Before the Witch Blade nakama had even gotten up that morning, a few things had happened. First, Dreizhen Industries had already cleared out some space for everything they would be seizing from the NSWF, namely, everything that wasn’t bolted down and on fire. Also, Angelus and Darkness got wind of this, and decided to only take action if the successors to Douji went against their professed ethics, which despite their cynicism, they didn’t find likely, but then again:
“Once burned, twice shy”
While Angelus and Darkness prepared to watch the situation with a gimlet eye, the JSDF commandant at the place now called Dreizhen got some orders of his own, and in a few hours, he would have to cast his own gimlet eye on his newly recruited subordinates, and make sure that no hitches were going to obstruct the Thirteen’s mission to make sure the situation they had foolishly ignored to the point of tragedy was never again able to be repeated.
(Morning, 8:00 A.M., Marry’s)
When morning finally came, it was a combined relief for the Witch Blades, as that meant the waiting had ended, and a dread, as the end of most of the waiting meant that the true unpleasantness of their past would be unavoidable. However, as the former Neogenes got up, they all decided by some unspoken mutual consent to suck it up and accept what they were about to do as part of their penance.
That said, all were very subdued come breakfast time, and the non-Neogenes immediately picked up on the tension, but decided not to dwell on it or call attention to it, instead busying themselves with making sure what their new boss wanted ready was all packed and ready to go. This was actually a wise move, as the former lab rats of one very sick bastard were already feeling some larval form of PTSD, and they hadn’t even set foot back in the home of their “Father”, a thought that now was profane, creepy, and had poisoned pretty any happy memories they once had of the place of their birth.
Or rather, what few were actually genuine.
By about nine, they received a call from Segawa, who told them that Colonel Toijira wanted to pre-brief them at Dreizhen first, and then they’d be going to participate in the NSWF raid. Everyone who wasn’t a Neogene saw them relax perceptibly, and still did their best to refrain from calling attention to it. Before the call ended, he informed them not to worry about formal dress, and told them they’d be getting a ride soon. By about 9:30, two company vans, driven by two sergeants in plainclothes, showed up, and the bulk of the Witch Blade nakama climbed aboard.
Both Reiji and Masane, each in separate vehicles, found they were more than a little disturbed by the deathly silence from the Neogene among them, and both of them were starting to get more than a little worried at the deathly quiet from the other Witch Blades. As for Yuusuke and Cho, they had some indication of what Furumizu had wrought, and while Yuusuke mentally steeled himself for the upcoming horrors he’d be seeing a lot longer this time round, Cho felt his perverted urges drop off a proverbial cliff as he squared what he had helped Yuusuke dig about the NSWF, and now only looked at the Neogenes with trepidation, wondering what a man not too far away from his own age had wrought to these women, and felt more than a little fear at finding out.
Before their ride had even shown up, Hiroki Segawa was currently waiting outside the new HQ they had set up, watching for the others to arrive so the pre-briefing could begin. While he waited, he looked over the JSDF works and instead of despairing, felt rather mighty as he saw what he had helped them wrought. Where he was had formerly been an I-Weapons research lab, which had formerly consisted of several bunkers with said weapons, a few computer labs, and an artificial mockup of some city streets for simulations, complete with an observation area. Since it also had a helipad and a launching ramp to the outside, it was also the perfect place for a headquarters building.
As he saw the ride Colonel Toijira sent out for the Witch Blades and assorted support staff show up, he called his immediate boss,
“This is Colonel Toijira speaking.”
“Our guests have arrived, sir.”
“Good. Have someone show them here, Segawa. Make sure to take the items I requested they have ready and make sure they get to my office.”
“By all means, sir.”
Meanwhile, in the conference room, Colonel Daisuke Toijira and Chief Nakata sat on opposite ends of the table, each man caught up in his own thoughts.
For Nakata, a slight amount of shame was felt. He was responsible for the safety and welfare of the citizens, but unfortunately, he wasn’t up to the task of fighting these ExCon bastards, and neither was his entire force, so he had to trust that the man in uniform opposite him and his people knew what they were doing, as well as the Witch Blades. He knew it was the smart thing to do, but it hurt his pride that he couldn’t do the job himself, and it further rankled him that he had known so little about what had been going on, and that he now would have little impact in helping end the insanity that had dumped so many murders in his lap and cost so many lives.
On the other side of the table, the Colonel, a stern looking man in his late forties with thinning hair, steel blue eyes, and a severe, age lined countenance saw the look of shame on Nakata’s face, and found he sympathized. He had just met Nakata not too long ago, and though Japanese law allowed the military to supplement civilian jurisdiction over civilian safety in these circumstances, he knew that Nakata didn’t really enjoy the fact he wasn’t up to task, which is why he was going out of his way to make the police chief not feel useless, and had asked him to accompany him to see just what the military was doing to help resolve the situation the former owners of this complex had started. Though Nakata had gracefully ceded joint control of the raid on the NSWF to the JSDF and Dreizhen (which was more or less the same thing), he knew Nakata’s samurai like pride was taking a beating not just because the army was doing his job, but non military civilians who were nonetheless armies unto themselves were joining in, and his own officers were next to impotent to help. Considering he had at one point felt as useless as Nakata was currently, he really felt for the slightly younger man’s feeling of powerlessness.
