Chapter 15: "There's room for you inside."
It seemed to take forever to reach their room, but when they did, Ai and Risa wasted no time in sealing their lips together frantically. The older woman pressed her companion hard into the door, clutching her as though she would disappear altogether if she didn’t hold tightly. The gunner definitely did not mind, returning the gesture submissively.
Suddenly, Risa began to cry, causing Ai to pull away from her in concern, “I was so afraid, Ai. I was terrified that I would mess up and be caught and then Eri would have gone down with me. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to go through with it in the end and then be arrested for not following through on my deal. I was afraid that if I did take their lives, it would feel good and I’d have no remorse. I’m afraid to turn back into the monster that I was before, killing women and children without batting an eyelash, regardless of their wrong doings. I’m afraid that killing out of necessity will lead me to killing for no reason again.”
By the end of her tirade she was sobbing like a child into Ai’s shoulder, the older woman shedding sympathy tears. They kissed again, slowly and thoroughly, tasting each other’s fear and love and comfort. They made their way over to the bed, still attached to each other desperately, and laid down on their sides. Their fronts were pressed flush with barely air between them and in the intimate position, Ai let her hands wander across her girlfriend’s body as if smoothing ruffled feathers and Risa began to relax.
The demo expert tugged at the younger’s thick top shirt, trying to pull it off her body and Risa obliged willingly, struggling out of the suddenly too hot article of clothing, leaving her upper body covered only by a thin tank top that left her bra visible. Just as Ai reached for the hem of the other shirt, a knock sounded heavily at the door. They exchanged a look and reluctantly agreed to pause their activity; the demo expert got up to see who was there, while the gunner put her over shirt back on.
Outside the door, stood Jun with Aika just behind her and the Chinese girl wore a determined expression, “Is Niigaki-san there?” Risa poked her head around Ai at the sound of her name, “Take us with you!” Jun immediately demanded very loudly, startling both women. At heir wide eyed looks, the hitter pressed on quickly, “When you go out tomorrow, take Aika and I with you, we can help you somehow, you don’t have to do this alone.”
“I-I’m not alone, I have you guys.” Risa defended with a stutter.
“Except that you’re not using our talents.” Aika piped in, “You’re not the only one who knows how to take care of business, even if we’ve never killed before. Let us help you.”
“Yeah, Gaki-san.” Sayumi’s voice called out from further down the hall and she and the rest came into view, “You don’t have to take this all onto your shoulders.”
“Exactly, how’re we supposed to succeed in our mission if we can’t even work together as a team?” Lin added her two cents in, “Besides, I’m feeling very left out.”
Under the gaze of the six in the hallway, Risa retreated slightly, turning to face her girlfriend and meeting her determined eyes as well, “I want to help also. I’m not saying I condone it, nor am I changing my beliefs, so don’t worry about that, but I know that it’s something we need to do. I’m not scared for you anymore, because I know you can handle this with our help. So let us.”
After being assaulted by so much pleading, what else could she say? “Alright guys. I’ll have to change my plans a little, so it might take some time.”
“There’s no need, I’ve already thought of some.” Ai spoke up, surprising the rest. “Hey, I’m leader, right? I gotta come up with something.”
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With a sigh, the man reached across his empty bed and shut off his blaring alarm. Slowly, he sat up in his large bed and stretched his tired, aching muscles. He was not a young man anymore, grizzled from years of rough treatment, there was a scar over the left side of his face that had nearly cost him an eye, but paid him back in his current position in Takashi’s gang. He was old enough now and had been in this business long enough to start to regret his former actions.
He sometimes wondered what his life would have been like if he’d been less restless and gone to school like his mother had wanted. Would she have died disappointed in him if he had tried and failed? Or would she have just been proud that he tried instead of giving up on his childhood dreams? Shaking his head, he got up and grabbed his robe, it was far too late for what ifs.
For as restless as he had been in his teenage years, he had settled into a boring routine. Get up at six, get the paper, read over breakfast and then whatever was on his schedule. He laughed bitterly at himself, what a joke he had become, he wouldn’t have been surprised if someone tried to kill him for his position tomorrow, but who would attack an old dog with no teeth?
He made his way downstairs, on bare feet and in a thread bare robe, a shadow of his former self. His ruthlessness tempered with his age and experience, lonely and wallowing in his recent depression. When he opened the door to get his paper, he didn’t know what hit him.
Down the block, eight girls in high spirits crowded in a van to watch the fireworks. They knew they were successful when they could see the explosion wipe his large house off the map. Risa, in the driver seat, turned to Ai, riding shotgun and smiled at her. It had been with the older woman’s expertise that they had rigged up his front door with a huge amount of explosives that Ai had assured them would do the job and more.
Even though it was still murder, Risa felt quite proud of her girlfriend. Behind them in the back of the van, the other girls cheered and high-fived each other. Three left before they could go for the big boss.
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It was lunchtime at this small bistro and the only occupants were a well dressed man and his two thugs. The place routinely closed down to give him his privacy to dine on his simple meal and he and the owner would chat. Today, the owner had not made his appearance and the man thought this was very odd. There was also a new waitress and his friend was not known for hiring people he didn’t know very well.
“Where is Katsumuri?” He demanded to the absurdly pretty girl as she brought him his spaghetti meal.
“He’s in the bathroom right now, he should be out in a little while. I think maybe something he ate didn’t agree with him.” she giggled vapidly, her black pigtails bouncing.
“Fine.” he said gruffly as he added grated cheese to his pasta. The girl giggled again and headed back into the kitchen, winking to another girl with chocolate colored eyes that the men couldn’t see.
The man dug into his meal with a gusto, slurping his noodles annoyingly loud and splattering sauce everywhere. Suddenly, he began to choke, causing his bodyguards to look at him in concern. All three stood and his hands went to his neck, foam poured out of his mouth and before the other two could even reach out to him, he hit the ground, body racked in convulsions.
It was over in seconds, and the man laid dead on the floor, bloody foam staining his lips. As soon as they had confirmed his death, the thugs drew their weapons and split up to search the restaurant. The first man went into the managers office, finding him tied up under his desk, a half eaten bagel shoved in his mouth as a gag. The second guard stormed into the kitchen, finding a mess of spaghetti sauce on the ground where someone had poured the pot and the cooks in an unconscious heap in the corner. There was no sign of the pretty waitress.
Far outside the little bistro, Risa and Sayumi ran, laughing as they made their way to the van. “Oh that was so much fun!” The con giggled, shedding her half apron and unbuttoning her collared shirt a little at the top and bottom, revealing her stomach and her neck.
The gunner gave a wolf whistle, playfully nudging the younger girl, “Oh, trying to look sexy for Tanakacchi?” She burst into laughter when Sayu blushed, “You are! You really like her, huh?”
