As Toijira watched the aftermath of the battle from the Dreizhen comm. center, he made a few mental notes.
First, he was going to ask what the hell Dante did to the ExCon. It had vanished, its signal had briefly reappeared on the edge of town, and then it had disappeared again. Second, the town had gotten used to the idea of the Witch Blades, but he was seriously considering getting the boy a Mahoken suit so he wouldn’t stand out too bad. As it was, the kid had just put on one hell of a light show, and though one could possibly BS the public into thinking it was Witch Blade related, Toijira wasn’t going to take chances and make sure that was the conveyed party line.
As Asagi watched Dante land, she was ready to give him a piece of her mind.
She hadn’t seen him for a few days, and now she had seen him, he had apparently taken a level in badass. Not that she minded, but what the hell was he thinking by not telling her anything? However, she never got a chance to bitch him out before Masane got there first.
“Look, Dante, not that I mind you saved our asses, but what the hell did you just do?” As she said this, Asagi was wondering why the hell she hadn’t asked him where his new powers had come from, but she had to admit finding out what happened to Ouka was probably more important.
“I let her go.”
Asagi had the same “WTF” look on her face as Masane did at that point.
“What do you mean?”
“Uh, Kira, how much can I tell them?”
“It will probably be impossible to avoid delaying letting them know, so tell them about me and the powers I gave you. It would probably be best to inform them that Colonel Toijira is aware of your activities. As for me, I’ll explain everything to Migura. I’ll meet up with you later.”
“Got it.”
Dante stole a quick glance at Asagi, and he felt himself cringe as he realized she was pissed, which is why he told Masane, “I was under orders by Migura to keep my mouth shut, and I just got the green light to tell you guys the truth.
By the way, Colonel Toijira knew about this too, but he was ordered to stay quiet too.”
Masane looked stunned, “I………see.”
“Tell you what. Let’s get out of here before we attract a crowd, and I’ll explain everything.”
Ironically, as they all (now detransformed) made it back to Marry and Rihoko, Masane felt her cell phone chirp. It was Toijira.
“Major Amaha here.”
“I need you and the others to return to HQ ASAP. Make sure Dante is with you.”
“Slight problem, sir.”
“Explain.”
Masane informed him of how she got there, and Toijira replied,
“Understood. I’ll send some transportation your way, so wait there.”
“Yes Sir.”
With that, Toijira hung up, and Masane relayed this to the others, and asked Marry to take Rihoko home. As Marry left, she noticed that Asagi looked pretty steamed, and Dante looked liked he’d rather put his balls in a bench vise than talk to her at the moment. Neither was talking to each other at the moment, so Masane decided to stand between the two just in case any flare-ups happened. As they waited, Nora, Yagi, and Yuriko got their own RTB order from the Other Realm, and returned, while Darkness left Masane a quick memo to expect them at Marry’s sometime tomorrow morning, whereupon she was to help them get used to civilian life again.
Two Dreizhen logoed vans showed up and Asagi made a point of waiting until Dante boarded one, before she quite purposely boarded the other. As Masane joined her, she had to resist the urge to tell Asagi she was being a little petty.
“Then again”, she mused as they drove away, “If Reiji was suddenly able to shoot lightning bolts out of his ass and didn’t tell me about it, I’d be pissed too.”
While they were going to ascertain truth, Migura had gone by himself to the Other Realm to find it out in a more direct manner.
To wit, he showed up, told the Witch Blades guarding the path to their surrogate mom and dad he needed to speak with them, and after they let him, he still noticed he was being watched like he was going to try something stupid once more, which merely made him feel like Dante’s opinion of the inflated paranoia had some merit to it.
At any rate, as soon as he stood in front of Darkness and Angelus, he surprised them by dropping to one knee like a servant and asked respectfully,
“Might I say something?”
Angelus was a little flabbergasted that Migura, of all people, was showing so much humility, so Darkness had to say,
“Of course.”
Continuing to fall on his sword, Migura admitted, “For a long time, I and the others have been frightened that you two were very angry with us, and that you hated the imprisonment we forced on you, and that you wanted revenge on us. I am here to admit that we did not trust your intentions.”
As Migura finished, he heard both Angelus and Darkness chuckle softly, with Angelus fighting the urge to erupt into full blown laughter as she said,
“We knew that already.”
Migura was stunned, but realized a second later he and his compatriots hadn’t really hid things all that well.
Darkness picked up from here, “And no, Migura, despite the fact we both contemplated brutally separating all of your spines and breaking your appendages off as trophies at one point, we aren’t going to. In fact, we got over any rage long ago.”
“Beg pardon?”
Angelus: “The imprisonment was good for us. We DID “go overboard” and use our power beyond what should have been prescribed, and while we were here, cool logic prevailed over our fiery tempers, and we came to the conclusion we probably did far more harm than good. During our fetterment, we looked upon all the parties involved, and we saw the plight of those called the Neogenes. They were innocents, and Masane’s would be death and the deeds of her life until she freed us had been in their defense, and we had been forced to remember it was they who suffered far more than we did, thus we abandoned our hatred.”
Migura had not been expecting Angelus and Darkness to be falling on their swords as well, so as he tentatively rose to a more dignified standing position, and he honestly started to admit, “In fact, we even contemplated spying-“
Darkness held up an amused hand. “Dante Long, right?”
Migura was stunned silent, which was answer enough.
Angelus picked up the baton, “But that plan seems to have been abandoned. Why?”
Migura gave them both an ironic look, “The boy I asked to spy on you told me it might be better to clear the air with you instead, and simply ask your intentions.”
Darkness: “Smart boy.”
Migura caught the implicit sarcasm in the remark, and kept his mouth shut. Obviously, Dante had been right, and he felt like a 400 year old paranoiac, which he was. Sure, most of the Thirteen had made a few concerned noises about possible reprisal, but looking back, he had made the majority, and now that he finally cleared the air with them and discovered he was wrong, he actually felt a little better that he had simply asked, instead of continuing “Poor Communication Kills”.
In fact, he was in for another surprise as a figure walked up to Darkness who looked like a mini Darkness, albeit Darkness had he been born as a Japanese mecha anime geek with unruly brown hair.
“So, Dad, who’s this?”
Darkness gestured grandly, “Lord Migura, this is my protégé, Kenichi Oka. Kenichi, this is Lord Migura of the Thirteen, and before you ask, they are part of the good guys.” Migura barely had time to be gratified to hear this when
Kenichi walked up and offered his hand, which Migura shook.”
“Nice to meet you, Migura-san. Darkness is not only like a second father to me, he’s the guy who rescued me from being a soulless killroid and let me be awesome instead, and he and Angelus-sama have done the same for all the other ladies here.”
As Kenichi said this, Migura looked around at the various Neogenes in Witch Blade armor, and was touched to see they looked content, happy, and free from want and fear. As he turned back around to face Darkness and Angelus, Darkness added,
“I believe you should know that we eventually plan to send them all back to Tokyo to not only aid Masane in her mission, but as much as we enjoy the company they provide, our transplant birds must leave this nest eventually and reembrace the lives taken from them.”