He also, as an ally of the Thirteen, knew something Nakata did not. The Witch Blades were a formidable fighting force, and when Lord Migura informed him they’d be on his side, Toijira had to confess to himself he felt a ridiculous amount of relief, seeing as how he had once had to defy a rogue general in his own organization from attempting to create an army of obscenely powerful psychic child soldiers to avenge his family against atrocities committed against his family by the Chinese during the Second World War, and that incident had led to his allying with the Thirteen, where he learned stopping such maniacs was part and parcel of their existence, and he slept at night with that dual allegiance knowing that he served a side determined to keep not just his country, but humanity in general, in one piece.
That said he was glad the Witch Blades had joined hands with the Thirteen. Maybe this latest fire wouldn’t become the blazes of Hell itself.
At that moment, the door opened.
Masane had to admit she was nervous, and still felt nervous as Reiji knocked on the door of the conference room, which she discovered was a converted computer lab with see through windows, where she could see Nakata and Colonel Toijira waiting.
“Enter.”
As they did, he pointed to the chairs, telling them to sit down, and they all complied, though Yuusuke and Nakata shared a mutual look of,
“What the hell are YOU doing here?!”
Once everyone was seated, the Colonel said in a confidential tone, “I don’t know if you are aware of this”, clearly addressing the whole room, “but the Japanese Defense Ministry is not only NOT interested in acquiring the Witch Blade, it is more than willing to stay away from even meddling with it for any reason, and not just because of what happened with Douji and the NSWF.”, and with that preamble, he instantly had everyone’s attention.
As they were absorbing that information, he then addressed Nakata, “Chief Nakata, I am about to share with this body some information I would like you to consider classified. It concerns the Witch Blade, and if you breathe a word to anyone not cleared to hear this, consider yourself a dead man.”
Nakata had to suppress the urge to gulp as he replied, “Understood.”, and wondered what more he was unaware of, and how more stupid could he possibly be? At any rate, he decided to listen, though his pride was currently at a nadir, and it was only getting worse.
“Good. Me, and everyone in this room are allies of an organization called the Thirteen. They are a secret international body that tries to contain situations like the one that arose from the Witch Blade, and make sure the public either does not know of it, or is dealt with in such a manner that innocent people are kept from harm. They have a cordial relationship with the Japanese government, and are using the agency of the JSDF to make sure those ExCon bastards do not hurt anyone else, and I expect you will not be a problem to that mission.”, the Colonel finished, voice even, but tempered with enough menace even Takayama felt uneasy.
To everyone’s surprise, Nakata’s face actually showed curiosity, not fear,
“Are you telling me that a worldwide conspiracy is going on to make sure things like all those murders I was never able to solve or that battle that happened recently doesn’t happen again?”
“Correct.”
That’s when Nakata shocked Tozawa.
“Count me in.”
Toijira actually looked interested, nodding in approval as if to say, “Go on.”
“Recently, Colonel, I have never felt more powerless and pathetic. I’ve seen people injured and die at the hands of those monsters, watched two corrupt mega corporations desecrate the law I’ve fought for, and had to watch the city I swore to protect become a battlefield due to greed, incompetence, and a bunch of shiftless bastards who didn’t give a damn how many lives they took just to line their pockets with gold. If this group, the Thirteen, can help ensure that all of the men on my squad who died defending this town from those monsters didn’t die in vain, I want to be a part of it!”, and as Nakata finished, his caution was being tossed to the wind as his pride jumped at a chance to restore itself, and even though a nagging voice was mentally counseling him not jump into this blindly, he was tired of being an ignorant jackass.
The Colonel was impressed, but was not going to make his decision to accept this based simply on emotion.
“Are you aware that you will be forced to keep this information to yourself, and that occasionally the group you swore loyalty to may have to commit actions outside the law you protect to stop these types of things from occurring?”, and as he finished, it seemed to everyone the room was charged with lightning, and the bolt would hit Nakata if he gave the wrong answer.
To Tozawa’s further shock, and the denouement of the metaphorical sparks of tension, Nakata actually smiled and said,
“Your mission is blessed by my government, so I don’t consider it treason, and besides, you’re saving lives and making sure that the mission I originally swore myself to succeeds, so who am I to complain?”
Sitting bolt upright, the look he usually reserved for getting one over on Tozawa appeared on his face, and his eyes bore into Toijira as he firmly asserted,
“You heard me, Colonel. Count me in.”
Colonel Toijira sat back in his chair, an inward smile as he realized Nakata was not going to be an obstacle to their mission. He himself had said very similar words when Migura recruited him for service with the Thirteen, and Toijira felt a little proud to be reliving his mentor’s experience with himself as stepped out the dance he had waltzed to himself at one point.