“Of course! She’s so cute, how can I not?” The con said flippantly, but Risa knew that she was just hiding how deeply she felt.
Shaking her head, the gunner decided not to say anything else on the subject, “What did you put in his food?” she asked instead.
“Arsenic.” Sayumi held up a small vial of the stuff, “Neat, huh?”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re scary?” Risa said, shaking her head. They took a turn through an alley, the van in sight up ahead.
“Hey, madness runs in my family.” The con winked, a dangerous look in her eyes. Her companion laughed again, never a dull moment.
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He hunched over his keyboard, fingers clicking away frantically. A noise behind him made him jump, but he realized it was just a computer. The warmth was comforting, surrounded by the emotionless CPU’s, he felt safe. He wasn’t sure how it had happened or why it had taken them so long to realize, but almost all his comrades were dead.
He was sure he was next, so he had barricaded himself in the security room and this building. It was impenetrable, no one could reach him and there was plenty of food in the connecting office in the back. He was watching every entrance to the building over the security feed and his hands were on the controls of the defensive measures. It was like something out of a video game, with everything from jolts of electricity to flame throwers and machine gun turrets.
Of course, no one outside his highly trained personal bodyguards knew of the extent of these tools. And every one of them was lying dead locked inside his office on the top floor. He couldn’t risk anyone getting close to him now, not when his life was at stake. And no one would find them for months, his office was sealed off completely.
He leaned back in his chair, finally allowing himself to relax. There was no way anyone could get him in here, he was too well secured. Satisfied with the lengths he had gone through to protect himself, he figured a little break wouldn’t hurt.
He got up and headed to the back office, not noticing the camera in the corner blink to life and turn in his direction. One of the computers that he had turned off whirred as it was turned on from an outside source and it’s electronic cry of protest was cut off as it was quickly and expertly controlled. The hacker on the other end chuckled, searching through the system for a possible solution on how to dispose of their problem.
She was pleasantly surprised as the information she needed was so easily found. None the wiser of this intrusion, the man settled back down in his chair, a plastic cup in one hand and a sandwich in the other. All of a sudden, the power shut off, startling him into dropping his meal on the floor.
“Why hello there.” A satisfied feminine voice echoed through the speakers on his computer as the power flicked back on.
“What? How did you find me?!” The man cried out in alarm, standing so quickly he knocked over his chair with a crash.
“Well it certainly wasn’t easy. You completely deviated from your normal routine and we’ve been looking for almost a week now. You should be ashamed, screwing up our schedule like this.” Her lilting voice scolded in cutely accented Japanese.
“This is impossible! No one can get passed these security measures!” His hysterical rant was cut off by her musical laughter.
“Well, I’m no one then! Now, I’m sorry to cut this short, but you really have to die.” The man shook in fear.
“Are you the one that killed all my comrades?” He asked, already knowing the answer.
“We are the ones, yes. Hmm, such fearsome defense you have. Were you expecting an army to come get you?”
“Yes, not just a girl. You won’t get away with this!” She laughed again and he whimpered at the electronic warp his speakers gave her lighthearted tone.
“I already have.” She said nonchalantly. From the walls came a great mechanical groan and sections of the paneling rolled away to reveal the defensive measures he was so proud of. He barely had time to scream before his whole body was lit up by a paralyzing jolt of electricity. As if waiting for their cue, the flamethrower and the gun turrets exploded into action.
In the safety of her hotel room, Lin cringed as almost instantly the camera melted as the room exploded in a fireball. Behind her, Jun clapped her on the shoulder with a grin, “Nice work.” she said in quiet Chinese, “I think you got him.”
“I’ll keep the flames going until they run out, just in case.” The hacker replied in the same language. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment, “I’m sorry. For-It-I mean.” Lin made a gesture and Jun grunted in displeasure.
“I don’t want to hear it. I’m still mad at you.” Jun opened her mouth and took a deep breath as if to yell, but paused and clenched her teeth together, breathing out through her teeth noisily, “In the essence of harmony and teamwork, I’m not going to say anything else.”
Tension hung heavily in the air as they stared each other down. Finally Lin nodded and turned around in her chair, “Fair enough.”
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“Okay.” Risa grinned, crossing another name off their list, “One more left! Now, Miyoshi is the only female and number three for a reason. She’s nuts, but she knows how to use it. Now, I’ve studied Takashi-dono’s notes about her and even he seemed stumped about how to stop her. The only thing interesting he mentioned is that the woman is a horrible pedophile. She seems particularly fond of teenage girls.”
All eyes turned to the youngest of the group and Aika nodded grimly, “What do you need me to do?”
“Well, we want you to get her attention, then get into her home. We’ll keep track of you with this,” Risa gestured towards Lin and the hacker held up a small, beaded hairclip, “tracking device. After you get into the room, put this on the window.” Taking her cue, Lin held up a square piece of plastic. “It’s infrared and will tell us where to go to get you.”
“Okay.” Aika nodded fearlessly causing Ai to touch her gently on the shoulder.
“If you’re not comfortable with this, you need to tell us now. It’s very likely that she will try to get intimate with you and who knows how long it might take us to get to you? She might have defenses we don’t know about. If you have any doubts about being able to perform, let us know now.” Ai looked seriously into the younger girl’s eyes, gauging her reaction.
“I can do this, no problem.” The thief replied without a flinch. Ai held her gaze for a moment longer, before nodding, apparently satisfied.
“Okay, now, she usually chooses her girls from this nightclub. We’ll go there and show you off.” Risa turned to Sayumi, “We’ll need your help with this as well.”
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Aika sipped her drink in boredom, absently fixing her short skirt. She had been coming to this club every night for four days and there had not been one sign of their quarry. The others had taken their usual distance from her to watch over her and seemed to be just as tired of this arrangement. Sure it had been fun at first, the lights and music, dancing and laughing. But after so long of the same thing, even this had become tedious, it was hard to keep up the façade.
Sighing and forgetting that she was supposed to stand out, the thief hunched over the bar, elbows on the surface and face in her hands. She wanted to go back and sleep, it was nearly midnight, but they had to stay until at least one thirty just to make sure that Miyoshi would come. She didn’t even look up when someone sat down next to her.
“Hello there.” A light feminine voice said and Aika’s head snapped up in surprise, “What’s such a pretty girl doing here all alone?” It was Miyoshi! There was no mistaking her face, Aika remembered her picture well. Short, dark hair framed a strong jaw and dull brown eyes. Her nose was cute and rounded and small ears peeked out from the hair at the side of her face.
Recovering quickly, Aika answered lowly, “I’m waiting for someone.”
“Oh, you girlfriends?” The woman asked smoothly, “Or maybe just one girlfriend?”