“I’m gratified to hear that, Darkness. I truly am.”
Angelus: “If you might tarry a bit longer, Migura, we would wish to inform you of the rest of our plans.”
“I am at your service, Angelus.”
Much later…………………
When he finally left, Migura was convinced of two things. One, he and the few others amongst his peers who shared his feelings had been dead wrong, and two, he had truly underestimated the effect that the cries of the innocent had against the rage of the powerful.
Back at Dreizhen…………………
Dante had made a point of staying as far away from Asagi as possible, and now they were all in Toijira’s office, giving a report on what had happened. The Colonel listened intently, then said,
“I see. Given the situation, I am hereby putting all of you on constant standby for Ouka Nagisa. While I’m confident that she is not a threat to herself or civilians given your reports, I am hereby making it an official directive for all of you to do whatever you can to peaceably detain her whenever she reappears. Based on the research data on the Clone Blades, repeated use causes breakdown as some of you know, and this could cause Ms. Nagisa to lose her sanity, which would make saving her near difficult to impossible, and given the fact it is still possible to save her I want all of you, Dante included, to remain on constant standby at all times, and if any of you spot her in either human or ExCon form you are to notify HQ immediately and do whatever you can to peaceably detain her.”
In response, a solemn chorus of “Sir!” resounded.
Toijira then turned his attention to Dante, and said, “Young man, as of this moment, under the authority given me by Lord Migura and your patron Kira, I am inducting you into our anti-ExCon forces here at Dreizhen with a simulated rank of Sergeant. You will report to Masane or to me, and from this point onward, you are bound by military regulations.”
Dante stood at attention, “Understood.”
“And, Sergeant Long, your first order is explain the circumstances of how you became an agent of the Thirteen for everyone else’s benefit.
Dante proceeded to do just that, carefully avoiding directly looking at Asagi as he did, though he noticed some of her temper bled off as he got to the parts where he was sworn to silence about his new powers and status. As he finished, Toijira picked up from there, “Now that you’ve heard what happened, I’m also making it known that as soon as the Mahoken power armor arrives; I’m issuing Dante one of them. Given that we remain committed to keeping any knowledge beyond what is already public secret for the public’s protection, I’d rather he look like a Witch Blade and blend in. Any questions?”
Shiori raised her hand, “Sir, I know Masane and Reiji met this Migura gentleman, and Dante and yourself have met the other Thirteen, but when do we get to meet them?”
“Good question, Lieutenant. I’ll see what I can do about arranging a meeting. Anything else?”
“No, sir!”
“Good. You may all, save Dante, go home now, but until Ouka Nagisa is found, you are all on constant standby until this situation is resolved. Dismissed.”
Everyone else filed out but Dante, who stole a quick look at Asagi, who looked slightly less pissed, to his relief. As soon as they were gone, Toijira told him to follow him. They left Toijira’s office and quickly found a small conference room. As Dante complied with Toijira’s order to sit at the head of the table, he remain standing, and Dante wisely decided to shut up while the Colonel proceeded to give the speech he’d been wanting to give, noting the man flipped a switch somewhere underneath the table that made a buzz emanate around the room, and didn’t speak till it was good and humming.
“Dante Long, unlike the Witch Blades, whom I only have semi-autonomous authority over, I’ve have been given complete authority over you, and when I said you were drafted, I meant it. And, that means I’ll be requesting some changes.”
“What changes are those, sir?”
“First, you look like a punk, and before you leave here, I’ll have one of our quartermaster’s issue you a proper uniform, and whenever possible, I want you to show up looking presentable, got it?”
Dante shook his head in acquiescence. He could see the Colonel’s point, and besides, he noticed the Witch Blades walked around in company logoed jackets when out of Witch Blade form, so not only was it reasonable, it wasn’t like he was being singled out.
“Next, just because you have super powers now doesn’t mean you can use them carelessly. I’m sure Kira read you the riot act, so I won’t repeat it. I will tell you this much, though. Migura has granted me power as well, and since the Thirteen aren’t around all the time, I will be responsible for your actions, and I don’t think I have to impress upon you how strongly I don’t like to look bad, do I?”, and as Toijira finished, Dante felt a chill. That had all been said in the voice a man would use to order breakfast, but the implication of the sheer hell he’d endure got through in the subtext, and though he was curious what powers Toijira had, he merely said, “Yes, sir.”
“Finally, you are now under military regulations now. You will be issued a company cell phone I expect you to carry at all times, as it not only will be how we reach you, but also doubles as a tracking device so we know where you are in case you need to be bailed out of trouble. If it breaks, let us know and we’ll fix it, but don’t lose it or forget it. Also, you will let either me or Major Amaha know what your schedule is at all times. Considering the threat we face, your services may be required 24/7, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Excellent. I’ll be back with some forms for you to fill out, then you’ll be getting your gear issued before you leave.” and Toijira’s eyes widened as he realized he forgot something, and he asked,
“How much does your father know about your situation?”
“Kira and Migura filled him in about my powers and how I’m an agent of theirs who will be working with you, sir. He was authorized to inform Chief Nakata of this information, but no one else. He’s more than a little shocked, but understands my situation, and understood when I told him I might not be able to reveal all of my activities, sir.”
“That’s acceptable, Mr. Long. I’ll be calling your father personally to let him know you are now a simulated member of the JSDF, and considering the Tokyo Police liaise with us, any confidential information you are authorized to tell him may only be spread to others on my orders.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Good. Welcome to the team, Dante.”
On the way home, Asagi was pretty quiet, and though it wasn’t hard to guess why, Masane decided to talk to her.
“Asagi-“
“Let me guess. I shouldn’t be pissed my boyfriend didn’t tell me he got a power up because he was ordered to keep his mouth shut, and I shouldn’t be upset given the circumstances, right?”
Masane’s tongue felt for the words that had been taken from her mouth as Asagi continued.
“Look, I’m not as upset as I look. Sure, I’m kinda frustrated he couldn’t tell me, but I’ll get over it, so no need to worry.”, and with that Asagi returned to her silence, thinking to herself,
“I now understand why Dante was asking me about my responsibility, and I really can’t fault him for having to keep his mouth shut.”
And with that, Masane returned to silence as well.
(The next day, morning)
Masane had been waiting for whenever Nora, Yagi, and Yuriko were going to show back up, and her impatience was getting to the point she was seriously considering taking the Witch Blade up on its offer to page its parents for a status update. She managed to restrain this urge, and tried to busy herself with recent events, of which there were many.
