Chapter 56:

Whoever has dared

I'm glad you all liked Mich. Although I am now scared of you all. If I ever do something to annoy you lot, and I get tortured by you, I'm doomed to a very slow highly excruciating death. Some of you were really imaginative… which scares me too, to be honest. Are you sure none of you are actually Mafioso?

She was silent.

And for anyone who knew this woman, silence was dangerous. Silence from Lady Luce De Giglio Nero meant either one of two things. One, she was having a vision, or two, she was angry, on an apocalyptic scale. If Luce was annoyed, she either grumbled under her breath or talked in a highly patronising tone. When she was happy, she didn't stop talking. When bored, she hummed, when ill, she moaned and groaned and complained. When disappointed, she tutted, when rendered 'speechless' a fangirl scream was soon to follow into the moments pause.

She was never silent.

But walking down these halls, wielding a golf club she had found somewhere, she was.

"Ahh! Run, for heavens sake, Jorge, there's a demon on the loose."

"Pah, what ya scared of? We're supposed to be defeating those that believe in the fake Arco Iris, not running from them. Ya pansy."

Suddenly there is a crack in the wall before it crumbles in a pile of dust. The wall collapses, revealing Luce, still in a pure white dress (the dust was that scared of her, or it was some sort of Luce magic), lowering her golf club and raising her head. She locks eyes with the two men and both cower before her. It was those eyes. Jorge could see what his partner was saying about her being a demon. Those eyes seemed unearthly, like they were staring straight into your soul and ripping out every secret you had ever tried to hide. Those eyes pierced an ice cold fear straight into the heart. No human had those eyes.

She leans the golf club against her leg before reaching inside her large hat and pulling out two rubber ducks. Picking the golf club back up, she drops one rubber duck. "DUCK!" she shouts before swinging. Three seconds later, the two enemies fall to the ground, rubber duck shapes engraved in their necks where their windpipes had been squashed. "Well, I did tell you to duck. It's you own silly fault for not listening to me." She admonishes. "Cosmo dear." She prompts. The squirrel runs down from it's perch on her hat with two pieces of rope in it's jaws. A few moments later, the two men have their ankles and wrists tied together.

And so Luce moves on.

"Hihihihi," comes a high pitched titter as Luce enters a wide room filled with mirrors. "Oh God, hunny, what are you wearing? Do you have a child stored under that hat of yours? I don't think that has ever been in fashion." Luce grits her teeth. No. One. Dissed. The Hat. That hat was a Family heirloom, worn for over 400 years. She was proud to wear it.

Luce looks up and analyses the woman standing before her. Red Flamenco Dress, red rose, black fan, black heels.

"Oooh~ I love those eyes. I know that look. I've got something you want and you're going to stop at nothing to get it, right? Yeah, I thought so. It's the little cutie that I took such… good care of." It sure didn't sound like this lady had taken good care of Tsunayoshi, quite the opposite in fact. She stands up and walks towards the centre of the room. "Us ladies know how to do these things properly, right. My name is Maria, and yours?"

"You are addressing Lady Luce of the Giglio Nero Mafia Famiglia and leader of the Arcobaleno." Luce replies in a cool formal voice. Maria sneers at the formal treatment, feeling like Luce was making herself out as superior. "And Tsunayoshi's Mother." Maria grins evilly at this statement.

"Come dance with me Chica," Maria announces, throwing a white fan at Luce. It lands at her feet. Leaning down, Luce picks the fan up before walking slowly towards Maria. They meet at the centre of the room and stare each other in the eyes, which was easy since they were of the same height.

Somewhere in the background, tango music starts.

With a loud snap, Luce flicks the fan open before swinging the metal edge at Maria. Maria takes a step backwards and two to the side, just like the tango steps dictated. Luce follows, taking a few more swings.

"You need to work on your aim," says Maria. Luce just stops and smiles. As Maria stops, the train of her Flamenco dress falls off, sliced by the fan.

Luce grabs Maria by the hand and pulls her close, almost nose to nose. Her hand harshly grabs Maria's hip, sure to leave a bruise, before pushing Maria backwards and into the next steps of the tango.

