to recognize it as a legitimate target.
Alexander cursed, then switched to manual firing mode. He centered the sights on the machine, which was still hosing down the car, and pulled the trigger.
A blast of fire shot out the back end of the rocket launcher, and Alex felt the heat of the backblast wash over his back as the missile launched. With a roar, the rocket shot out of the front of the launch tube and lanced toward the target.
The missile streaked toward the target leaving a short-lived contrail of glowing smoke behind it. It impacted the enemy mech with a colossal explosion, engulfing it in smoke and flames. As the explosion ripped into the mech, Alexander thought he saw glowing blue... panels... appear around the point of impact.
Not assuming it would be that easy to dispatch the enemy, Alex reached down to his belt and drew a smoke grenade. Spotting movement a hint of movement in the enemy's direction, Alexander threw the smoke bomb, then tapped Hikari on the shoulder.
"We need to move!" He shouted.
"Got it!" She responded. "I'll make a barrier."
Alexander and Hikari ran out from behind the concrete planter, the shimmer of a barrier still between them and the smoke-obscured enemy.
A moment after the pair reached the cover of the next planter, a missile darted out of the cloud of smoke concealing the enemy mech and struck the top of the planter Alex and Hikari had just left. As it exploded with a deafening blast of sound, two more followed it in quick succession.
Alex winced as the sound of the detonation washed over him. Instants later, shards of concrete and dirt thrown up by the explosion rained down on him. A sharp piece of material sliced down his cheek, sending a short burst of pain through his face.
Alex saw Hikari shout something, and as she did so, he realized that he couldn't hear her over the ringing in his ears.
Am I deaf? Alexander thought. He shook his head and began the process of reloading the Jaeger rocket launcher, keeping his ungloved fingers clear of the metal pieces heated by the backblast from the rocket.
As Alex slid the next rocket into place, he vaguely heard the chattering roar of the enemy mech's chaingun again. It sounded like it was directed somewhere away from him, but he ducked down, not taking any chances.
Alex slid the rear latching mechanism of the rocket launcher closed, completing the reloading process. The screen on the side of the launcher began blinking as a connection to the missile inside was established, then went green.
Alexander looked at Hikari, who was huddling next to the concrete planter. He nudged her with his toe, then mimed a wall and raised his rocket launcher to his shoulder.
"You'll have to aim it manually," He shouted, on the off chance she could hear him. His voice sounded off to him. In the distance, the chaingun fire cut off abruptly. "I need you to make a wall and attack with me."
Hikari responded, but Alex couldn't make out what she said. However, the shimmer of a barrier appeared above the concrete planter, so he assumed she got the message.
Peeking out from the side of his cover, Alex caught sight of a figure moving in the smoke near where the enemy mech was. There was a roar, which he heard distantly, and a rocket streaked out from the opposite direction and struck the figure. There was a slight flare of color and like in the smoke, and then the heavy footfalls of the machine, which Alex believed was moving away from them.
"NOW!" He shouted, and Alex and Hikari sprang up from behind their cover, missile launchers on their shoulders. They drew a bead on the enemy and fired together.
Their rockets streaked out into the cloud of smoke. One of them, Alex was running too high on adrenaline to tell whose, struck the machine. This time, there was an explosion and Alex didn't spot any flash of light.
Hikari raised the barrier again as Alex tossed his second to last smoke grenade.
"Let's move!" Alex shouted. His voice still felt strange, but his hearing was definitely recovering. "Into the building!"
Under the cover of smoke and shield, the two impromptu warriors ran into the building behind them.
As they ran, Alexander heard the roar of the chaingun start up again, shortly followed by another, stranger, noise as the stream of bullets impacted Hikari's barrier. He winched reflectively, but the barrier held.
Alexander crossed his arms over his face as he smashed through the glass front door of the building. Shards of glass fell around him as he broke through the pane, and Hikari followed through the hole he had made.