First, Marry had recently got a call from Naomi, who informed them that her mother was doing much better, and that she was wondering how they were. During the course of updating her, Masane sensed Naomi had something she wanted to ask, and called her out on it (the speakerphone was on). Naomi hesitantly asked if her old room was available, and though it wasn’t, Masane informed her that if they had to find another place, it wouldn’t be too hard. After, being the battle commander of a military sanctioned monster kill team paid well, and she was sure she had the clout to get or rent some choice housing, so if Naomi wanted to come back, all she had to do was say the word. Naomi thanked her for the gesture, and told Masane she was still going to be with her mother for a few more weeks, and Masane told her she’d be checking out alternative real estate. She also got a call from Michael, who had recently hooked up with some lucrative surfing group being sponsored by ESPN, and told them he had hit the big time and was now entering into an international surf-off somewhere around Thailand, even telling them what time and channel he’d be shown on. Everyone present congratulated him on moving up in the world and wished him well.
In other news, Asagi and Dante had kissed and made up. He actually had come over early in the morning, wearing official Dreizhen uniform, and bore a huge bouquet, which he had brought as an olive branch. Asagi had calmed down way before he showed up, but this merely clinched it, and when she asked him if he was going to get in trouble, he whipped out his official cell and showed her he messaged Toijira his location. He also learned who they were waiting for, and was currently waiting with them. In fact, all the Witch Blades, as well as Reiji, Yuusuke, Cho, and Marry were all waiting in the front of her establishment (closed for the day), waiting for their guests, and they were currently passing the time playing a game.
“Got any threes?” asked Yuusuke lazily.
In the same deadpan monotone Takayama reserved for long elevators and those times Masane got on his nerves, he said,
“Go fish.”
From where she was sitting, Reina suppressed a giggle behind her cards.
Rihoko then asked, “Any fours?”
Reiji handed her two.
“Thanks, Daddy.”
A few moments later, the room went deathly silent.
Across the street, hiding in a nearby alley, Ouka Nagisa was watching the people inside, wondering if she could muster up the courage to enter. She had been thinking about Dante’s words since yesterday, and she suddenly wanted so sure she wanted to end it all now.
In fact, now she was downright curious as to why everyone inside had suddenly frozen like statues.
Everyone in the room suddenly looked at Reiji (even Dante, who had been filled in by Asagi), who looked like his heart was lodged in his throat, and Rihoko………everyone that is save for Masane, who was thinking,
“I always kinda suspected Rihoko might have figured it out. Guess she just decided to come out and say it.”
As for Reina, she was thinking,
“I’m sure Reiji nor Masane ever told her, so how did she-“
“Well, he might as well be daddy, because both my birth mom and my current mom liked him a lot.” said Rihoko
in complete innocence, though her face was telling her mothers’ a completely different story.
With an amazing amount of tact, Takayama (and everyone save the two mothers slowly exhaled), while both mothers shared a mutual look of,
“She knows.”
Before anyone else could say anything though, they saw a bright flash from upstairs, and Shiori deftly changed the subject,
“I think our guests have arrived.”
At Dreizhen……………
Toijira had just rung up his boss to give him the latest status report.
“The R&D department informed me the Mahoken (Light) Power Suits are ready for production status, and the (Heavy) suits are almost ready for combat trials. The first two dozen have arrived, and I’m having some of my senior NCO’s train in their use, so I can have some instructors ready when the rest of the garrison here receives their own.”
“Understood, Toijira-san. I recently met up with Darkness and Angelus, and it seems any fears of any reprisal were grossly magnified, and I was thinking it might be best if we can all arrange to get together to put any remaining issues at rest, and to borrow an American idiom, “make sure we’re all singing out of the same hymnal”.
“Couldn’t agree more, sir. In fact, Lieutenant Tsuzuki suggested much the same thing, and I concur myself. As I understand it, Masane has connection to myself and the Other Realm, you have a connection to all three of us, and they have a connection to the Witch Blades, so sir, I suggest that since you are able to interface with all three parties, partially through the agency of myself, you should handle the Other Realm end, and I’ll handle this end.”
“Good idea. How’s your current situation?”
“Not good, sir. We have a rogue ExCon who we don’t believe is a danger to civilians and is in fact capable of being saved, but the problem is finding her.”
“I see. I’ll be working on the former issue for now, and we’ll postpone any meeting until your situation is resolved.”
“Understood, sir…………and now that I think about it, three more Witch Blades have shown up, apparently on our side.”
“I’m well aware. As I understand it, Darkness and Angelus are letting some of them return, under the explicit proviso they follow Masane’s orders, which in turn means they will follow yours.”
“Good to know, sir.”
Meanwhile, back at Marry’s, everyone else was (re)meeting Nora, Yagi, and Yuriko.
“Don’t know if you been informed, but we’re going to be here on a permanent basis”, said Nora after the reintroductions.
Yagi added, “Colonel Toijira knows we’re here. Also, aside from possibly getting Yuriko reacquainted with civilian life again, we’re kinda at square one.”
“So let me get this straight. You guys don’t have any money, place to stay, or anything else?” was Masane’s query, prompting Nora to gesture to herself and snarkily reply,
“You’re looking at what little we have and I don’t think it’d be a good idea to walk around with a draft hitting our asses 24/7.”
Maria gave her a sardonic look, “Let me guess. You’d be violating decency laws if you detransformed right now.”
“Pretty much.”
A few moments of silence, then Reina spoke up, proposing that Reiji inform Toijira of the situation, while the rest of them helped the new arrivals get some street attire. The only parties who didn’t get marching orders were Aoi, Maria, Rihoko and Dante, who quietly headed downstairs until the guests were more presentable. Meanwhile, Yuusuke told Yagi to follow him and he’d lend him some clothes, while Nora was escorted to Reina/Shiori’s room, while Yuriko was escorted to Marry/Asagi’s room. Cho, lacking any decent line of BS to attempt gaining ingress to either of the new ladies’ rooms, decided to head downstairs as well, back to his hacker cave.
Nora was currently trying on one of Reina’s business suits, and as she got dressed, she said,
“I know it’s a little late to say this, but I understand why you had to kill me.”
Shiori saw Reina tense up a little, but she relaxed as she told Nora’s back,
“I’m sorry anyway.”
As Nora turned around, having finished buttoning up her blouse, she told Reina, “I’m glad neither of us has to kill each other again. We are Sisters, right?”
Reina nodded, and Nora lowered her voice as she asked,
“Is Maria…………better now? She looks a lot less immature than before.”
“She grew up, Nora, and finally got to know what a normal life means………” replied Reina, who suddenly had her face cloud up. Shiori moved over to guide her over to the edge of their bed, and Nora told her,
“I don’t know what this is worth, Reina, but I grew up too. While working with Lady Angelus, I learned that the way I merely followed Furumizu’s orders wasn’t an excuse for my actions, and I’m sorry for any pain I caused you.”, and with those words, she sat down on Reina’s other side, and after she got Shiori to silently nod her permission, gave Reina a hug, which she was gratified to see was returned, thought she quickly disengaged the second Shiori started looking jealous.