“Uh, yeah, she said she’d be here thirty minutes ago, but I can’t reach her and she hasn’t called, so it looks as though I’m suddenly free.” Aika slammed her glass on the bar mock angrily, “So screw her, who needs a girl like that?”
“That’s the spirit. What’s say I help you forget her with a dance?” Miyoshi offered, holding out her hand. Aika took it without letting herself give a second thought and was led to the crowded floor. She let the older woman lead her, letting her grab her hips and press their bodies close together.
Over Miyoshi’s shoulder, she saw Ai and Risa across the room. They seemed to be kissing passionately, but Ai caught her gaze over the gunner’s shoulder and Aika knew they were keeping an eye on her. She threw herself into the dance, grinning easily as the older woman ground against her. In reality, she couldn’t stand the feel of her hands clutching her hips, wherever Miyoshi touched felt slimy.
After a few songs, they made their way to a free booth and Aika took a seat as her companion went off to get them some water. When she returned, the thief didn’t dare take a sip, she wasn’t stupid enough to think Miyoshi hadn’t slipped something in the glass.
“So, what’s your name?” the older woman asked nonchalantly as Aika pretended to take a drink.
“Aika. What can I call you?” the younger girl shivered when Miyoshi ran her fingers up the thief’s arm.
“Keiko is just fine. Feel up to another dance?” The woman responded with a false name and Aika acknowledged her question with a smile.
The combination of the hot dance floor and the pounding beat made Aika feel charged up, those hands running along her back and sides began to have an affect other than disgust on her. She couldn’t help it, she began to really get into it, losing herself in the music and the warm body grinding up against her. When Miyoshi whispered hotly in her ear an invitation to come back to her apartment, even if it hadn’t been part of the plan, she probably would have said yes anyway.
As soon as the older woman led her to the car, Aika felt her tiredness from before come back. Checking her hair to make sure that the tracking device was still there, the thief decided to take a nap, leaning her head against the window. She felt fingers running through her short hair and tried not to tense up at the tingles that slid down her scalp.
It felt like only a few seconds later that Miyoshi was gently shaking her awake, “We’re here, let’s go.” she whispered and all at once, Aika was alert. She tried to move her body, but felt like she was walking through molasses.
Everything was blurry and her limbs didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Looking down at herself in confusion, Aika saw what appeared to be blood oozing sluggishly from a puncture on her arm. She was drugged, she realized belatedly as the older woman nearly carried her into the apartment building, and the thief felt fear.
It was almost like an out of body experience, Aika was watching herself be brought into the apartment and back into the bedroom, where she was dropped unceremoniously onto the bed, “I’ll be right back, cutey.” Miyoshi said, her voice dripping oily sweetness as she left the room.
Desperately, Aika tried to spring to her feet to run away, but only managed to roll over. She spied the window leading to outside and remembered the last part of her mission; mark the window. Knowing she had little time, the thief threw herself off the bed with all the strength she could muster and began to crawl slowly towards the portal to the outside.
It wasn’t far away, but it took all her energy to reach into her pocket and stretch out her hand to just stick the little piece of plastic she’d been given on the corner of the window. Aika retracted her hand and sagged against the floor, energy spent. Now she had no choice but to wait for rescue and she prayed it came soon.
“What are you doing down there?” Miyoshi’s voice rang out from behind her and Aika felt herself being lifted off the ground and put back into the bed, face up. “You weren’t thinking of leaving me, were you? Not before we have some fun first.” Hands started to pull at her clothes, but Aika couldn’t open her mouth to protest, though inside her head, she was screaming.
She tried to close her eyes, but could barely blink as she was stripped down to nothing. Hands roamed her body and lips sucked on her neck and tears began to stream down her cheeks. Those hands traveled lower and Aika flinched as they grazed her thighs, pulling her legs apart. Moist lips followed and the thief felt her breath hitch in a sob.
This wasn’t supposed to happen, she was just supposed to distract Miyoshi for a while, until Jun and Risa could kill her. She wasn’t supposed to go this far! What was worst was behind all her fear and disgust, it actually felt good, the woman knew what she was doing. Aika’s throat began to hurt and she realized that she had been sobbing loudly, wrenching her vocal chords with the strength of her cries. She was calling out a name, calling out for help from the one person she truly trusted.
“Jun! Jun!” she called hoarsely and felt a sharp pain in her thigh. She looked down at Miyoshi, who had sank her teeth into her skin.
“No, I told you. It’s Keiko. So say my name.” She commanded, lifting her head up.
Aika couldn’t say anything else, “Jun! Jun!” and she saw rage sink into the older woman’s eyes.
Miyoshi stood up on her knees and reached down to slap Aika hard across the face, “No! Say my name! Mine!” she reared back to hit the thief again when she still didn’t comply, but was suddenly stopped as thick wire wrapped around her neck from behind and pulled tight.
Jun Jun stood behind her, gripping the garrote in strong hands and viciously pulling. Miyoshi thrashed wildly, bucking and swinging her elbows back into Jun’s gut, but the hitter wouldn’t let go, even when the crazed woman smashed her head backwards into her nose, causing blood to spurt out. Eventually, Miyoshi stopped moving and fell limp in her captive’s grip, Jun held on for a few moments longer to make sure of the kill, her eyes locked on Aika’s own teary orbs.
Risa came in after and immediately headed for the thief, pulling the blanket around her and holding her comfortingly. Aika began to sob anew, still unable to move and feeling more exposed than even being naked could make her feel. She wanted to reach out to her savior, but couldn’t even do that much, so she settled for crying out her name again, “Jun!”
The Chinese woman dropped the body in her grasp and went to join the two on the bed, wrapping her arms around the thief. She indicated to Risa with her eyes to give them some time and the gunner reluctantly left. “I’m here.” Jun whispered comfortingly and Aika buried her face in the older woman’s shoulder, sobbing like the child she still was.
Out in the hallway, Risa, Reina and Sayu stood while Ai, Eri and Lin kept the car going in the parking lot. The gunner paced worriedly while the cop and the con stood close to each other, shoulders brushing together. All of them had heard Aika calling out when they had broken into the apartment and were worried with good reason. The youngest girl was so mature and strong, that to hear her so distraught was like a bucket of cold water to the face.
The bedroom door open, catching their attention, and out came Jun with Aika, fully clothed and unconscious, curled up in her arms. They all shared a look and quietly decided to let the Chinese girl handle her roommate. They left the apartment and headed to the awaiting van trying to make small talk after the successful mission and to distill any lingering uneasiness.
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“Well, that’s that.” Risa said at the morning meeting the next day. “All that’s left is the big boss.” Jun and Aika were notable absent, but she let it go. After they had gotten back and the drugs had worn off, Aika had clung to the Chinese girl like a koala.