"How nice of you to take the male's part," Maria says, her voice patronising and false. Luce grins, also in a scarily false way before stepping down hard on Maria's foot. The woman grimaces as she moves her weight onto her unharmed foot. Luce uses that moment to push Maria into a spin. Maria has no choice but to follow but ends up slamming into the mirror on the wall. The glass cracks.

"Oh dear, sorry," pouts Luce, pulling the woman to her before she can recover.

Maria shakes off the shock of the impact, ignoring the blood running down her shoulder. She flicks her foot out, hooking it around Luce's and tripping the hatted woman, sending her crashing to the floor. "Oh no, I'm sorry." She takes a step forwards and presses her heel onto Luce's hand, crushing one of the bones of her finger. Luce hisses but doesn't openly cry out. She'd taken worse than this before now. Maria shuts her fan with a snap before leaning down and pressing it under Luce's chin. "Poor Chica, can't take the heat?"

Maria screams as something small, fluffy and rat like suddenly jumps on her face and starts to claw at her eyes. Cosmo runs around the enemy's face, biting and scratching where he can, pulling out some hair too. Luce flicks her wrist and then there is a rolling pin in her hand from the kitchen she had walked through earlier. She hits Maria's knees hard, forcing the woman off of her and climbs back to her feet before pinning Maria to the ground. With another flick of her wrist, a kitchen knife is in Luce's hands.

"Tell me where my son is." Luce demands. She was sure that this woman knew where Tsunayoshi was. Piece by piece, Luce removes the accessories from Maria's dress, starting with the rose and all of the hair attached to it. When Maria doesn't answer the question, Luce continues her 'torture' by getting out a permanent marker. Cosmo jumps off Maria's face and onto Luce's hat. Placing the pen against the woman's cheek, she draws a tear drop. "I have a whole selection of these coloured markers. I could make you look like a clown forever. Wouldn't that be lovely? A dancing clown?" She moves over and draws a cross on the other cheek.

"You cow! Stop it! I worked hard to make myself presentable!" Maria demands, squirming to get out of the hold Luce had her in.

"But you took such good care of Tsunayoshi, I've certainly got to repay you for that." Luce smirks a downright dangerous smirk.

"The Italian Mafia's Best Psychic and Stuntman, Mammon and Skull, have entered Dominic's quarters. Their chance of survival, 20%."

Viper and Skull shiver as a piercing scream echoes down the corridors. Wasn't that the direction they had seen Luce heading in? That didn't matter right now.

"Are you sure that you're leading the great Skull-sama in the right direction?" asks Skull, still running on adrenaline. Viper looks down at her thoughtography map and nods her head.

"Yes, we have to take the next left." Viper says, just as Skull turns right.

"Ahaha, Of course I knew that!" Skull laughs before marching off in the correct direction. Viper shakes her head under her hood. She was not getting paid enough for this. Well, she wasn't getting paid anything, which certainly wasn't enough, but to be stuck with Skull like this deserved some type of bonus surely.

"TSUNAYOSHI! THE GREATEST STUNTMAN TO EVER LIVE, THE IMMORTAL SKULL THAT EVEN THE REAPER IS SCARED OF IS COMING TO SAVE YOU!" Skull shouts before running full speed down the corridor, somehow dodging every trap that came his way. Viper let him run on, instead ducking under the already activated traps, making her journey a breeze.

Skull, amazingly, trips on the doorstop, making a grand entrance into some sort of dojo like room. Skull, being 'trained' in spectacular crashes, somehow makes it look far more complicated and painful than the simple forwards roll it really was, before finishing in some sort of pose that would have made his fans go crazy. Sadly, none were around, causing an awkward silence.

Viper feels like face-palming but doesn't because it's, you know, not like her, and steps into the room after looking over it. She nudges Skull with her foot. "Oi, idiot, get up." Skull looks around, realises that he doesn't have an audience and laughs nervously as he stands back up.