“Very well, Nakata-san. You’re in.”
At that, Nakata even saluted him, which the Colonel returned. Once that was finished, the Colonel changed gears and told them about the upcoming raid, making a mental note to pull Nakata aside later and inform him just what he signed up and how damned permanent it was, just to be on the safe side.
“After we are done with this meeting, I, Chief Nakata, and the rest of you will be inspecting the NSWF complex. My men and most of the Tokyo Police force investigators are already waiting for our arrival. Since those of you who are former Neogenes will be familiar with the complex, I’d like your assistance with anything we may encounter, such as the purpose behind any facilities we may find, and”, looking at Reina, “I’d like your help in collating the datum we find on the Neogene project, as you were it’s one time project leader.”
She nodded, and he continued, “I understand that considering the nature of what we will be facing, some of you may become deeply upset or disturbed by what we encounter, and those that are will not be prejudiced against if this occurs, and I have already taken the liberty of retaining several psychiatric professionals that you all will be able to consult with, should what we find be as unsettling as it already has sounded like.”
No one said anything, and any objections the former Neogenes had to the thought that they might go crazy died in the womb as they realized his words could very well be true enough without most of them even setting foot back in that part of their lives. In fact, she of them actually HAD gone crazy, so the ironic possible necessity of that statement was a sobering thought on their already gloomy conscience.
“Are there any other matters we need to address concerning the parties in this room before we adjourn this briefing?”
That said, Reiji told him about what he and Masane had discussed the previous night.
“Excellent point, Takayama-san. I not only will be willing to provide round the clock protection of your homes and family, I’ll even be willing throw in a professional tutor for your child out of my own pocket if need be, and it would not be a hardship, though I believe fitting those expenditures into the official budget should be easy enough.” In fact, as he finished that statement, he had to resist the urge to grin, as he realized that if that was all was need to secure the Witch Blade leader’s cooperation, this was going to be easy. Migura had informed him he would be willing to hand them a mountain of gold if need be to secure their cooperation, and Toijira was actually thankful that that hadn’t been needed.
Meanwhile, while Toijira was breathing a mental sigh of relief, Masane had to resist an urge to cheer, as her lucky star in terms of securing Rihoko’s welfare just rose even higher, and Reina had to resist the urge to do the same for the same reasons. While this was going on, Yuusuke and Akira had been shooting looks at each other, having a silent but coherent dialogue with their eyes,
“I can’t believe I’m working with this pissy old bastard!”
“I can’t believe I’m working with this cocky ass wipe!”
“Guess we’ll have to learn to get along……………”
“……………if we don’t strangle each other first………………”
This went mostly unnoticed, and Maria raised her hand, “Sir, I have a question.”
“Proceed.”
“I understand we we’re given simulated ranks, but how does that work exactly?”
As everyone aside from Nakata looked at her, they realized that was a very good question, and the Colonel elaborated:
“Simulated rank is what the military gives civilians who perform military duty on their behalf, usually given to specialists in fields the armed forces are desperately short in or will be assuming command of uniformed combatants for any length of time. This means that though you are still a civilian, you are bound to military censorship, and any illegal activities you may commit will get you tried under a military court rather than civilian. In terms of responsibility, you will have the full authority of your rank and its responsibility, though you are still bound to the orders of those who outrank you. Also, it means that you are eligible for the benefits of military service once you are released from military service, such as veteran’s benefits. All of this is granted you until you are released from military service, which for the time being is indefinite, or least until the ExCon problem is brought to heel. Is that sufficient, Ms. Sohou?”
“Yes, sir.”
That said, the Colonel rose, as did everyone else, and he told them, doing his best not to be dramatic,
“It’s time.”
That said, everyone filed out, the former Neogenes with some trepidation.
(Much later in the day)
It was mid afternoon, and everyone outside of Marry’s was feeling like the day wasn’t too bad, except for some now highly horrified and disgusted cops, soldiers, and Dreizhen Industries technical consultants. Inside the building, everyone looked depressed as hell (aside from Marry, who was out shopping), Cho and Yuusuke included, and being out of the NSWF building and in regular outfits did not remove the gloom.
For Nakata, currently in his office, feverishly filling out reports, blood vessels were blowing at the sheer depravity one man could sink to as a result of a reverse Oedipus complex. Many of his men confessed to him had they known about this, they would have shot Furumizu in cold blood, and fuck the consequences. Despite his oath to uphold the law, Nakata, now an ally of the Thirteen, could now say that not only did he agree, a dark part of him was saying that he wouldn’t have minded being God’s avenging sword and killing the bastard deader than dead, then desecrating the corpse. The fact that they had found the corpse, callously buried in a shallow grave bearing hideous stab wounds, was small consolation, and it was taking all of his willpower right now not to walk down to the morgue and spit on it.