As for Yagi, he was in Yuusuke’s room, trying to fit into one of Yuusuke’s suits, and finding it a tad difficult because he wasn’t nearly as lanky as the PR guy. As he kept playing mix and match, Yuusuke sat on the bed holding conversation with the former salary man.
“So, you used to be a Douji wage slave, huh?”
“Yeah. I was the kiss up to that smug snake Wadou.”
“That oily looking guy who hated Takayama’s guts?”
“The very same. The reason I’m a Witch Blade now was because he got pissed one day, and used me as a test subject for an experimental variant on the Clone Blade.”
“We seized some records on that. What happened?”
“Long story short, he was pissed one day, and had me more or less knocked out, fitted with his customized Clone Blade, and then I was mind screwed into becoming his personal, magically enhanced assassin. He then sent me out to kill Takayama-san.”
“And Masane had to kill you?”
“Unfortunately, yes, as I was an ExCon in all but name. Thankfully, my soul was saved by the creators of the Witch Blade, who gave me a second chance, which I took, and even though the Blade is usually meant for women, they gave me a male modified variant when I told them I wanted to go back to Earth and start killing ExCons to make up for helping that prick.”
“Don’t blame you in the least, man.”
“By the way, is Hiroki Segawa still around?”
“Yeah. We don’t see each other a lot, but he works as the company liaison guy.”
“Same job, more responsibility?”
“Pretty much. In fact, he was actually working as a mole for the JSDF from the beginning, and he’s the reason they took over Douji and are now helping out with the ExCons.”
As Yagi finally found a suit coat that didn’t rob his joints of their bending abilities, he told Yuusuke,
“You know, I used to be a professional kiss ass, but now that I’m working for the good guys, I don’t plan to be anyone’s stepping stool ever again.”
Yuusuke held up his hands, “No need to convince me. And, if it makes you feel any better, your former boss is now in a mental institution.”
To his surprise, Yagi’s face softened as he asked,
“What happened?”
“Long story short, he had a mental breakdown when he realized he was the idiot who deep sixed Douji and was responsible for the I Weapons going nuts.”
“I see. I hope he gets better.”
That surprised Yuusuke, and Yagi noticed and elaborated,
“Despite what he did to me, I don’t want him to suffer, and believe it or not, while I resent him for treating me like shit he’s a human being like I am. I just hope that when he recovers he finally acknowledges that.”
Meanwhile, with Masane and Yuriko…………
Whereas Yuusuke was too lanky, Masane’s outfits were baggy as hell. Yuriko found that most of Masane’s outfits DEFINETLY were way too large (on her) in the chest area, and while Yuriko searched for something that didn’t feel like a body sock, Masane engaged her in conversation.
“How does it feel to be back?”
“Well, now that I have my family back, and I’m doing something to make up for all the suffering caused by Fa-Furumizu and Douji, I have a purpose as well.”
“That’s good to hear. What are you going to do now?”
“Well, on top on helping all of you out, I’m also going to see how Kaede-obasan is doing and let her know I’m okay, and see if I can go back to working in the flower shop with her.”
Yuriko had finally found something suitable to wear as she said this, and as she shrugged into the elastic bound sweater-shirt, she found she had to tuck it into her waist and cinch it with a belt, as she was skinnier around the waist than Masane. As she was doing this, she asked Masane,
“I was wondering…………would you like to meet her sometime?”
“Sure thing. Why?”
“Well, Kaede-obasan was always worried I wouldn’t make friends, and I wanted her to know I finally have.”
Downstairs………………
As Reiji got off the phone, he noticed Rihoko and the others resuming the card game from earlier. As he tried not
to draw attention to himself, he kept looking at Rihoko, wondering if she really did know, and if so, could he really muster the balls to finally admit he was her father?
The one thing that had kept him from admitting that fact to her was, bluntly put, shame. He was ashamed his conscience had been at such a nadir at one point he couldn’t bring himself to even see if the little girl he fathered with Reina was alright, and even though she had been better than alright all this time, he was ashamed he hadn’t had a hand in that, and even now, he was wondering if he could ever force himself to work past his fear, tell his daughter the truth, and beg her forgiveness for not being in her life. He had had feeling for her birth mother, now her adoptive mother, and while had been able to be honest in those cases, he felt like a scumbag for not being able to openly tell his own child he cared.
He was thankfully spared anymore beating himself up when everyone showed up downstairs later, and they headed for Dreizhen. However, that still didn’t make him feel like any less of a pathetic excuse for a parent.
Soon after they arrived inside Dreizhen, a seedy looking bald jackass with slanted eyebrows and stereotypical “evil vizier” goatee watched from a spot across the street from some bushes, snarling as he watched a very familiar gentleman enter the place he still referred to as Douji.
In life, he had been a mid level Douji executive, just high enough on the food chain he knew enough about Douji’s dirty laundry and had some clout, but low enough his paycheck wasn’t up to the same standard, and considering he was a grasping opportunist who privately bitched more than Rodney Dangerfield about getting no respect back in the day (to wit, around the same time Ouka had been jacked and ExConned), he had decided his dignity was low enough he’d double deal his bosses and sell the blueprints to their untrustworthy clients in lieu of the finished product. Not only was he stupid enough not to cover his tracks, he had no clue he was the unwitting stooge in a sting set up to smoke out disloyal employees, and the guys he arranged to sell the blueprints to were actually Douji heavies who repaid his treachery with death. Once his ass was post mortem, they faked a suicide note and a gas explosion in his residence to make sure his disappearance would slip under the radar, then they threw his body into the ExCon maker. He was also fitted with one of the more stable blades (before his former employers became cheap asses), and much like Ouka, he too was a zombie who had only recently regained his memories, and as soon as he figured out who and what he was, he wanted to fuck up those Douji bastards for what they did to him, and even though he was well aware of the anti-ExCon death squad running around, he at least wanted to kill one of the fuckers responsible for turning him into some jacked up cross between Jason Voorhees and a humanoid ED-209.
Sadly for our psychopath, almost all of those assholes had decided to flee and leave Wadou and the lower ranks to take the rap for their misdeeds when it all when to hell and the I-Weapons went insane, so virtually all of the suits were unable to be located. The few Douji guys left boiled down to three candidates: Wadou, who was currently still recovering from going utterly bat shit in a secure psychiatric ward, Hiroki Segawa, whom our former Douji man figured wasn’t responsible for Douji’s BS (and was ironically right), so that left Reiji Takayama as the only guy left on the hit list.
He had come to this decision almost immediately after he was to remember everything. In fact, soon after regaining his memories (juxtaposed with the now public information on the ExCons) he had first devoted himself to keeping his sanity so that he might one day unleash his rage on the appropriate targets, then he decided to score what little vengeance he could, whenever that opportunity presented itself, and recently, he had been stalking Reiji, narrowing down his day to day pattern, waiting for the chance he was alone so he might have enough time to make one of the former top echelon Douji pigs suffer for the hell he was currently living.