“How are we going to do this?” Ai asked quietly. The two had discussed plans throughout the past week, but hadn’t come up with anything solid yet.
“Well, I was thinking a stealthy entrance. The manor is pretty well guarded, but I know the floor plan well and I still remember a few hidden spots. There are a few rooms we could get into, but the place we’re going is on the fourth floor. Now, we can do this two ways, the quick way or the slow way. The quick way is we climb up to the roof and punch a hole underneath us. And the slow way is we climb through a window and make our way up the stairs.” Risa looked around the room and the vote was unanimous, “Okay, quick way it is. The only thing we have to worry about is the dogs and snipers and any guards on the fourth floor.”
“What? Wait what? Snipers? Dogs? You didn’t mention that.” Ai shook her head at her girlfriend’s laughter, “This isn’t funny Risa.”
“I told you it was heavily guarded. Did you think I just meant security cameras?” Ai pouted at the teasing words and the gunner touched her shoulder lightly, “Especially after we’ve taken out his best men?”
“Well of course not, but snipers? Come on.” Risa shook her head, still grinning, “Alright, everyone’s dismissed. We’ll discuss more definite tactics later.”
The group scattered, everyone headed off to do their own things outside of the hotel. Ai and Risa decided to head back to their room to relax. “I’m a little worried about this mission.” The gunner mentioned quietly to her girlfriend when they had settled down on the bed.
“I think that’s pretty normal. I’ve been worried about all of our missions and this one is so big. When are we doing this?” The demo expert asked in the same tone.
“Tomorrow.” Risa replied simply, leaving Ai gob smacked, “What?”
“Tomorrow!? What about Aika and Jun? We can’t do this without them.” The older woman whipped around in surprise.
“We‘re not doing this without them. We need them both to infiltrate the manor and for manpower since you and Lin are staying here.” The gunner continued on nonchalantly.
“No way I’m staying here. I’m fine now and I can move just as well as you can. We can’t bring Aika with us because she’s still traumatized over what just happened and she won’t leave Jun’s side.” Ai scolded.
“Well, that’s tough. She’ll have to suck it up because we need to move on with the mission.” The older girl nearly gasped at Risa’s cold tone. “I mean, I’m sorry it happened like this, but we don’t have time to feel bad. That can come later.”
“How can you say that? The girl was almost raped and she was drugged when we finally got to her, she’s just a child still, she can’t handle things like that so quickly. There’s no way we can move on until she has.” The demo expert sighed, beginning to get angry.
“Well, maybe we can leave her here with Lin and you can come in her place.” The gunner conceded lightly.
“But she needs Jun Jun. If she leaves her side, Aika will freak out again and no one knows how to calm her.” Ai stubbornly insisted.
“Then we’ll just put her to sleep until we get back.” Risa shrugged.
“Drug her again, you mean?” The older woman clarified angrily.
“Well, we could just bring her with us then.” The gunner tried.
“No way. We can’t do this until Aika is better.”
“We have no choice, we have to do this now. We can’t wait because Takashi-dono might get smart and decide to leave the city until things calm down and then where will we be? I sympathize with Aika, really, but you have to make hard choices as leader.” Risa, getting a little mad herself, stated forcefully.
“Well I’m still leader aren’t I? And I’m pulling rank on you, sub-leader. I’m not going to let you go through with any plan until Aika is one hundred percent again!” Ai stood up swiftly and the gunner followed.
“But what if he leaves. We’ll never find him again! I don’t have hardly any contacts in the rest of Japan. Ai, if we can’t kill him, it’s like we’ve practically failed our mission and the consequences for failure were made very clear to me. So even if we finish the other gangs, I’ll still go to jail or worse, they’ll ship me out to other countries to be tried and serve in their prisons.” Risa pleaded, trying not to lose her temper.
“That’s tough, you’ll just have to suck it up.” The demo expert mocked and the gunner clenched her hands at her sides.
“Don’t be such a bleeding heart.” she hissed out sharply, watching anger and a little bit of hurt flash through her girl’s eyes, “You’ll never win if all you can think about is everyone’s feelings.”
“Being a bleeding heart is better than not having one at all!” Ai cried loudly, “Since when was this all about winning, huh? I thought you wanted to protect the others, what happened to that?”
“I have to protect myself first! We’re so close to ending this, how can I be satisfied with backing down now?!” Risa’s fingers itched to clasp Ai’s shoulders and shake some sense into the woman. It didn’t even occur to her what she was saying, she just wanted to hurt her girlfriend. “But at least my ideals are better than having half assed ideals!”
“Even if they have more flip flop than a group of preppy kids at the beach? You’re such a hypocrite!”
“And you’re such a hippy!” Risa snapped back and Ai instinctively raised her hand to prove her wrong, but paused. “Don’t like that word? Go ahead and hit me!”
“Get out.” Ai reached out and grabbed the gunner’s collar instead, dragging her around to throw her in the direction of the door, “Get out!”
“Fine, I will! And I’m not coming back! I’ll take care of this on my own. I don’t need you or anybody else!” Risa snagged her coat, wallet and keys on her way out, slamming the door almost hard enough to drown out Ai’s parting words, but not the thud of something heavy colliding against the thick wood.
In the hallway stood three wide eyed figures, two cops and a con, Reina poised with her key halfway in the lock. They had obviously heard enough of the argument to be concerned, but Risa ignored them as she stormed past. Eri and her partner exchanged a look, communicating their intentions to each other quickly before the older woman took off after the pissed gunner.
Reina gestured towards the door that still hid the second screaming voice and she and Sayumi cautiously crept closer, hearing more objects being thrown around the room. They jumped when something heavy bounced off the door at head level and then everything went quite. Reina pressed her ear to the thick wood, hearing a faint sobbing through the material.
“I’ll take care of this.” The cop told the older girl and Sayu reluctantly nodded, taking a step back, “Ai-chan?” Reina cautiously knocked on the door, but the sobbing didn’t cease. She knocked louder and called again, but the response this time was something light pinging off the door. “Can you open this for me, Sayu?” The cop asked gently and the con pulled out a small black box, attaching it to the lock and sliding a blank card inside. It beeped once and then a light on the side flashed green and the electronic lock clicked heavily.
“There.” Sayumi opened the door cautiously and it caught on something behind it. The two exchanged looks and Reina muscled her way into the trashed hotel room.
“Ai-chan?” she called out warily, not hearing any sounds. The once familiar room had turned downright creepy, the thick blinds were closed to not allow any light to enter from outside and the lights were off, so it was nearly pitch black. Reina reached around until she felt the switch and flicked it on. From the floor came a flash and then the bulb burned out with a crack, causing the yankii to jump.