For one of Nakata’s cops, one Togusa Long, he was feeling like the world had just gotten a little more depraved. He had been living witness to the aftereffects of what one can do with a ton of money, a bunch of gullible/corrupt people in your pocket, and an insane act of defiance against both Science and God. Seeing what that bastard did to those women, and knowing his actions tied in to the Great Quake made his hatred of the one who made his wife’s death in that cataclysm possible grow, and made him hope his son Dante, named after Dante Alighieri himself, would never have to enter Paradise early because of some sick bastard who deserved to be castigated to the lowest levels of the Inferno.
Back at Marry’s, Cho felt genuinely terrible he had been such a dirty old man (in a funny way) around a bunch of women it had been clear had been the twisted playthings of a dirty old man (in the depraved, creepy way) who had forced them to fight each other like animals, and had even had a few of them “bond” with him and with each other in what could only be described as rape, and had more or less been using his army of would be living bombs as disposables who he tossed aside when they were no longer needed, and had been pursuing a sickening biological perversity that was impossible and highly improbable, but horrifying nonetheless. What horrified him the most after decoding Furumizu’s most classified files was discovering they were taped recordings of these offenses to humanity.
Some of these the bastard had even added commentary too!
For Yuusuke, his horror was that this old bastard was not only wealthy to the point counting it had no point, and had used said money to buy off shitloads of people, which included pretty much the entirety of Child Services in Tokyo, several high ranking politicians, and even several non profit charity organizations that took care of children, many of them dupes not knowing they were aiding and abetting a monster. The fact that over 95% of these corrupt assholes were either imprisoned or had fled to God knew where didn’t make him feel any better, though the fact he had discovered their plans and dug out their bank records for the cops meant that most of their still currently existing ill gotten gains they’d never get back, and the only reason he couldn’t smile about that was because the damage was already done.
For Reiji, the horror was realizing just what truly disturbing depths that old fox had gone to in constructing his demented genetic cult. Had he known the true depravity that old bastard had truly been committing (he already knew the Neogenes were related to Furumizu, but otherwise he was in the dark about all he did with them), he’d have shot the bastard that day they talked about the Witch Blade, and told Reina and the others to haul ass, and to hell with his job or reputation. In fact, it pained him to know just how much he could’ve done, but didn’t, and now that pain was intense, furthering adding to his intense feeling of guilt for not doing more to stop the madness.
For Reina, her worst fears were merely confirmed, and as she watched her own family being moved around the board like pawns of the sadistic chess master she called Father at one point, self hatred just kept coming back and viciously assaulting her conscience, and she cursed herself for not being strong enough to just not merely run, but save the rest of her Sisters as well, and she also hated that though she had decided to call the man quits, she hated herself for not trying to rescue her other Sisters from that would be child killing animal.
For Shiori, her hatred of her depravity paled before the depravity she saw when they had happened upon the aftermaths of the Sisters who died. Furumizu had actually videotaped the cremation and burial of her dead Sisters, just to make sure it had gone right and the evidence of their existence was gone! It was as if that asshole wanted to have no reason to feel guilty for the sins he committed, and Shiori now had the grim knowledge that even at her worst, she had a soul, albeit a highly fucked up one, but compared to the depraved animal she had been sired by, she was a human being, though that wasn’t exactly cheering her up at the moment.
For Maria, her horror was the emotional realization she wasn’t the only girl he fashioned as his doll. That (for all intents and purposes) psychopath had recorded himself doing what he did to her to countless others, and she had puked upon seeing the first video where he actually raped a Sister who resisted. She had also found out that, paradoxically, Furumizu kept updating his will, and had basically given her legal rights to all of his assets after his death, that is, until he was “reborn”. She immediately turned it over to Toijira and told him to take it, as she didn’t want it, and he made her feel a little bit better when he told her the entire property was now under the jurisdiction of the JSDF, and that she’d never have to claim the place, mostly because after they raided it of all of the evidence, they were planning to level the place, just to make sure none of the Clone Blade research survived. He was a little surprised when she thanked him profusely, but to his credit, he looked like he understood, and told her that if she wanted, he’d try to arrange so she could watch the demolition. She declined, but was glad to know the NSWF complex would soon only exist in her memories.
For Aoi, her terror was seeing what kind of subservient drone he had wanted most of them to be, watching him perfect his techniques of brainwashing, using illegal drugs and hallucinogens to induce insanity and paranoia, then, once their minds were pliable, using a combination of hypnotic suggestion, sleep reinforced subliminal messaging, and in the case of the defiant, outright torture to get her fellow Sisters wills to break. She had been too meek and submissive for this to actually required of her, but she had been unable to quit crying when she saw the mindless slaves some of her other sisters had been reduced to in the voluminous records left behind, and Maria actually had to hold her up at one point, as she was so emotional she could barely control her own body from all the shaking and crying.