There is a slight hiss behind Viper and Skull's eyes widen. But due to the blacked out helmet, Viper can't see that. Skull barely has enough time to hug Viper protectively and spin them around before brass knuckles brush against his back. The metal pierces through his leather jacket, creating tears not only in the material but also in Skull's skin, leading to bleeding gashes. Pushing Viper backwards, Skull spins around and sends his own fist into the man behind him. It's caught in one highly muscled hand and squeezed tightly.

"Owie, ow ow, owie!" says Skull, his voice slightly more high pitched than usual. Two knives slide past Skull's shoulders, burying themselves in the wrist tendons of Skull's captor. He lets go and Skull scampers backwards to stand back by Viper's side.

The man, Dominic, blinks and stares at his wrist, flexing his fingers stiffly as they seem to be unresponsive. Eventually his fingers start moving again, to the man looks up towards his enemies. Then he laughs.

"Bwahahaha! You're part of the Arco Iris?!" he booms, the sound filling the room. "No wonder that brat lost the fight so easily if he had role models like you pipsqueak girls."

"Hey! It's amazing StuntMAN, not Woman thank you!" Skull shouts back, offended. Viper, of course doesn't care. She'd get payback later.

"What do you mean by fighting a brat earlier?" Viper asks suspiciously.

"Ya know, the one that's bait. He was harassing my Boss so I came in and taught him a lesson. Didn't even last a full minute. He was even trying to defend himself with a frying pan. Like that was going to help."

The pair realise what this means. There was only one person that would be used as bait, and that was their Tsunayoshi. The man before them had harmed their precious Tsunayoshi. It was time to pay up. Big Time.

Skull runs at the man with a shout of rage before punching the man in the stomach. He quickly follows this up with punches to the jaw, the chest and another to the stomach.

Dominic coughs before looking up. "Is that all you got?" he asks, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Skull pulls back his hand to deal another punch to the gut, but Dominic is surprised by a chop to the back of the head. He looks up, expecting it to have been the cloaked woman instead. But there she was, straight in front of him. He freezes upon looking at her. He cannot see her face since it is in the shadows of her hood. But what he can see are two purple eyes of fire. There is a purple sheen all around her, almost like a glow, especially concentrated around her hands. He is forced to look away when he is slapped across the face.

Shaking his head, he swings one meaty fist out around him, knocking into Skull- who wasn't where his eyes told him Skull should be- and sending the stuntman flying across the room. He runs at Viper. Seeing this, she creates more illusionary knives and throws them Belphegor-style at the man. He flinches at the first one, but continues on running like a freight train. He reaches out to grapple her, but ends up half hugging a mass of helmet and leather instead.

Skull gasps as the air of forced out of him by the grip Dominic had on him. Since his arms were pinned, he kicks at the man instead, one kick in particular landing somewhere it shouldn't. The man buckles as if hit by a football in the ribs and drops Skull. Viper takes advantage of this pain to reach inside the enemy's mental barriers and multiplies that pain. Dominic lets out a high pitched gasp before stutterd constants are the only sound he produces. Even Skull has to feel sorry for the guy.

"Tell me where Tsunayoshi is." She demands, walking over to stand next to the man's head. When he doesn't answer, Skull kicks him in the stomach, which was already taught from pain. Dominic coughs before sneaking out a hand and grabbing Viper's foot. He drags her to the ground, before tossing her over his shoulder and flying to the other side of the room. Gasping, he stands up and looks over to where she landed. Smirking, he starts to walk over towards her.

Skull doesn't like the look of Viper's condition; she wasn't exactly built for battle. Being an illusionist suited her small fragile stature. Being in the Varia usually means she had more than enough protection. Plus for some reason, her illusions didn't seem to be that effective. He jumps on the man's back and places him in a choke hold. Dominic grabs Skull's arm as they struggle. Skull holds on for as long as he can, watching as the man turned darker and darker shades of red. However, Dominic eventually gets a firm hold on Skull and flips the stuntman to the floor. But he doesn't let go of Skull's arm and keeps on twisting, eventually dislocating the shoulder. Skull grunts, biting his lip, but the pain doesn't really faze him that much.

Dominic drops Skull's arm and stomps on his stomach in revenge before continuing his walk towards Viper. Viper gets to her feet before conjuring another illusion. This time, her mental hands delve deeper into the man's mind drawing out a picture of a woman.