From her pocket, she withdrew a small keychain flashlight and pressed the button to turn it on. Almost immediately the light landed on a hunched form in the corner to Reina’s left and the cop jumped again. It was like something out of a horror movie and she took a deep breath to calm her nerves before crouching down next to the figure, “Ai-chan.”
The older woman looked up slowly with a tear streaked face and Reina leaned forward to embrace her, feeling fresh tears soak her shoulder, “Rei.” Ai whined, “What have I done?”
“Shh, it’s okay Ai. Gaki-san will cool down and be back in no time.” The small form shuddered under the weight of her sorrow and Reina could only hold on tight, praying for the gunner’s safe return.
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Eri jogged lightly to keep up with the speed of Risa’s angry strides. She had pounded down the stairs to the lobby and didn’t seem to even be slightly affected by the impromptu workout, while Eri knew she was sweating and her hair was probably sticking up everywhere. And even though she was walking and Eri was the taller of the two, Risa easily out stepped the same aged girl.
Finally, unable to keep up with the pace, Eri lunged forward to grab the gunner’s arm and halt her in her tracks, “Gaki-san! Stop!” They were quite a few blocks away from the hotel and Eri rested her hands on her knees to catch her breath, not letting go of her arm for fear she would bolt. “Where are you going?”
Risa finally seemed t realize where they were and looked around in contemplation, “I don’t know, I just had to get away. I am so angry right now that I just…” Risa clenched her jaw and audibly ground her teeth together, “I just want to get away before I do something I’ll regret later. More than I already do.”
“Let’s go back for the van, then, and I’ll take you for a drive. What do you say?” Eri suggested gently, trying to smile for Risa’s sake. No one could resist such a genuine look and the gunner was no exceptions.
“Yes, a drive sounds good. Here, I’ll drive.” And without so much as a warning, Risa reached out and smashed in the back window of the nearest car, not even flinching when her knuckles started to bleed. In no time, she was in the driver’s seat, hot wiring the little coup and Eri was staring at her wide eyed. The car suddenly purred and the gunner let out a grim cry of triumph. “Well, get in.” she ordered the stunned cop.
Shaking her head, Eri scrambled to comply, this definitely wasn’t what she had in mind. Almost before she could buckle her seatbelt, Risa was stomping on the gas and the coup took off with a squeal. Eri shrieked as they swerved into on coming traffic to avoid side swiping a semi and held on for dear life when Risa weaved in and out of the lanes at a rapidly increasing speed.
“Omigod! Gaki-sanslowdown!” Eri screamed, nearly incoherently, “BecarefulwatchoutforthatcaaaAAHHH!” A jerk of the wheel sent the little coup darting dangerously between other vehicles on the road. Grabbing onto her left ear tightly, the cop began to do something she’d never done willingly before now. She prayed.
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Jun flinched as she heard the door slam, watching Risa storm down the hallway from a crack in the door. She had heard the argument even across the hallway and poked her head out curiously to listen in, not really getting much except that the pair was angry at each other. She saw Reina enter the room, leaving Sayumi in the hall, and called the con over softly.
“What’s going on?” Jun asked, carefully trying not to wake Aika, would had finally gotten to sleep not long ago.
Sayu could only shrug, “I don’t know. It definitely didn’t sound good. I’m sure Reina will tell us later.” She paused for a second, “How’s she doing?” The con gestured towards the room that Jun was half hanging out of.
“About as well as can be expected for being nearly raped.” Grinding her teeth, Jun shook her head, “I wish that bitch was still alive so that I could kill her again.”
“I know, I know. How are you holding up?” Sayumi reached out to lay a hand on Jun’s cheek, “You can tell me. It’s okay.” She pressed when the older woman hesitated.
“Honestly I haven’t really thought about it. I guess I’m mostly just angry.” she gently gripped the con’s wrist, titling her head towards the warmth that radiated from her hand, “I’m more angry at myself than anything, I should have been able to protect her better, Aika is just a girl, she shouldn’t have to deal with this stuff.”
“I’m sure that she’ll recover with your help. You have such a kind heart, Jun.” They smiled at each other, Sayu trying to give her strength through her eyes and Jun taking it in willingly.
“What are you doing?” Reina called out from across the hallway from where she was exiting Ai’s room. The two broke apart from their intimate position to turn and address the newcomer, but Jun didn’t let go of Sayu’s wrist and they saw Reina’s eyes drawn to the contact.
“Just talking, what did Ai-chan say?” The con questioned, trying to distract Reina’s attention. She knew it looked bad, no matter how innocent the gesture had been, and the cop had just been beginning to warm up to her again. Sayumi didn’t want to do anything to lose her trust.
“She said that they were fighting over when to attack Takashi.” Reina reported, eyes still locked on the contact between the two. The con shook off Jun’s light grip and reached out with the same hand to latch onto Reina’s elbow and drag her forward, not letting go even when she struggled.
“When?” Behind Jun, they didn’t notice Aika jerk into awareness. She shook her head and sat up slowly, trying to get the nightmare out of her mind. For a second, when she realized Jun wasn’t beside her anymore, she panicked, then she heard her voice at the door, “Why would they be fighting about that?”
“Gaki-san wants to do it tomorrow.” Reina began, voice muffled slightly. Before she could finish, Jun barked in quietly.
“Tomorrow?! Why, but Aika can’t. There’s no way she could be ready by tomorrow.” Aika jumped at the harsh tone.
Without missing a beat, Reina chimed in, “That’s what Ai said. She told me Gaki-san gave her some really cold answers and they fought. Though to be fair, they’re both right, in a way. Just that Gaki-san isn’t taking emotion into account and Ai is basing her decision on it.”
“I can’t let her out of my sight until she’s better, but that might take a while, so if you go tomorrow, I can’t come.” Jun said with an air of finality. Aika could hear the others make sounds of agreement.
“We know, but we need your strength and Aika’s stealth in this. No one will be able to spot security measures and deal with them better than you two.” Sayumi spoke up.
“Yeah.” Reina again, “I think Ai’s more worried about Gaki-san trying to do this on her own. The girl’s just not used to working with a group that actually cares about each other which is why she’s having such a hard time grasping this whole, ‘Taking into account emotion’ thing. I guess.”
Aika lay down and turned on her side, what was she supposed to do? She was holding everyone back. She knew she couldn’t help how she felt, but at the same time, she didn’t want all their hard work to be for nothing. And if Niigaki-san tried to take out Takashi on her own, she could get seriously hurt or die and then Takahashi-san would be sad. Not to mention they needed both of their leaders in tip top shape to finish the rest of the mission. Just the thought of going outside again, though, made her feel a heavy spot of dread low in her belly.
She barely heard the low murmur of conversation going on behind her, but she did notice the room go dark when the door was closed and she felt Jun slip into bed at her back. She tensed instinctively when the older woman wrapped an arm around her middle, but the quiet voice in her ear soothed away her fears.