After watching the man reenter the former Douji complex, the ExCon decided to wait quietly until it got a chance to figure out where the SOB slunk off after being the military’s bitch. As he did, he had no idea that someone else had a very similar hiding place, but a drastically different motive.
Meanwhile, inside the building………………………
Toijira had heard about Nora, Yagi, and Yuriko’s situation, and he proposed that, in the interim, the first two could accept rooms provided on the military account until housing arrangements could be made, and since Takayama’s former company digs still stood (now owned by the JSDF), he suggested that as a good place to start. Toijira agreed, though when Reiji added that the place was really small and had only one bed, he (along with everyone else) had to choke back a laugh as Nora and Yagi looked at each other lecherously and said that wouldn’t be a problem. As for Yuriko, Toijira had allowed her to call Kaede-obasan, who on top of being overjoyed to hear Yuriko was alright now, told her she didn’t mind providing her a place to stay, and when Toijira politely informed the old woman of the fact Yuriko was not going to be able to share some things with her, due her job responsibilities, she informed him she understood, and that she’d just be happy to have Yuriko around to brighten up her life again.
After that was settled, he had some Dreizhen soldiers escort Nora, Yagi, and Yuriko to the Dreizhen quartermasters for their standard issue uniforms and cell phones, before driving them to their respective destinations, along with the assurances that more permanent financial and other arrangements would be worked on ASAP. As they left, the remaining members of the team (Dante included) were given their marching orders,
“I’ll have Nora, Yagi, and Yuriko join you in this order when they are sufficiently squared away, but for now your orders are as follows: Unless another ExCon attacks, you are to consider yourself on standby for now, but any sight of Ouka Nagisa is to be reported to me and original orders regarding her situation still apply. I believe we have some time before we have to worry about her Clone Blade breaking down and causing her to destabilize, but the sooner she’s found and recovered the better. Questions?”
There were none.
He then turned to Yuusuke, “We need to inform the public about the recent ExCon incidents, and the fact three new Witch Blades have joined our forces. Tell Cho to see what he can do to dig up any of Yagi, Yuriko or Nora’s former assets or records, if any, so that we can integrate them into society better.”
“Will do, sir.”
Next, he turned to Reiji, “At the end of this week, I’m going to give you some time off, but for now, I’m going to need your presence here. You knew Yagi from his days here at Douji, and considering he’s currently considered a former Douji man on probation, I want you to work with Yuusuke to assure the public he, Nora, and Yuriko are in the same position of working with us to make up for their former affiliations.”
He then addressed the Witch Blades, “I understand all of you were acquainted with one or more of the new arrivals. I’ll be needing all of you to help us sketch together profiles of their roles in the service of either Douji or the NSWF. That, combined with their own testimony, will help us establish their credibility and help Reiji and Yuusuke prove to the public they’re the good guys. I’m not exactly convinced it’s entirely necessary to go that far, but considering the cloak and dagger bullshit many of the suits who used to reside in this building were party too, complete disclosure in this case would help the public understand those foolish and deadly mistakes are not going to be repeated.”
There was a general nod of assent from all present, especially Yuusuke, who’s already high respect for Toijira’s integrity just raised another notch.
That said he wrapped up the meeting with, “One last thing. I just talked with Migura about getting us all together in one place so that we can all get on the same page and all sides in this war against the ExCons can be assured we’re all on the same side and that we share a common goal. He and the other members of the Thirteen are planning to ask Darkness and Angelus about this, and presuming they agree, we’ll be getting together sooner or later. Once that is ironed out, I’ll inform all of you.”
He paused, and then asked, “Anything else that needs mentioning?”
The silence was deafening.
“Then that’s all. Dismissed.”
(Several days later)
A lot of productivity and nothingness happened over the next few days. For the sake of shortness, the nothingness was the failure to locate Ouka Nagisa. In retrospect, this was because she was actually hovering around the general area of Marry’s, maintaining an absurdly low profile, and she was so good at this that the best efforts of the Witch Blades simply missed her.
Besides, who hides in plain sight?
Also, it must be mentioned that irony was having fun with their search, for as they wanted to finish making sure Dante’s lesson about having some worth to her life stuck, Ouka was coming to that realization herself, and she spent most of the intervening week trying to screw up the courage to face the True Bearer and her Sisters, while realizing that she probably didn’t want to die. After all, killing that bastard who wanted to hurt children had given her one hell of a reason why her presence was worth it to some degree (now she was thinking straight) and her resolve to simply capitulate and accept redemption was waxing ever stronger by the day, and every night, she continued to watch the storefront of Marry’s, seeing the happiness within, and like the snowman who kept enviously looking at the light and warmth inside, she too found the temptation to join it grow stronger as the week went by.
As for what the Witch Blades accomplished, it was actually useful. Nora and Yagi got an apartment, and Yuriko moved in with Kaede. Courtesy of all the records Reiji, Yuusuke and Cho were able to salvage, it was easy to establish official civilian identities for the three of them (though since Yagi had never been officially declared legally dead, he was the easiest to get reintegrated). By this point they had all reentered the human race and they had all contributed to filling in some more holes as to the activities of Douji and the NSWF, and their testimony was added to the material Dreizhen already had on record for when they finally caught a former Douji/Child Services executive and were ready to legally prosecute them.
Also, a certain former Douji executive/ExCon had been staking out Marry’s, again showing just as much caution as Ouka not to be detected, and when the bulk of the Witch Blades left one evening (to give their progress report on their LACK of progress finding Ouka), he decided to make his move.
The ExCon had waited until the Witch Blade signals were gone (a process that took about twenty or so minutes), then he examined the store front, seeing everyone but his main target present. As soon as Takayama was downstairs (as he had been given the night off) and he and the others were away from the stairs and in a spot he could easily corner them, he’d be making his move.
And tonight, at least one of those starched shirted assholes who turned him into this would suffer.
Speaking of starched shirts, Reiji had ditched the suit coat that usually covered his as he headed downstairs to take advantage of Marry’s bar.
Toijira had given him the night off, and the ladies had been picked up by Dreizhen soldiers to give their report on their non progress on the Ouka situation. However, since that didn’t require him and he’d been working his ass off all week with Yuusuke and Cho, all three of them were now in Marry’s bar, taking the edge off their fatigue by knocking back some very cordial waters and generally doing the exact opposite of anything productive.
Marry and Rihoko were behind the bar, where Rihoko was washing glasses and Marry was bartender, and as Reiji took the seat in between Yuusuke and Cho (who by this point were nursing their drinks and enjoying the quiet immensely, he asked for and was given his, and as he looked around at everyone present, a peaceful feeling came over him as he saw the people who were now his friends and (in one case especially) family, and feeling at home.
And, at that moment, it all went to hell.
First, Takayama and the others were in bad spot to just up and run if need be. Two, Ouka had just decided to step away from her hiding spot and take an inconspicuous walk so she didn’t look suspicious. And finally, the ExCon didn’t notice her around, but his intended victims were as good as alone.