For Masane, the true face of Furumizu’s evil was watching the videos and reading the dry, didactic records of the Neogenes who had some form of mental instability (practically all of them) he had either ignored or encouraged, just to keep them unable to rally against him. She came to the sickening realization that the monsters that Shiori and Maria had become had been a result of his twisting their minds until they broke, and almost wept as she realized that that bastard might have a had a chance to do that to her had Reiji not rescued her.
For Asagi, the horror was deepest of all. On top of all the above being true, she found out that she had no idea who her father or her mother was, and the one truth she believed about her existence was now in heavy doubt. Her genetic records were located, but didn’t say anything about whether she shared that bastard’s genes or not, and the records indicated she had a mishmash of different genetic material in her, so she probably had multiple parents, whom she never knew, and the worst part was that the one who complied these records was another Sister by the name of Rie Nishida, who had more or less been screwing Furumizu behind his back and making new Neogenes with random stolen materials for the scientific equivalent of shits and giggles, as far as she (Asagi) was concerned.
All of them were now in a funk, and Toijira had given them the rest of the day off, and all of them were feeling like doing not much of anything, lost in a fog of depression, so when Asagi got up and ran outside, they all assumed she was so upset she had to run everything out of her system.
Anyone ever see a turtle? If you ask someone, turtles are slow, lumbering creatures that don’t move much, and generally just float around the water and laze about on land.
See a turtle when it’s pissed, and it’s pretty scary.
The ExCon who had this thought, one of the few he retained from the high school classes he had barely paid attention to before dropping out and becoming a shiftless beach bum, had said thought because it just did. No rhyme, no reason. This rational thought was disturbing appropriate and ironic, given that it was aware that for some reason, he turned into a big, scary, black and grey turtle that got pissed, scared the shit out of people, then usually went back to its human form, where it continued to laze around the beach like an organic boulder, its existence never ending, and not caring why this was so. In that respect, this particular ExCon was potentially more disturbing than the knife nut that hated women. At least that crazy son of a bitch had a purpose and ethos, depraved though they might be.
This one just didn’t care, literally, and knew it didn’t care, and simply went along for the ride when it transformed and hurt people.
Now, it just looked like its human form, lazing on a beach where only a few people were currently, not paying the young man in the black shorts and ratty T-shirt any mind.
He was, after all, just a beach bum.
…………
…………
…………
If only they knew.
Meanwhile, Colonel Toijira was conversing with Migura on the phone.
Migura: (sympathetically) I understand that our old friend Furumizu left some shocking discoveries.
Daisuke: To be blunt, Migura-san, if I could revive that bastard, I’d kill him again, because you just don’t pay for those kinds of sins with just one death.
Migura: (grim chuckle) I know how you feel.
Daisuke: On another note, we have Nakata on board, so I don’t think we’ll have to worry about the police wanting to retain the Neogene info as criminal evidence. Besides, with the military overriding him, and the fact he probably wouldn’t mind if we destroyed it after our analysis just to make damn sure some other sick bastard can’t replicate it, I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Hell, it’s only our necessity to understand just what the hell this maniac did in its entirety that’s restraining me from destroying the evidence myself. I also can report that the former Neogenes, ex-Douji personnel, civilians with knowledge of the activities of the activities of Douji and/or the NSWF, and the True Witch Blade bearer are not going to be an obstacle to our plans. In fact, sir, after what we’ve all seen today, our goal of eliminating those monsters and locating any leftover Neogenes is probably going to get even easier.
Migura: That’s truly fortunate news, Toijira-san.
Daisuke: However, sir, there is one variable currently unaccounted for.
Migura: That is?
Daisuke: Angelus and Darkness, sir.
Migura: I know. We’re most of the way clear on their objectives, and I’m positive that their servants have been truthful, but those two are still a wild card. Considering their disgrace, I wouldn’t mind grinding an axe or two, and you have my personal assurance I’ve been thinking along the same lines, and believe it’s a valid possibility.
Daisuke: Nice to know I’m not alone in that, sir.
Migura: Unless something comes up, though, I don’t think that’ll be a major concern at present, but we’ll be looking at the situation very closely.
Daisuke: No wonder the Thirteen have you as their leader.
Migura: (humble laugh) I guess so, but like any wise man, I know I need to know more.
Daisuke: (sardonic) Don’t we all.
Migura: I’ll make sure our agents in the Japanese government and your immediate superiors know not to ask too many questions, and just keep us informed if anything unusual happens.
Daisuke: As always, Migura-dono.
With that, he hung up, feeling a little better that he wasn’t alone in his concerns.
Meanwhile, Asagi was feeling worse, for two reasons.
One, she was still depressed, didn’t know where the hell she was, and didn’t care.
And two, it was dark out, it had been several hours since she’d left Marry’s, and she really couldn’t say she felt like a member of the human race at the moment, even the freakish mishmash of humanity she currently was because she couldn’t even claim solidly that she was related to the one guy and a lot of other girls had once called Father. Paradoxically, once she decided to take stock of where she was, she realized she was near a beach, and that there was a sign saying someone would be holding a beach party in an hour or so.