“I’m here. I’ve got you.” No promises, just simple fact. Jun always knew what she needed to hear and it helped Aika make her decision.
“Jun.” she said suddenly, “Let’s storm Takashi’s manor tomorrow.”
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“Wake up.” Eri felt herself being shaken gently and lifted her head from where it had been resting on the car window. Disoriented, she glanced outside, noticing that it was probably late afternoon and they were definitely in an unfamiliar part of the city. After driving like a maniac for about a half hour, Risa had finally slowed down enough to brood quietly, leaving Eri nothing else to do but sleep.
“Where are we?” She had no idea exactly how long they’d been driving, so she couldn’t even begin to guess where they were.
“Yokohama.” Risa said nonchalantly and Eri nearly choked on her tongue.
“Wha- Yoko-? What are we doing here?” She certainly didn’t think they would wind up in another prefecture!
“I needed some advice.” Risa said quietly and the cop swallowed her other objections at the broken tone. They got out of the car and Eri took a closer look at their surroundings. It seemed to be just a normal neighborhood, quiet two story houses overlooking the serene street. There was one thing out of place and that’s currently where Risa was heading.
“Eh?” Eri examined the large crater that appeared to be in place of one of the houses on the block, “What happened here?”
It looked as if someone had cleared debris with a backhoe, as one could still see claw marks in the dirt, but they had not begun to rebuild at all. “I grew up here. I spent most of my time here with my brother. Ai-chan said she took down the house, I guess she wasn’t kidding.” Risa led Eri to the backyard down a single stripe of green still on the property and finally stopped at a small, square rock that had a name carved into it. Hiro Niigaki.
“This is your brother?” Eri asked gently when the same aged girl kneeled down in front of the stone.
“In a sense, yes. When I left that day, the police took away his body and I never saw it again. I had no pictures of him for an altar and I moved around too much to have one anyway, so I decided to put this here. I’m glad no one moved it, though this is probably why nobody will build here.” Reverently, the gunner reached out and brushed the stone with her fingertips.
Eri took a step back politely as Risa began to speak, “Hello, Onii-chan, it’s been a while since I was home, so I figured it was time for a visit. A lot has happened since I was gone, I’ve traveled a lot and done a lot of different things, not all good. But I’ve also learned stuff and had new, exciting experiences. I’ve changed, would you even recognize me now?”
“I need your advice, brother, now more than ever.” With a sigh, Risa sat cross-legged on the soft grass, “You’ve always told me to follow my mind and not my heart because it’ll keep me safer, but now I don’t know what to do. My mind is telling me that I’m right, but at the same time, I don’t want to hurt anybody. Especially not Ai-chan.”
The gunner smiled a little, looking upwards into the sunset stained sky, “You remember her, don’t you? She helped me a lot after you died and she’s helped me a lot now. I really love her and I think you’d approve of my choice. She very pure.” Suddenly, Risa frowned, “Or maybe you wouldn’t approve. She’s too good for me and I’ll only hurt her more than I already have.”
“But I want to be with her! I love her, even if we fight like cats and dogs sometimes. Even if we hurt each other more than we get a long. She’s my other half, my soul’s mate and you know I’ve never believed in that mumbo jumbo before, but she makes me think it could be true.” Her tone took on a pleading note, “So now I’m not sure what to do.”
“Ai, she’s says we need to take heart into account and I only want to ignore it. Because! In trying to save one of us, she’ll kill all of us!” Risa paused, stuttering slightly, “At the same time, though, I don’t care. I was thinking that maybe I deserve it. I’ve become what I hated, brother. I’ve only realized this recently, but I’m afraid of myself.”
“And Ai’s not afraid of me at all. She trusts me.” The gunner sighed forlornly, her thoughts were chasing themselves in circles and it showed in her frantic speech, “I’ve always valued your opinion and I’m not sure whether it was just my childish mind looking up to my big brother or if you really did know more about life and living than I ever could, but I think if you’d truly lived by your ideals, you’d still be alive and maybe I wouldn’t be.”
“Mind over heart. Mind over heart. It was drilled into me. And now the only thing I want to do is listen to my heart. I want to listen to my Ai. And I’m afraid to die.” Her shoulders sank low in defeat, “Tell me what to do.”
Silence fell over the yard, Risa’s last words hanging in the air. The sun was nearly gone and behind them, streetlamps began to flicker on. A dog’s howl echoed loudly in the quiet, being answered by a multitude of chirping crickets. A breeze blew and chilled Eri, the taste of snow in the air making the back of her neck feel prickly. “Gaki-san.” she finally said, breaking the eerie atmosphere, “Let’s go.”
“I don’t have my answer yet.” The gunner murmured brokenly. Eri walked up and grabbed her arm, tugging on her gently, “I said I don’t have my answer yet!” Risa snapped.
“You’re waiting for wait? A sign from God? Your brother’s voice?!” The cop yelled back, “You already know what to do! You decided before we even got here, the only thing you needed was to apologize to him for ignoring his teachings! Except that you don’t need to. How could he ever be mad at you for living your life the way you want to? How are you supposed to find happiness if you don‘t take the chance that the heart gives you?” Eri’s words caused Risa’s eyes to widen, “He loved you. And you love Ai. You know what to do.”
The gunner, still kneeling and with one arm being gripped by the same aged girl, felt her eyes fill with tears. Eri smiled down at her benevolently as she cried.
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Ai jerked awake when a gentle weight settled down on top of her and warm, wet lips pressed against the side of her neck. “Risa? Did you just get back?”
“Yes. I went to Yokohama.” The gunner’s voice was just a husky whisper and Ai pushed her back slightly so that she could sit up.
“I’m sorr-” A finger against her lips cut her off.
“No, I’m the one who needs to apologize. You were right, I was wrong. You’ve always been right in the way you’ve handled things. I’ve done nothing, but hurt you with my stubborn ways, when I’m the one who needed to change, not you. So, I want to do this your way.” Risa sealed their lips together in a passionate kiss.
The demo expert felt a heat begin to swell in her body and moaned quietly. “Wait. You’re not the only one who said things they don’t mean. So, I’m sorry, too. Also, I need to tell you something about the mission.”
“It can wait until tomorrow, Ai, I want tonight to be about us.” The gunner smiled at her confused look.
“Us?” The older woman parroted.
“I want to make love to you.” Risa answered simply, chuckling when Ai’s breath caught.
“But what about waiting until after this is over? What about this not being the time for romance?” Already, the demo expert was beginning to squirm under hungry eyes.