He looked around. They appeared to be in the lobby of some sort of office building, with a desk in front of them and a variety of benches and tables on the floor surrounding them. Alexander looked around frantically, then he spotted what he was looking for; a fire staircase.
"This way!" He shouted, waving his arm.
Hikari followed Alex as he dashed across the lobby, pushed open the doors of the staircase, and began to ascend. Alex led the way up the staircase, wishing he had a weapon other than his rocket launcher. If they encountered anyone else...
Moments after the pair had begun ascending the stairs, the roar of the chaingun returned, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Seconds later, the sound of the explosive detonation of a Jaeger anti-armor rocket followed. The chaingun fire cut off for a second, then returned. Alex hoped that whoever had fired the rocket had taken cover properly.
Alexander and Hikari ascended four flights of stairs before exiting the stairwell. By the time they reached the landing, Hikari was panting, but she had a determined look on her face. Alex opened the door and surveyed the hallway. It was abandoned.
As he and Hikari advanced into the hallway, Alex began trying doorknobs, looking for one that was unlocked. After five tries, he found one, and he and Hikari entered the room.
It was a fairly standard office, with a large picture window obscured by curtains on the wall opposite the door. There was a desk, chair, computer, file cabinets, and other office items. Alex began pushing the heavy desk against the exterior wall.
"What are you doing?" Hikari said, standing in the doorway.
"Trying to get us some extra cover." Alex sand, pushing the desk over next to the window. "Start reloading your rocket launcher."
As Alex began the reloading process, he attempted to walk Hikari through the procedure. He finished quickly, but she made slow progress.
"Let's switch." Alexander said, as two more explosions sounded in quick succession outside.
"I'm sorry." Hikari said. "I-"
Alex grabbed the rocket launcher out of her hands and began loading his last spare rocket into it. As he slid it shut, he shoved his rocket launcher toward Hikari.
"Clear the window, then on my mark, fire on the robot." Alex said. "We're running low on missiles, so try not to miss."
As Hikari pulled the curtains aside, Alexander looked at the mech below. As he watched, a rocket streaked out from a nearby building, narrowly missed the enemy mech, and impacted against the base of the building next to them.
How much firepower will it take to bring this thing down? Alex thought, looking at the machine. It was clearly beaten up. It was covered in burn marks, and in places chunks of its armor had been torn away by the missile fire.
Hikari finished drawing up the curtains, she raised her rocket launcher. Alex grabbed a paperweight off the floor, hefted it, and began smashing the glass out of the window, sending shining shards raining down to the battle-torn street below.
Alexander dropped the paperweight and gripped the handle of his missile launcher. He drew a bead on the enemy machine, the auto-targeting on his launcher disabled. Hikari did likewise.
At the same moment, they pulled the triggers. Their rockets launched with overlapping roars, and streaked down towards the enemy below. Stupidly, Alex watched them as they descended, and saw as they impacted the enemy mech with a massive explosion, engulfing it in twin spheres of smoke and fire. As the explosions cleared, something shot up out of the machine enormously quickly.
"Let's move!" Alex shouted. He stood up and began running toward the exit of the office, grabbing Hikari's arm as he did so. She squeaked as he pull her through the door, but she retained her grip on her rocket launcher.
Alex led them back to the stairwell, and they began to descend.
"Where are we going?" Hikari asked.
"We're getting clear of our attack site." Alex said. "Either that thing is done for, or it's going to be retaliating in a hurry, and it'll be aiming straight at our launch point."
"Got it." Hikari said. "I wonder who it is?"
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, as they ran down the stairs.
"I know a lot of the witches from the lab." Hikari responded. "I might recognize her."
"So you think that's a witch?"
"Yes." Hikari said. "What else would it be?"
Alex grunted. "I think I saw something eject from that thing as our rockets hit. The pilot, or witch, or whatever, might still be out there. Be careful."
Hikari nodded. "I just hope..."