When a scream resonates through the room, the man freezes and looks over his shoulder. "Julia!" There he sees his beloved Julia held at knifepoint by Belphegor, the Prince wearing his Cheshire Cat grin as usual.

"Want to see how pretty her blood is? I'm sure I can paint a wonderful picture for you! Shishishi~" Belphegor spins the knife on his finger before pressing it harder against the crying woman's throat, drawing blood.

Dominic tears his eyes away and takes another step towards Viper. "No, stop it. She's not even in the country. There's no way for them to have found her." He takes another hesitant step, still half looking over his shoulder. "It's not HER!" He keeps on mumbling to himself.

"AHHH, Dominic! Help me! Please!" she shouts, her screams becoming more and more frantic as the seconds tick past.

"Ushishishi, what dainty hands, oops, gone now." Giggles Belphegor, the woman's screams matching the supposed action. "What a lovely shade of red, and so much of it too. Worthy of the Prince, well done."

Dominic grits his teeth. "Remember the breathing exercises that Master taught. Breathe, it's not real."

'Damn, another martial artist,' internally curses Viper to herself. That would explain why her illusions were weaker against him. She found similar results with Fon every now and again. They were on equal terms currently. But his training gave him a degree of mental control that few others had. If this man was good enough to dare to try and claim the title of the Best in the World, then he must have been trained to a high degree too.

As the sounds of his lover's screams slowly disappear, Dominic stops shaking and instead runs straight towards Viper. A brief look over his shoulder shows no sign of Julia, the Varia member or the supposed blood on the floor, all having been an illusion.

If Skull had not watched the illusion arrive in Reality in a cloud of indigo mist, he wouldn't have known the difference. And to be honest, he was rather weirder out by Viper's interpretation of Belphegor. He hoped that it was all an act and that the small child, not much older than Tsunayoshi, wasn't really like that.

As Dominic advanced on her, Viper tries to regain her breath. Holding illusions strong enough to affect her enemy like that was exhausting, especially when she had a cracked rib from her earlier meeting with the wall. She turns and runs, but her hand is caught by Dominic. He harshly closes his fist, breaking a few bones in her hand in the process. She's tugged and pulled around before Dominic starts to hit her with some moves from a martial arts style she had never seen before.

But after one or two blows, Dominic is pushed to the side and straddled by Skull, who still has his arm hanging limply by his side. With a quick jolt and a hiss, he places his shoulder back into it's socket before throwing a barrage of punches down on the man's unprotected head. After the fourth or fifth strike, Skull's fists come away bloody from a broken nose and split eyebrow.
"Tell me where you're keeping Tsunayoshi!" Skull demands as he lowers his fist once more. If only he had his motorbike here with him, he'd surely have the upper hand!

With a roar of defiance, Dominic reverses their positions. But with his eyes clouded by blood, he doesn't do it correctly, leaving Skull with his arms free.

Viper, leaning against a wall, nurses her cracked rib and broken hand whilst watching the brawl on the floor between the two. Despite not being trained in any form of self-defence except what he had taught himself, Skull was putting up a good fight through sheer determination alone. More and more cuts appear on both parties, caused by the metal studs on Skull's gloves, or the brass knuckles Dominic still had on.

Viper really wanted to help Skull, she wanted Tsunayoshi back just as much as he did. But her illusions weren't working on the enemy before them. So there was only one other way in which she could help... It was a good thing that Skull had low mental defences.

Skull blinks as suddenly the pain in his body goes away. He was never really one for feeling pain, which was good considering his profession, but at the moment there was nothing, not even a numb buzzing. In fact he felt fresher than ever before. He felt like Superman! Only he was much cooler than Superman. The enemy currently on top of him was even moving in slow motion. How cool was that! He could see the next punch coming and attack before it arrived.

He could… He could win this!

"The Leader of the Italian Mafia's Police Force, Bermuda, had now entered Pan's zone. Survival rate is unknown."

"Unknown?"

"Not much is known about the Vindice. Every member of the Italian Mafia is scared of them. They rule with an iron fist. There are even rumours that they are not human. Therefore I do not have enough data to draw a reliable forecast."