“How am I supposed to find happiness if I don’t take the chance the heart has given me? If we were to die tomorrow, I would forever regret not being with you like this and not showing you how much I love you. Let’s make love, Ai. Now.” Not needing to be told twice, the older woman wrapped her arms around Risa’s shoulders and tugged her down to meet her lips.
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Reina and Sayumi marched over to Ai and Risa’s room that night. They had just finished grilling Eri on what happened and where she had been, but hadn’t gotten much out of her except that Risa had found her answers. So, they had sent the older girl to bed and decided to confront the source herself. As they approached the heavy door, Sayu’s finely tuned senses picked up some strange sounds from the other side.
She froze in her tracks, immediately recognizing the noises, and grabbed Reina’s arm to stop her from going any closer, “Wait, maybe we should come back in the morning.”
“Wait till morning? Why should we, that woman practically kidnapped my partner and I wanna know why!” Suddenly, from inside their leader’s shared room, a loud cry issued forth, startling both girls.
“Risa!”
The cop and con exchanged a blushing look, “Was that Ai-chan?” The younger asked hesitantly. Sayu nodded and they jumped when another cry was heard. “Maybe… we should wait for morning.” They quickly scurried back to their room, finding Eri already asleep. Awkwardly, they changed into sleeping clothes and climbed into bed, for once, not cuddling together. Neither could get their minds off what they’d just heard and what it implied.
The cop and the con just laid back to back, trying to clear their heads enough to sleep. Finally, Reina rolled over with a sigh and wrapped her arms around the taller girl, “Stop thinking about it and just sleep.”
“It’s hard not to. I mean, we just heard them. And they were. And they’re both so, mmm.” Reina felt Sayumi’s body temperature rise from where her hands rested on the other’s stomach. A shiver went through them both and the cop pulled her so that they were spooned together snuggly.
“I know, just forget about it.” Reaching down, Sayu intertwined their fingers, moving Reina’s hand up and underneath her shirt. They let out twin moans as the cop’s fingers brushed against heated skin and her hand stopped when it rested squarely between Sayu’s breasts. Unable to resist, Reina grinded lightly against the older girl’s backside, forcing one of her thighs between Sayumi’s legs and lifting her knee up higher.
The con’s loud moan resounded in the room and both girls froze when the forgotten occupant of the other bed stirred. Immediately, Reina pulled her hand away and lowered her leg and Sayu gave out a frustrated sigh. They lay quietly for a little while, neither able to keep from fidgeting in the unresolved tension that filled their space. Finally, the con pulled away from her companion, “I need to use the bathroom.”
Reina shivered at the sudden cool chill that settled over her body in the absence of the older woman. She hadn’t noticed that she’d been sweating until Sayumi had gotten up and rubbed her thighs together with a blush, realizing that sweat wasn’t the only thing that covered them. She wondered how long Sayu would take in the bathroom, because she felt like she needed to use it, too.
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Risa awoke to a pleasant ache in her muscles, pressed as close to Ai’s body as she could comfortably get. Both were naked and the skin against skin contact felt relaxing and arousing to the grinning gunner. She was sorely tempted to wake her lover up for another round, but Ai just looked so cute, she decided to let her sleep a little longer. Heaven knew they didn’t get much of it last night.
When Risa went to roll out of bed, she groaned as they separated with an uncomfortable ripping sound. The older woman let out an whimper, eyebrows knitting together for a second before she opened her eyes groggily, “Ow, what the hell?”
“Sorry.” Risa laughed lightly, “We were stuck together.” she lifted the blanket slightly and looked down at themselves.
“With what?” she let out a surprised sound when the gunner slipped her hand down low, fingers swiping at a sensitive place, before she brought them up, two digits covered in a red and clear mixture, “Is that my blood?”
“Yeah, we might need to change the sheets, too.” The gunner gave a hearty laugh, “Well, they don’t talk about this in romance novels, do they?”
“Well, it’s kind of gross.” Ai replied, “I don’t think books would sell as well if they talked about things realistically. Let’s get a shower.” she gave the smiling Risa a gentle push, but at first she didn’t move, “What?”
“I love you.” The demo expert blushed at the conviction with which these words were said.
“I love you, too.” She replied shyly, “Now let’s go get clean.” They made their way to the bathroom and took a long, long shower.
When they finally emerged, mostly dressed and a little cold, Ai made a sound like she’d just remembered something, “I just remembered! What I wanted to tell you last night about the Takashi mission.”
“What is it? I told you it was fine if we waited for Aika.” Risa said, pulling on some sweat pants.
“No, no, I know. That’s what I wanted to talk about, Aika came to me yesterday. She wants to help us storm the manor.” Risa paused what she was doing and turned wide eyes on her lover.
“What? You mean today?” Ai nodded tentatively, “What!? Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” The gunner cried and the older woman blushed and mumbled something. “What was that?”
“Well, you were very convincing last night.” Risa laughed and flopped on her back next to Ai.
A knock sounded loudly at the door and Reina’s voice called through noisily, “Oi! Stop having sex and open up!”
Risa laughed again at Ai’s flaming face and made loud exaggerated cries, “Oh Ai-chan! Yes! More!” Shaking her head, the demo expert got up to answer the door, “Right there! Harder!” Finally unable to keep a straight face, the gunner degenerated into giggles.
“Yes Reina?” Ai yanked the door open to find two mischievously grinning faces looking at her.
“We’re calling a meeting, love birds.” Sayumi said, her knowing grin making Ai blush harder, “So how was it?”
“How was what?” The older woman feigned ignorance.
“How was the mind blowing sex we heard you two having last night?” The cop and the con burst into laughter at the fierce red color that lit up Ai’s face.
“It was mind blowing.” Risa answered from behind her lover, swinging her arm around her shoulder, “In fact it was so great, we’re going to do it again. Bye.” And with that, the gunner slammed the door on the two. They immediately began to bang on the closed barrier, calling out playfully. “You okay?” Risa asked Ai gently, ignoring the ruckus outside.
“They heard us?” The older woman buried her face in her hands in embarrassment as her lover tried to comfort her without laughing.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure everyone knows by now.” The gunner held up her hands to fend off a swat to her shoulder.
“You’re not helping!”
Finally, the lovers left their room, Risa, with her head held high and a smirk on her face, and Ai, blushing and clutching the gunner’s hand. When they entered the war room, they were greeted with cat calls and wolf whistles from the rowdy group. Risa seemed to ignore them and shamelessly pushed the reluctant Ai down into a chair before she climbed possessively onto her lap.
“Oh a lap dance? So early in the morning?” Reina called out with a grin. The room burst into laughter as Ai buried her blushing face into the gunner’s back.
“You want a show Tanakacchi? I’m sure Sayumin would be glad to give you one.” Risa countered quickly and the two in question ducked their heads as some low ‘ooo’s sounded.