Looking around one last time to make sure no one noticed him, the ExCon transformed and charged, deciding the hell with the door and went instead for the shock value he needed to trap his victims.
Reiji had just finished his drink and had handed the glass to Rihoko for cleaning, and as was about to head for the rest room to dispose of some of his newly acquired liquid weight, he saw a massive dark shape head full steam for the window, and his brain went into hyper drive as he yelled for Marry and Rihoko to get down as he yanked Yuusuke and Cho out of their seats, surprising the hell out of the two men but inadvertently saving them from the shards of glass that flew their way from the shattered windows.
As everyone hit the deck, the ExCon worked fast, and as Reiji looked up from where he dropped, he heard a massive crashing sound as what looked like an ExCon smashed the stairwell, and as he and the others started to rise to their feet, the massive shape suddenly barred them from trying to leave, and the monster looked directly at him with undisguised disgust,
“FOUND YOU, YOU EX-DOUJI BASTARD!”
At Dreizhen…………
Masane and the others dutifully had reported they had come up dry on the “find Ouka” front, which didn’t surprise Toijira in the least. In fact, once that non surprising news was out of the way, he asked them what they thought of the Mahoken Battle armor the troops had been practicing with.
“Well, it’s nowhere near as good as the real deal, but it looks like it’d be an efficient augment to our mission of hunting the ExCons down.” was Maria’s opinion.
“Thanks, Sergeant.”, and he then turned to Masane, “Major, up until this point, you and the other Witch Blades have been the front line for our anti-ExCon force, but since we now are able to mass produce Mahoken battle armor, I was planning to have my troops actively support your missions from now on. Hopefully, this should provide your team with more direct support than the passive mission control we’ve mostly served up to this point. Anything about that you feel is still insufficient?”
Before she could reply, Toijira got a call, and the Witch Blades watched his eyes bulge in worry as he said, “Understood.”, and then hastily hung up.
“Something wrong, sir?” asked Yagi.
“An ExCon signal just appeared near Marry’s.”
The whole room suddenly got animated, and Toijira quickly added,
“I don’t know if it’s Ouka or not, but I want all of you to deploy immediately!”
He didn’t have to tell them twice.
Meanwhile, back at Marry’s……………
Any thought of escape were dashed from Reiji’s mind as he realized they were trapped. The ExCon was a broad shouldered, four armed, extremely humanoid looking ED-209 rip off with a clawed hand with railroad spikes seeming to make up the claws, and the other hand bore a narrow nozzle flamethrower, which the ExCon had fired in front of them briefly to emphasize that running away was a bad idea, further reinforced by the lower set of arms extending like an Octopus to ring them in the bar area. As Reiji looked into the hockey mask like face of the ExCon, it spoke in a metallic yet highly pissed off tone,
“YOU’RE THE FORMER SPECIAL DIVISON DIRECTOR REIJI TAKAYAMA, AREN’T YOU?”
Reiji knew immediately this had been planned, and everyone else’s life was forfeit if he decided to lie.
“I am.”
“GOOD. BEFORE I KILL ALL OF YOU, I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW WHY I WANT TO SEE EVERY MEMBER OF DOUJI DEAD!”
Before Reiji could say anything else, the monster continued to hold the rest of them up as it told them about it being a former Douji Group employee who was killed and screwed over, and as he kept talking, he noticed Marry had surreptitiously put herself in front of Rihoko like a shield from her position behind the bar area, and Yuusuke and Cho had flanked her position, serving as an additional screen, apparently feeling they unlike Rihoko were by comparison expendable. Also, as the ExCon finished his sob story, Takayama finally remembered a board meeting he had been at where they discussed how an employee had been dealt with for corruption in vague but deadly sounding terms.
“So, you were planning on double dealing Douji, they found out, set you up to be killed, and turned you into an ExCon, which you’re furious about, right?”
“CORRECT!”
“So why do you want us, specifically me, dead?”
“BECAUSE THE REST OF THE SLIMY BASTARDS WHO TURNED ME INTO A MONSTER FLED, LEAVING YOU AS ONE OF THE FEW I CAN MAKE PAY FOR ME BEING TURNED INTO THIS!”
“I wasn’t responsible, and these people are innocent!”
“IT DOESN’T MATTER. SOMEONE NEEDS TO PAY FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, AND YOU WERE PART OF THOSE FUCKERS WHO DID THIS TO ME, SO I’LL HAPPILY TAKE MY RAGE OUT ON YOU!!!”
Reiji realized the ExCon was dead serious, and he couldn’t deny that if anyone here needed to die, it was probably him. Hell, aside from supporting the good guys in a Lawful Good bureaucratic role, he hadn’t really done much to atone for the bastardry he committed in Douji’s service, and considering that the lives of his and Masane’s friends and his daughter was at stake, he decided to do something noble.
“You want someone dead for what happened to you? Fine, kill me if you have to, but leave these people out of it.”
“AND WHY SHOULD I? WHAT WORTH WOULD THEIR LIVES HAVE TO A MAN WHO AIDED AND ABETTED MURDERERS AND LIARS? WHY SHOULDN’T I KILL THEM? I CAN’T BE HAPPY EVER AGAIN, SO WHO GIVES A DAMN WHETHER I CAUSE ANYONE ELSE PAIN?!”
At those words, Reiji felt massive contempt for the ExCon. His own foolishness had been as self inflicted as the monster in front of him, and they both paid for their working for evil in horrifying ways, but this bastard wanted innocent people to die just it could feel better about its own misery, and Reiji had to resist the urge to spit as he realized that despite all the crap he had yet to atone for he was better than the monster across from him, and besides, if he kept talking long enough Masane and the others would have enough time to get here.
“Because the only one among us who deserves what you want is me! I was forgiven for my sins, but I sure as hell don’t feel I deserved it, so if you want to kill me, fine, I’m yours, as long as you don’t hurt anyone else!”
As the ExCon cruelly demanded why he shouldn’t just kill them all for the hell of it, Rihoko dashed all their efforts at shielding her by running around the bar area and jumped in front of her father, yelling,
“LEAVE MY DADDY ALONE!”
Reiji felt a lance tip bury in his heart at those words, and before the ExCon could fire back another homicidal declaration, he decided to do what Masane did and do something even more utterly noble and selfless. He’d probably die for it, but it was time to live up to his promise to be Rihoko’s Shield of Aegis. That said, he stepped in front of everyone, putting himself in striking distance of the ExCon, and told it defiantly,
“Leave my friends and my daughter out of this! You want me dead, you can have me dead. I’ve committed enough sins to deserve it many times over, so leave the others out of this! I let my conscience go to sleep one too many times before now, and I’m offering myself up to you right now as a sacrifice so you’ll let the innocent go in peace. And besides, you’re right, I do have blood on my hands and stains on my soul, so if you kill me, it’ll be what I deserve.