This was far too easy. He hadn't even needed to move from his position. The man before him was no match when he couldn't even get close to Bermuda.

"At this rate you shall be proven guilty of your crimes." Bermuda warns, flicking another chain out towards the wooden spear that was thrown at him. The enemy before him seemed rather eco-friendly. A weird trait to notice, but considering the man's random babblings, a true one.

With an absent wave of his hand, the pair of chains go zooming towards their targets like attacking snakes. But they waver before they get there and fall to the ground.

Bermuda coughs violently, barely able to catch his breath between them. He leans forwards as his chest contracts and manages to take in a gasping breath before coughing up some blood. Bermuda falls to his knees, the world spinning around him, making him nauseous. He feels the sting of a wooden arrow scrape against his arm but he doesn't care at the moment. He can't even get his brain to focus. All his brain can think about it getting air into his screaming lungs. But with the coughing fit, that's not possible.

"What have.. you done.. to me?" he asks between breaths, doing his best to glare at the blond man before him.

"So you are human after all," hums the man, walking forwards towards Bermuda. The man smiles when they make eye contact (or when it feels like they've made eye contact, it was hard to tell with Bermuda's bandages) and takes in a deep breath before smiling. "How do you like my latest poison gas? Brand new, never seen before, invisible with no odour or taste. Magnificent isn't it? I worked very hard on it."

The blond walks over to a panel in the wall before pressing a green button. A small part of the wall disappears and a fully grown snow panther stalks out before curling around it's master's feet.

Bermuda forces himself to stop coughing long enough to be able to get a good view of what he was facing next. However the pressure to cough becomes too great and he has no choice but to cough once more, leaving more blood smearing his bandages, turning them crimson.

Every now and again, Bermuda wishes that he was like the other Vindice with an undead body. This was one of those times. He didn't often make that wish, knowing about their pasts and the rage for revenge hidden in those bodies, but still, it had it's perks.

Bermuda gathers his will and self-control together. He was Bermuda von Vichtenstein! He wasn't going to be beaten by a mere cough. He was the Leader of the feared Vindice, the owner of the inescapable Vendicare Prisons. NO ONE was better than him!

This man had, however small, had a part in Tsunayoshi's kidnapping. Bermuda wanted Revenge for that. He wanted Revenge for the worry and anxiety caused. He wanted Revenge for putting Tsunayoshi through something so traumatic. For whatever reason, he wanted Revenge and boy damn was he going to get it.

In an instant he is behind the man, kicking the panther away and piercing Pan's leg with one of his chains. Another goes around the man's neck, chocking him as well as lifting him off the ground. The pathetic man struggles, wheezing for breath as he grasps at the chains. But all to no avail.

Pan reaches down and grabs a canister from his belt before spraying the gas inside on Bermuda's face. This one burns, causing Bermuda to shut his eyes in pain. The pain breaks his concentration, causing another set of bloody coughs to rise up Bermuda's throat. His Night Flame fluctuates and disappears, causing the chain to become limp and drop the man.

"Bermuda-sama!" comes a shout from right next to him… or was that above him? If the room stopped spinning then maybe Bermuda could tell.

"Jager?" coughs out Bermuda before spitting on the floor again.

"Yes my lord." Jager confirms, keeping Pan at bay through his aura and glare alone. Of course not being susceptible to the gas that had filled the room was most likely a crucial factor too. "We felt your Flame fluctuate and I came to investigate."

"Capture him and turn this gas off. I can recover later." Bermuda orders in a horse whisper. "Recovery of Tsunayoshi is your top priority."

"Yes, My Lord."

"Ha… Take that… kora!" Colonnello pants, kicking the unconscious man once more. He walks over a floor covered in spent bullet shells, cracked tiles from explosive shells and pit traps before reaching Lal. She was lying on the floor, panting just as much as he was. "Up we go, kora." Colonnello says, heaving Lal up to lean against his shoulder. "We've gotta find Tsunayoshi, right."

"Damn straight we do. I've gotta teach him to remember not to get captured next time." She grumbles in a voice only half as enthusiastic as usual.