Someone began to play a techno beat on their phone and Sayumi perked up from her embarrassment, turning to Reina with a wicked grin. Immediately, the yankii scrambled to hide behind her partner, “Don’t you dare!”
Still wanting to tease the cop, Sayu turned to her left, eyeing Jun for a second before being warded off by Aika’s sudden glare. Finally, she turned to the innocently laughing Lin Lin and grinned wider, “What do you say, Linko? Though I’ll only except tens and higher.”
The hacker gave a surprised look, before recovering admirably and pulling out a credit card, “Sorry, this is all I have.”
The con just laughed, “Oh, even better, baby. You know what you can get with one of those?” She boogied towards the blushing Lin, laughing harder when she curled up in her chair. She leaned in close and whispered seductively, “It doesn’t matter what I’m saying, just look properly surprised and horrified.” Sayumi felt honestly happy when the younger girl played along with her request, giving a perfect mix of embarrassment and disgust, mouth dropped into an ‘O’ of astonishment.
Before she stood up straight, the con snuck a pointed look at Reina, taking in her scowling visage. Sayu grinned, glad that her little tease had the effect she was looking for. She sauntered back to her seat next to Eri as the merriment died down.
“Okay guys, we’re all in for this, right?” The room nodded to Risa’s question, “Okay, and since we already know the basic plan, we’ll just stock up on weapons.” From underneath the bed, Risa pulled out a huge trunk.
“Where the hell did that come from?!” Reina asked as the gunner opened it up to show it was full of weapons.
“Oh, it’s been here for a while. Now, we don’t want to kill them if we don’t have to so I want each of us to have a non lethal weapon on hand. We have batons, bokkens, and brass knuckles. I also have three nifty tranquilizer pistols that are fired using air pressure, so they don’t make much sound.” Risa handed one of these to Ai with a nod and held out the others to Lin Lin and Aika.
“Let’s see what else I have in here.” Jun reached into the box as Risa searched through it, pulling out her favored spiked knuckles, but also pulling out a metal baton. “Oh, I have some riot control shotguns for those that are interested, but they make a lot of noise, so they would be our second to last resort.”
“Second to last?” Eri asked as one was handed to her, “What’s the last resort?”
“Real bullets. These fire either beanbags or pellets. Oh, let me tell you, the pellets hurt worse, but the beanbags have more stopping power.” Two more were handed to Reina and Sayu.
“How does that work? You’d think the one that hurts worse would have more stopping power.” Ai tilted her head innocently.
“Well, the pellets hurt because it’s like having a bunch of little rocks thrown at you from a high rate of speed. The beanbags stopping power is better because it’s like having one great big rock thrown at you at a high rate of speed.” Risa explained simply, “I mean, it’s more complicated than that, but you get the picture.”
“Okay, the rest of the weapons are down in the van, we’ll get those later, right now, we have to go and deal with those guys that live in the apartment building. Yeah, remember that place? It’ll be a breeze.”
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“A breeze, you say?” Reina, sporting a black eye, scoffed at Risa from the driver’s seat. “Stupid.”
“Well how was I supposed to know that some junkies were actually awake at this time of the morning? We got the job done, didn’t we?” Risa reclined in the back with her head on Ai’s lap, holding an ice pack to her bruised forehead.
“Poor Lin Lin is still out cold!” The cop cried, gesturing wildly and jerking the van around nauseatingly. Jun Jun nodded silently, holding the smaller girl in her lap while Aika pressed another cold pack to a bump on the back of her head.
The group has sauntered easily up to the roof, dropped the gas canisters into the vents and waited for the gas to dissipate, but on the way out, they’d been ambushed by a group who had apparently just come back from a long night of partying. The element of surprise was against them, though the ultimately won, and the resulting injuries followed.
Aika, Jun and Ai were the only ones who were unharmed, Lin had gotten the worst of the attack, having been the first to get clobbered. Risa had taken the butt of a gun to the face in her efforts to protect Ai and Reina had been unprepared for the fist that met with her eye socket.
Sayu and Eri only had a few shallow slashes from a lucky knife wielding guy before the tables abruptly turned and the now highly annoyed group summarily took down their attackers. And then limped back to their van.
“She’ll be fine!” Risa repeated for the third time, cringing in pain when her head throbbed.
“Maybe we should call this off?” Ai suggested quietly, but Risa shook her head.
“We’ve come too far to let this set back trip us up. We’ll take Lin back to the hotel, suit up and go take down Takashi.” The gunner slowly sat up, “This does not change our plans.”
A tense silence filled the vehicle as everyone became lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, Lin’s voice cut through the thick air, “No, I want the one with cheese.” Everyone turned simultaneously to the middle of the van to stare at the still unconscious girl, “It’s blue!”
Jun began to chuckle, “Leave it to this one to actually be funny when she’s knocked out.” she murmured, shifting the younger girl in her arms.
The air in the van lightened as the others listened to Lin’s random mumblings, “I didn’t know she talked in her sleep.” Aika said, leaning over to peer into the girl’s face.
“It’s probably just a side effect of the concussion. Or she’s a weirdo.” Reina assured her as they pulled up to the hotel.
Slowly, the group filed out, gaining looks from the other patrons at their bedraggled appearance. They went upstairs to collect their things and left to many more stares than when they came in.
“What are you looking at?” Reina growled at a nearby patron, readjusting the large assault rifle strapped across her back. The man quickly turned away and went about his business elsewhere and the cop let out a satisfied smile.
The troops were mostly quiet on the long ride up into the outskirts of Tokyo, mentally preparing themselves for the battle ahead. They had gone over the plan again and again until it was drilled into their heads, so each girl knew what to do. Now, they just had to do it.
The sun had fully set by the time they reached the manor and they parked the van quite a hike away. The house was surrounded by thick woods, perfect cover, and they made their way through the brush to the gate that surrounded the manor. Through the iron wrought fence, they could see several dogs patrols on the large, well lit grounds. They noticed that from where they were to where they wanted to be had almost no cover at all. The only spots that they could sneak into were heavily guarded.
“Well, we either have to take down the guards or make a run for it.” Ai said quietly after a while of studying the predicament.
“We’ll never make it past the snipers.” Risa shook her head, eyes focused on something in the distance, “I count four from this angle, but I’m sure there are more that I can’t see.”
“Four?” Eri raised an eyebrow, “I only see two.”
“My eyes are good, trust me, there’s four that can shoot us from here.” As she spoke, the gunner leaned forward and grabbed a handful of wires that had been hidden in the dirt, “Luckily, we won’t have to tangle with them.” With a quick motion, she cut through the lines and half the yard went dark, “Let’s go!”
In the confusion, the group scaled the f
Topic: Black and Blue (Ch 34 6/4 The End!) (Read 176757 times)