He paused, this time actually spitting at the ExCon’s feet, and finished,
“But know this: Even you have a chance for redemption, even now, and if you want, I can help you acquire it.”
The ExCon snorted in disbelieving amusement, and Reiji shook his head in disgust as Yuusuke, Cho, and Marry stepped in front of Rihoko, determined she would’ve not suffer at this bastard’s hands (which Reiji was silently blessing them for), and continued,
“And even if you don’t want to be redeemed, remember this as well. We’re both scum who’ve committed crimes that made us lose what we hold dear, and you can kill me if it makes you feel better, but my death means I’ll have atoned for being no better than you, and I’ll have died doing something for the innocents you want to main and kill, so if you really want me dead, then-“, and Reiji let his body go slack and his arms hang to his sides as he hung his head in defeat and said,
“Go ahead, kill me, but let them go in exchange.”
Meanwhile the Witch Blades were closing in from one direction, having just been informed by Toijira via Witch Blade filtered digital uplink the ExCon in question wasn’t Ouka and had the others hostage, which merely stoked their resolve to get there faster before any of their friends suffered or died, and both of Rihoko’s mothers were sharing the unspoken thought of,
“Please, don’t let Rihoko be hurt!”
Reiji Takayama’s palms were sweaty, his throat dry, and his lungs feeling robbed of air. The monster he had just tried to talk out of wholesale slaughter was appearing to ruminate over his offer of self sacrifice, and in the few brief seconds of eerie silence that entailed, he was hoping and praying Masane got here in time. After all, he would be Rihoko’s shield without hesitation, but his corpse wouldn’t exactly stay that-
“TEMPTING OFFER, TAKAYAMA, BUT YOU AND THE OTHERS DIE ANYWAY!”
Reiji immediately rushed forward, determined to be the first one this psychotic ExCon killed first, hopefully buying them a little more time not to die, but halfway before the monster could rear back to claw him to death, an explosion hit it’s back, and Reiji heard a voice yell,
“GET DOWN!!!!!!”
He complied and the others complied, just as a dark shape swooped in through the broken storefront of Marry’s, body checking the ExCon, flinging it away from Reiji and the others with such force the lower arms it had extended into the walls Doctor Octopus-style had been torn out by the sheer inertia. As they got a good look at their savior (another ExCon), it said, in the adults’ general direction,
“I am Ouka Nagisa. Leave this monster to me, and protect the child.”
The ExCon started to rise, but Ouka wasn’t going to allow that, and her gun arm came back up, pumping shotgun rounds into it, robbing it of its balance, causing it to fall again. Deciding to get the bastard into a more suitable arena, Ouka picked up its momentarily limp form by the shoulder, and used all of her strength to chuck its metallic body into the street, where it landed with a sprawling bang.
As Ouka headed out to continue jacking the ExCon up, Reiji heard Rihoko say, with an amazing amount of calm,
“I know Mom’s going to get here soon, but I think we can trust Ouka.”
From where he lay on the ground, Yuusuke was thinking,
“Well, she did just save our butts and told us to protect Rihoko. I agree.”
Meanwhile, as Masane and the others touched down at the end of the block, hauling ass for Marry’s, Masane heard Angelus’ voice in her mind.
“The one called Ouka Nagisa is fighting for your cause, Masane, and all that I ask is that you do your best to make sure she does not leave this place, as I have words for her. Until then, see to your friends and family, and leave the ExCon to me.”
“Understood!”
As the Witch Blades approached Marry’s, Masane mentally relayed this to the others, and they immediately fanned out to cover all the exits from the immediate area, while Masane headed for the destroyed storefront that had been Marry’s.
Ouka had had a lot of time to think about Dante’s words about how death wasn’t the answer, and as she kept smashing the ExCon against the pavement for the gall of attacking innocent people, she understood that she did indeed have value.
It wasn’t because she failed to save lives that she was defined by. Now that she was thinking more clearly, lots of people make good efforts to work for the safety of others, and sometimes they fail. However, had she not made the effort in the first place, she’d had been a worthless waste of carbon like the son of a bitch she was currently smashing her metal fists into. As she continued to leave massive dents in the ExCon’s armor, all she could see was the lives she just saved, and the good feeling it gave her.
She wanted to keep feeling that feeling, even if only for a short while.
As Masane ran inside, she noticed everyone had huddled behind the bar area, and as they all saw her, relief broke out on their faces, especially Reiji’s, who told her, pointing outside,
“Ouka told us to protect Rihoko, and she’d deal with the ExCon.”
Masane looked down, seeing Rihoko huddled next to Reiji’s leg, and he shocked her by saying,
“And I finally admitted the truth to my daughter.”
Rihoko merely smiled, despite the situation, and so did Masane, who was immediately reminded of the situation,
“Angelus told us to seal this area off so Ouka doesn’t leave. She said she needed to talk to her, and either you or Yuusuke should call Toijira and let him know the situation is being contained.”
Yuusuke had already gotten his phone out as she said it, and as he started punching numbers, another explosion could be heard from where Ouka was beating the crap out of the ExCon.
The ExCon had barely remembered he had powers, and just as Ouka was about to punch through his armor, he got his flame gun arm up and fired an energy blast of concussive force in Ouka’s face, allowing him enough time to get up as she flew back. His plans to flee, though, looked boned as he saw that either end of the street and the rooftops were being watched by Witch Blades who were currently waiting for him to move. Deciding he had to take a chance, he decided to fire off an energy blast at one end of the street, using that as a feint to break through the other side and escape.
His arm, however, froze halfway up, and the ExCon felt horrific agony course through its entire body, and it couldn’t even scream as complete paralysis suddenly seized up every single one of its extremities. As it fell backwards, its balance gone, it hit the ground with a dull thud, completely unable to scream, and that’s when it saw from its prone position a bright light appear in front of it.
“Uh oh!”
“What?”
“That’s Mom, Masane, and to be blunt, she’s REALLY pissed off right now!”
As the ExCon struggled to look up, all it saw was a woman who looked like an extremely pissed off archangel with white hot flaming wings and Witch Blade-esque armor so bright you could read a newspaper three blocks away from the glow, and just as the former Douji employee now monster now knew fear, she spoke, in the voice of judgment,
“I’ve killed nobler demons than you.”
The night air’s temperature seemed to drop by several degrees, and as Ouka righted herself from where she had been blown backwards, she noticed the other Witch Blades surrounding the area and Angelus talking down her foe, and from a combination of curiosity and pragmatism, decided to watch on. A second after she made that decision, she also heard Angelus’ voice in her head, commanding her to watch, lest she be struck motionless as well, which merely gave Ouka more reason to comply.