They had managed to defeat Romain through team work. They could work perfectly in sync if they put their minds to it. So long as teacher and student had made each other used to the actions and patterns of the other. So with Colonnello keeping Romain on the run through his sharp shooting Skills, Lal had come in an dealt damage with her knifes. They had even managed to get him to fall into some of his own traps. It hadn't been easy, but they had done it. They had won.

They stumble through a corridor and into a room filled with Mirrors. On the floor, was a woman in the barest remains of a red dress, pinned to the floor with shuriken in the shape of the Giglio Nero Flower, covered in rainbow marker with broken fingers.

Luce finishes whatever work she was doing to the unconscious lady's foot before noticing them and standing up. "There. Let's see her try to apply make up or wear high heels ever again. With her aesthetics, she'll never feel beautiful again." Luce snubs before going over and mother-henning over the pair.

After a few quick patch ups, the three continue on, entering into a room with waxed wooden floors, currently with bloody smudges on them. Skull was currently in the middle of another self-worship session, going on about how he was even better than Superman. Viper is cackling as best as she can with her now broken ribs, counting the money in her hands and dropping the man's raided wallet. By the morning, he wouldn't have any money left in his off-shore accounts.

"Colonnello, grab this idiot." She says. Colonnello passes Lal gently over to Luce before taking ahold of Skull. Viper looks Skull in the eyes. "Prepare yourself. I'm removing the illusions on you. It's going to hurt." Skull doesn't really believe her. But the moment she waves her hands, a wave of pain overcomes him and he falls for a moment.

"Yeooww, owie owie!" He screams like a girl.

"Man up kora!" Colonnello demands, slapping Skull on the back, right over the cuts from earlier. This causes Skull to scream once again. Then he realises that it actually doesn't hurt that much and stops crying. Skull had to be careful though. Just because he couldn't feel the pain as well as normal people could didn't mean it and the damage causing the pain, wasn't there. He could still very well over work and kill himself.

After another quick patch up session- Luce's hat was becoming emptier by the second- they moved on to the next room. Here they found a very happy Verde who looked like a child in the middle of a sweet shop, and Fon, tying a bandage around his arm tighter.

"I see you guys met some of the enemy too," says Fon, gesturing to their injuries. He hands over Verde's Super-First-Aid kit so they can better look after themselves. Verde is forcefully drawn away from the computer to fix some of the more important issues, but not before downloading all of the data onto a flash drive for later inspection.

"I have found Tsunayoshi's location." Says Bermuda, suddenly appearing in the middle of the room. He had changed the bandages covering his face, so there was no more blood around his mouth to worry the others with. The only signs of a fight were the rips on his cloak. And his persistent quiet coughing.

The reminder draws in a serious atmosphere and the group march on behind Bermuda, down to the lowest levels of the Church. Along the way, they hear the sound of a very familiar pair of guns. Turning a corner, they find Reborn, shooting down the last of the subordinates blocking the path. Of course, he still looks immaculate. But that was mainly because he had been dealing with small fry so far. Admittedly they were worthwhile small fry, but nothing he couldn't handle, even in large numbers.

"Now you all arrive, after I've done the hard work and cleared the path," he grumbles, whilst casting an eye and mentally listing the injuries they all had. Liking the results- it seemed that these people might have deserved to reach out for their title- he lowers his fedora and smirks. "Let's go."

The Arcobaleno follow Reborn, going down one last set of steps and into a large cavern. But what they find there is a shock. For there is Tsunayoshi, fighting against who they assume to be the leader with a… with a…

Tiny Dying Will Flame on his forehead.

Reborn turns to the others with harsh eyes. "Who taught him that?" he asks in exasperation. Someone just had to get their first. But the looks the others give him back makes him rethink his previous judgement. If they hadn't and he hadn't, then…

Who had?

Sorry, another cliff hanger, but I wanted to handle Tsunayoshi's part all in one go instead of across a couple of chapters.

And a reminder that you only have until Friday to sign up for the KHR! Secret Santa Mockingjay Rose is holding.

See you next time!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 25 November 2012