That said, she decided to sit down, wait for the party, and maybe lose her worries in the throngs of people.
She had no idea that farther up the beach lay the beach bum ExCon, detecting a really faint Witch Blade signature that for the moment it was too damn lazy to care about.
About an hour later………………
Dante Long was a motorcyclist, had been since he built his own during high school. He was also a rebel, albeit a good hearted one who had a reputation during school for beating the shit out of the school bullies because he thought those assholes were pathetically trying to compensate for their limp dicks by beating the shit out of someone weaker than them.
That pissed him off, and the only reason he could attribute it to was his father, who had drilled morals in him since he had been old enough to form coherent thought, chief among them was:
“The innocent cause no harm. The guilty do. And, since the guilty usually have no excuse, and frequently even if they do, they usually are just doing it because it makes them feel better about themselves to hurt someone that can’t fight back. It’s cowardly, mean, and pathetic. But most of all, it’s wrong.”
Those words had reverberated in Dante’s head ever since, and he took them to heart, sometimes too much, like when a teacher was an utter prick to a disabled kid, and he told the bastard to stop, and teacher told him, the half gaijin, to shut up because he didn’t know anything, and berated him. Pissed because the teacher was a bastard, AND a racist, he slugged him. He got in trouble for it, but he treated it like a badge of honor, because all the other kids this prick picked on: the mentally retarded, the disabled, and the slow learners, respected him because he stuck up for them over a complete dill hole, and they en masse lobbied so many complaints, in such numbers, that the school board had no choice but to examine his record (which was checkered with other schools he pulled this crap at), compared this to his current activities, and then fired and blacklisted his ass when the truth was unequivocally clear.
To this day, he still considered that his crowning moment of awesome and the feeling of sticking up for the weak and helpless struck a chord in him, strong enough that he was considering joining the police force like his father one day.
Unfortunately, he was young, and the young try to avoid growing up too fast, and even though he was out of high school, he still had not left his father’s home, and instead of gainful employment or higher education, was enjoying his youth a little while longer, despite his father’s objections he was frittering away his time. He currently did part time repair work for a bike shop that paid for the gas and upkeep of his bike, but that was about it. And he had heard there was a party going on, sponsored by some TV station, which invited damn near anybody and was apparently being hosted as a belated celebration by some rich guy grateful the town wasn’t a war zone anymore.
He would have gone for just the party, but another thing his father had happen to him was something he was hoping would happen in his own life. His father was a law student at a university in the United States, where he met the woman who became his mother, a Japanese exchange student who was studying to become a literature teacher. The two of them fell head over heels for each other, and his dad, a Sansei (third generation Japanese), decided he loved her so much they got married, and he moved back to the land of his forefathers birth, where he became a police detective in Tokyo, and his wife, who taught classical lit, taught at a high school, and everything was awesome. They had him, naming him Dante after some Italian guy who his mother thought was a totally awesome writer, and it all was great until The Great Quake.
His father had been at work when it happened, his mother at her high school job, and he just about to finish his primary education to head for the school his mother worked at. Irony decided to be a pitiless bitch, and the quake leveled the high school, killing his mother and everyone else around it in a 180 yard radius, bare minimum.
Needless to say, his father was devastated, but continued to raise him as a single father, and though Dante never asked too much, he had learned his dad and his boss Nakata had been stumbling over a really creepy series of cases involving dead women that had stumped him. All the way up until The Battle of Tokyo, the truth had been hidden, and when those women who kicked so much ass came out with the truth, he not only thought they were awesome, but he was glad they were defending the weak and helpless, and his father spoke admiringly of what they were doing too, and one day, Dante aspired to be that level of awesome, saving living and kicking cosmic horror level bully ass.
However, right now, his ambitions were more mundane, like maybe relaxing, enjoying the party, and maybe finding a nice girl to socialize with. To be fair, he was also a male with very healthy male drives, so he was hoping said lady might be persuaded to fall for his somewhat above average good looks and be willing to go a lot farther than first base.
Naturally, his father wouldn’t have approved, but he was a young man, and that is just what a lot of them tend to do.
Meanwhile, Masane and the other ladies had gotten out of their funk (without the help of a therapist, yet), but it wasn’t because any of them felt better. Actually it was because they noticed Asagi hadn’t gotten back yet, and just to add shame to the moment, Rihoko, who was been quietly been alternating between trying to cheer them up and leave them be, had been the first to notice.
They knew she had left earlier, and they figured she was really upset for understandable reasons (and HOW!), but thought she’d be gone for a few hours, come back later, and feel better. After all, Asagi was somewhat quiet and deadpan, and didn’t seem the type to openly cry, which is why everyone else hadn’t bothered looking for her for about two hours, figuring she just went somewhere to let it all out without shame or embarrassment, and then she’d be back.