"What?" Alex said, as they rounded the second floor landing.
"Maybe we can save her."
"What do you mean?" Alex exclaimed. "She just tried to kill us, in case you forgot. Hell, she may have killed a member of our team. What do you mean, you want to save her?"
"But whatever she did, the lab made her do it." Hikari said. "If we can just get her beacon off, then she'll stop attacking us."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Alex said.
"I don't know." Hikari said quietly.
The pair burst into the lobby of the building and surveyed the area. It had been ravaged by the enemy mech's chaingun, with damaged and destroyed furniture lying scattered about, and bullet holes riddling the front desk.
Alex and Hikari advanced across the lobby. The glass front had been completely shattered by the hail of chaingun rounds, making it easy for them to advance onto the street.
It was a mess. Cars had been damaged and destroyed left and right by bullets, and the several of the buildings were scared by rocket impacts. A thin haze of smoke lay over the area, and near the center of the street, the scattered pieces of the enemy mech lay everywhere. Alex spotted a piece of something that looked like an arm.
Alex caught a flash of movement. He whirled around, leveling the empty rocket launcher. It wouldn't do any good in a fight, but it could be useful as a bluff.
As Alexander turned, he caught sight of the silver-haired girl from earlier, Audacia. She was wandering around as if she was looking for something, her head toward the ground. She still wore her ornate silver jumpsuit, though patches of it looked slightly singed.
"Freeze." Alex shouted, pointing the rocket tube at her.
She turned around, a startled expression on her face. Alex thought her violet eyes looked wet, but she blinked as she stared at him, clearing them.
"What are you going to do with that?" The girl, Audacia, said.
"I'll blow you to hell if you don't put your hands up." Alex said.
"You'd be caught in the blast radius." Audacia said, taking a step toward him. "You'd never-"
"You want to try me?" Alexander said firmly. "Do you want to-"
She moved faster than Alex would have believed possible, ducking down as she took a shuffling step toward him, swinging her arm upwards to swat the rocket launcher away.
The girl hit harder than Alexander would have believed possible. The missile tube was knocked clean out of his hands and went tumbling end over end away up into the air.
"It was empty anyway." Alexander muttered, as he assumed a fighting stance, raising his hands.
Audacia grunted as she swung a fist toward him. Alexander blocked the attack, but she hit hard, far harder than he would have believed possible. He blocked the follow-up attack, a quick uppercut, but it hurt, like someone was hitting him with a metal pipe.
Alexander counterattacked with a quick jab, but the girl swatted him away easily.
Almost immediately, Alexander was on the defensive. He had received brutal training in hand-to-hand combat in basic training, and he suspected that was the only thing keeping him alive.
He blocked on blow, then another, and another, his forearms screaming at each impact of the girls supernaturally strong strikes. She was quick, too, faster than seemed possible. She seemed undisciplined and untrained, however, and that was the only reason she hadn't yet overwhelmed Alex.
Finally, one of her attacks, a straight punch, got through Alexander's guard. He shuffled backwards, rolling with the impact, but he still doubled up at the force of the blow.
As he straightened, Audacia took a step toward him, then looked him in the eye.
"Why do I have to kill you?" She asked, in a strange tone of voice.
Alex stared back at her. She was standing barely a foot away from him. In an instant, his mind processed a thousand courses of action. A sucker punch could work, but it would have to put her out of the fight instantly. Given her strength, though, that seemed hard to do. He could go for a throat or groin attack, but she would probably intercept that.
Alexander Knight had been outmatched by a girl he had just met.
So he kissed her.
Audacia gasped in surprise as Alexander's lips met hers. She was so startled, she didn't notice as his right hand snaked over her shoulder, reached the back of her neck, and pressed her hand-up button.
"What-" She said, as Alex pulled away from the kiss.
"Now, then." Alex muttered, taking a step back and returning to his fighting stance. "Where were we?"