Meanwhile, back with the ExCon, Angelus was tearing the bastard a verbal asshole,
“You had a chance to do what was just in life, and you squandered it. Even in your cursed unlife, you had a chance at redemption, and you wasted it on petty revenge and blood lust. You might have been trapped as a monster, but unlike another man named Muraki and the young woman you just fought, you did not choose to do good, instead continuing to forment the evil that brought the wrath of myself and the father of the Witch Blade upon your people, and you even tried to murder innocents simply for the joy of watching their deaths. For you, I have no pity.”
She paused, then spat on the ExCon, nailing it in the right eye, and ignoring the acidic effect it was now having on the ExCon’s face, continued,
“The young woman you just fought had even more sins on her soul than you, having been the basis for the many of Tatsuoki Furumizu’s later crimes and those of your fellow sinners from Douji, but despite her curse, she fought for the life of innocents and resisted to the urge to maim and kill. She was of Good, and did not do nothing, thus she is worthy of redemption, but you committed great evil, and thus you shall pay for your iniquity.”
Angelus paused again, a spear of pure light forming in her hands. As she prepared to strike, Masane heard a voice in her head,
“Cover your child’s eyes, Masane. I do not wish her to witness this.”
Masane complied, and Angelus, with one quick thrust, buried the spear tip into the ExCon’s good eye socket, the monster unable to scream as a result of her iron control over its body. As the spear disappeared in a flash of light, so did the ExCon with it.
From where Ouka was standing she had to admit she was feeling rather shocked.
One of the creators of the Witch Blade had just shown up, brutally executed an ExCon in front of her, and informed all present she was considered worthy of still living. Ouka was finally starting to believe that, and the fact that someone who should’ve been the most pissed of all at her was instead forgiving her was causing her denial filter to fail miserably.
It was completely shattered by the time Angelus walked over to her, looked her dead in the eyes, and asked,
“So, Ouka Nagisa, do you still feel worthy of death?”
Masane and the others from Marry’s decided to walk on out to where Angelus was, and by some unspoken consent all of them stopped as soon as they were in earshot, watching in mute curiosity as what looked like an angel of light and a now detransformed Ouka were speaking.
“………I’m not sure anymore…………” she muttered, face downcast.
Angelus, to everyone’s surprise, had a rueful look on her face as she replied, “To be honest, Ouka, you aren’t the only one.”
As she said this, a Witch Blade in white armor ran from her current position for Ouka, throwing her arms around her in a hug as she yelled,
“Sister!!!!!!!”
It was Yuriko, who was currently sobbing into Ouka’s shoulder, partially because she was upset she had to fight the older girl at one point, and partially because she didn’t want her to leave. Ouka returned the embrace in a stunned daze, an odd feeling of peace coming over her as her ExCon nature suddenly seemed to go inert, which she suspected was Angelus’ doing. As she looked up at Angelus, the smile on her face seemed to confirm that, and Masane stepped forward and said, pointing at Yuriko,
“I don’t know about you, Ouka, but that’s a pretty good reason not to kill yourself.”
Before Ouka could respond to that, Yuusuke stepped forward as well, “You saved our lives and did the right thing. You don’t deserve to die for that.
Cho stepped forward, his usual perverted air muted (mostly out of deference to Angelus, who he figured he should tread lightly around) but present as he said, “And besides, it’d be a shame for the world to be deprived of a lovely young lady like yourself.”
Marry stepped up as well, “I don’t know much about your situation, but a lot of people love you, and you shouldn’t make them cry, if you ask me.”
Reiji added in his two cents as well, “I did some horrible things and did a lot less than you did to make up for it, but I was forgiven. You deserve redemption no less than I did, and perhaps even more.”
After a second or two of hearing this, Ouka had to ask,
“All of you barely know me, so why do you-“
“Because they want to forgive you, regardless of your past deeds” answered Angelus, “and they realize that by doing well, it would be a sad waste of your efforts to defend others to end yourself. You cared for the lives of those you barely knew about, yet you were their protector, and they are honoring the shield that protected them with their gratitude.”
Yuriko had by this point peeled herself off Ouka’s shoulders, and that’s when the rest of the Witch Blades swooped in, on Angelus’ orders, and as they surrounded Ouka, they added their own words of encouragement, and followed Yuriko’s lead on the hugging scene, which Angelus watched with pleased bemusement.
As Ouka felt her face resemble a black cherry from all the excess “awwww !!!!!!” engendered from everyone’s good will, a few more bolts of light shot up around Angelus, and Darkness and Kenichi stepped out, the latter looking like a mini-Darkness. The mortals present, already a little awed by Angelus, were even more stunned by Darkness and his protégé, but since their weirdness censors were almost totally shattered by this point, this wound up being accepted as an unusually uninteresting sight, which was just as well, as they weren’t the parties the recent arrivals would be addressing.
Kenichi, after shooting Aoi a look that said “we need to talk later”, turned his attention to Ouka and told her,
“I know most everyone else here was redeemed in some way, and I used to be an ExCon like you, but Lord Darkness forgave me and helped me escape my demons, and you have just as much chance as I did at being freed yourself.”, and Ouka found herself looking at his outstretched hand as he said, a beaming smile on his face,
“So, Whaddya say?”
Ouka looked around, and saw nothing but forgiveness etched into the faces of everyone present, and she made her decision.
Asagi watched on as Ouka knelt before Angelus, and just loud enough for everyone to hear, said,
“I am yours, milady. Do with me as you will.”
Angelus and Darkness shared a brief sidelong glance, and then she looked down at Ouka.
“Rise.”
As she did, Angelus grabbed her arm, and what looked like bolt of energy shot through Ouka’s body, except she didn’t look like she was in any pain. As they subsided, a slightly cracked looked Clone Blade appeared on her wrist, except in was metallic looking and covered in an inky blackness. Everyone, Ouka included, looked at it in horror, and Angelus told her,
“The darkness and corruption bound to you is now bound up in that perverse copy of our child. If you wish to be free of it, Ouka, I demand but one thing.”
“Anything.”
“You shall serve as my avatar, Ouka. As young Kenichi”, indicating Darkness’ protégé, “serves Darkness, you shall serve me.”
Ouka merely closed her eyes and nodded.
Angelus suddenly looked stern, and motioned firmly for everyone to stand back. All present backed off about ten paces, and then Angelus suddenly grabbed Ouka and pulled her into an embrace. As she did, everyone was blinded as a wall of holy power enshrouded the two of them, forcing all present to shield their eyes. It soon started dying down, and as it receded, they all looked at the two figures that remained after the light passed.
One was Angelus, and the other, now having stepped away from her, was Ouka, except now she looked like an angel, with wings as white as snow and armor gleaming like polished ivory, looking very much like her new master. As everyone looked on in awe, Ouka looked herself over, and realized something felt very different. The dark urges she had had to hold at bay were gone, and instead she felt like the human being she had been long ago-
-and a few seconds after this, Ouka threw herself around Angelus’ shoulders, crying tears of joy at the fact was pure, she had another chance to be human, but most of all:
She had been redeemed, and her life could begin anew, not as a dirge, but an aria of renewal rejoicing in the power of redemption.
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