By the third hour, though, worry set in. By the fourth they were really worried. By the fifth, nightfall was approaching, and they were now panicky, Masane most of all. After all, she was responsible for Asagi’s welfare and she had failed, and not only would Colonel Toijira be pissed, ANGELUS AND DARKNESS would be extremely pissed.
It goes without saying the latter two were scarier.
By the dawning of the sixth hour, she and the others were about to call Toijira and let him know Asagi went AWOL, but that when she heard a familiar voice tell her,
“Um, Masane, I can sense the other Witch Blades, you know.”
“Huh?” and upon realizing she said this out loud, she held her Witch Bladed wrist to her ear, and everyone got the message.
“I can only sense ExCons if they are nearby and active, but the legitimized copies of me are always “on”, meaning that if I focus, I can probably detect Asagi.
“Sounds good, go for it.” she responded, before telling the confused assembly, “The Witch Blade just told me it can sense the other Blades, and it’s trying to locate Asagi.”
Before they were even halfway finished with their sighs of relief, the Witch Blade told her,
“I see her on a beach and a bunch of people celebrating something.”
Masane repeated this information, and just as she was about to ask if anyone knew where someone was holding a beach party, Yuusuke told her, “I think I can narrow that down for you.” and pulled a newly acquired cell phone (a work related gift from Toijira) out of his pocket and dialed Kyoko’s number.
“It’s me, Yuusuke.”
“Hi, Yuusuke. Any news for me?” hoping it was some inside info on the NSWF investigation, because she was a journalist and an exclusive would be nice. Sadly, her hopes were dashed.
“Can’t say anything unless my new boss gives the word, and considering my boss’ boss is the Japanese Army, I could wind up in prison, but if I do get the green light, I’ll try and give you guys’ first crack at least.”
“Okay.”, she said, disappointment slightly lessened but still obvious.
“Look, I need a small favor. Asagi’s missing, and I think she’s at some kind of beach party. Know any?”
From her end of the phone, Kyoko had to place Asagi in her mind for a second, and by the time the logical connection occurred, she realized she did know something.
“Well, it seems one of the board members of our radio subsidiary actually sponsored a party for teenagers a few days ago, kind of a belated celebration for that battle being long over.”, and Kyoko paused as she remembered Asagi was missing, and for once, her journalistic creed overrode her empathy, or more accurately joined hands with it as she asked, “What happened?”, figuring that it probably had something to do with the investigation they had been barred from even watching.
“Can’t say, but she was really upset, and we’re just trying to track her down.”
As he said this, guilt had just bitch slapped Kyoko for her momentary avarice, and she quickly gave him the address of said party, along with a “Hope she’s alright.”
“She probably is, we just need to find her to make sure. Thanks, Kyoko.”
“Bye, Yuusuke.”
As they hung up, he was already fishing his keys out of his pocket, telling the assembled ladies (as Reiji had popped back to his villa) if they’d like to ride with him. Since Maria and Aoi were both asleep, trying to sleep away their torrid day, that left Shiori, Reina, Masane, and Marry, who all eagerly said yes, and Yuusuke noticed Marry looked the most panicky out of the four.
As they piled in Yuusuke’s car, Masane called Toijira to give him an update.
“Colonel Toijira speaking.”
“This is Masane. I just called to inform you that Asagi ran out awhile ago, but we have a good idea where she is and are going to pick her up.”
To his credit, he did not kick herself for not immediately ordering the Witch Blades to report to a therapist immediately after the raid, and calmly said,
“Explain.”
After a minute or two, the Colonel relaxed, and replied. “I kind of expected this might happen. Just make sure she’s okay.”
“Yes, Sir.” replied Masane, dead serious, and hung up.
As she did, Toijira realized that part of the reason no one had seen this coming was part ASSumption, and part laziness. Since Asagi seemed the most okay initially, they had all foolishly thought she had been taking things well, and he allowed humanity to trump pragmatism by assuming they should only make them see a therapist only if they needed one, an error he truly regretted. After all, the army regularly made soldiers who survived intense combat get a psych evaluation, just to make sure no screws had loosened. Japan hadn’t fought in Vietnam, but the lessons of that war had told armies everywhere that sanity could become a chancy thing after a certain level of bloodshed and/or horrific encounters, and he resolved they would not make this mistake in the future.
Asagi was watching a full blown party take place in front of her, and wasn’t able to really enjoy any of it, mostly because she wondered if her desire to live a normal life was a joke, and she was the only one not laughing.
She had always seemed apathetic and deadpan and actually was to some extent, but a lot of it was a cover for the fact she actually was just as rattled and emotional as anyone else, she just decided that she’d feel less pain if she tried not to let everything affect her. Besides, her other Sisters had all been varying levels of FUBAR in one way or another, and she had managed to avoid most of Furumizu’s scrutiny (upon reflection, she considered herself damn lucky in that regard), and she had been content to be in the background, watching the insanity.
Unfortunately, she had been singled out by Maria, and because Maria was in charge apparently (and she dimly remembered being bored at the time), so she went along for the ride, and the rest was history. And now she had gone along for the ride with Masane because she had figured life was preferably to death, so she agreed to Angelus and Darkness
conditions to live again, and was following orders more or less out of obligation (they did bring her back, so why not repay the debt, after all?)
That attitude lasted until she learned that not only was she one of many playthings for a very demented motherfucker (in a metaphorical, cynical way, LITERALLY) in ways she had been to some extent ignorant of, she wasn’t even sure if the bastard was her father, and whoever the hell she may or may not have had lineage to no one could really tell, as the records on that were apparently kept inside the mind of the currently MIA Rie Nishida, whom neither she nor the cops knew currently lay in a morgue on a slab, halfway crushed, with a Jane Doe tag on her big toe.
That said, she quietly nursed a beer some random guy had handed her (apparently he was handing beverages out to everyone), and as she dolefully sipped her first alcoholic beverage (and discovered it tasted fruity, with a weird aftertaste), she wondered if it was possible to drown her sorrows over wondering why the hell she existed with no tie to anyone or anything, and discovering that she was actually getting somewhat successful as she felt a mildly pleasant buzz wash over her.
Meanwhile, a certain Dante Long was moseying along, currently ambling amongst his peers still in wearing his motorcycle riding regalia, an ensemble that vaguely resembled Squall Leonhart’s attire from Final Fantasy 8, except the belts around the waist were absent, his shirt was black, and his leather jacket was the right size and not lined with fur.
He had a strategy for finding a dateable girl at a party, and it had one of two alternate paths.
First, he found the crowd of girls exchanging small talk. He’d quietly walk up, chivalrously ask how they were doing this fine evening, and usually would gently target the most interested girl with a proposition to either date him, or merely spend some time with him, if the first option didn’t seem likely. Due to his fairly Caucasian looks, he usually either got mistaken for being Ainu, or a gaijin, the latter title he didn’t mind as long as the context was pleasant.
Usually, the latter happened, and at least he got to socialize.
If that didn’t work, he find a girl who was sitting by herself, and gently ask her if she was okay, a generally safe question that usually yielded information on to whether she was merely waiting for her boyfriend or another family member, in which case he discreetly took his leave, or if she was actually alone, he asked to sit next to her, and proposed they hold dialogue. If that worked, he would start on general subjects, casually asking her interests (as it was nice to know if his interests in bikes and reading war stories would clash with hers), then after they were both comfortable, he asked if she wouldn’t mind going out with him. His success rate was roughly average, either a polite refusal, or his few success had turned into a few more dates that didn’t get much farther past second base.
His one odd success in getting farther than that was that one easy chick who barely talked to him five minutes before she offered to let him grope her. For some reason, despite his rampant male hormones, he smelled a rat, and calmly asked if she had a boyfriend, and she initially dodged the question. When he insisted, she told him she was having a fight with the guy, and blatantly admitted to wanting the make the guy jealous. That lit up a danger flag for Dante, and he promptly got up and walked away, just as said boyfriend walked up and asked him what the hell he was doing.
He remembered telling the guy, who looked like he was capable of smashing concrete blocks with his forehead, that he had been propositioned by his girlfriend with a groping, and had refused because he didn’t help another woman cheat on her guy, and besides, he also admitted he didn’t feel like learning what time Ass-kick-O-Clock was. As a result, the whole situation ended great for him, the guy even offering to shake his hand for his honesty (as he had been watching), but obviously his girlfriend became his ex pretty quick after that.
In fact, truth be told, Dante was a virgin, and though he was really wanting to shed that status, he also had some pride, and wanted to give himself away to a girl he wouldn’t regret later, which is why he had never been the kind of cad who basically asked, “So, wanna fuck?”, like so many other of his more dipshitted contemporaries, but he also wasn’t the kind of guy who could just say no if the girl asked, that one time mentioned before excepted.
That said his eye caught some dark haired girl in a black shirt and jeans sitting on the very edge of the party, looking like she’d just had her favorite cat impacted by a semi, nursing a can of beer.
His interest piqued, he went over to her, and decided to see if he could possibly brighten her day.
Meanwhile, in a car speeding towards Dante and Asagi’s location, which was on the other side of the city, were four worried ladies, and one worried male. Of this group, the oldest had the least tie to the situation, but was quietly angsting over it the most.
Mariko Natsuke, better known to her customers and friends as Marry, felt deep anguish at Asagi’s plight. She already knew that Asagi had had a horrible casting of the dice in life, being created to merely serve as the pawn of a crazy old man (and that was being charitable), but she seemed like she was, if not exactly happy, was at least not nearly as quite as she had been when they had first met. She didn’t know why, but she felt some unconscious urge to bond with that child, and she had realized that in some ways, Asagi Watanabe literally had no attachments to anyone.
Reina/Shiori and Maria/Aoi had each other, and they seemed to be reentering the human race fairly well, while she noticed Asagi hadn’t found anyone to get close too, not even in a friendly way, and disturbingly enough, she couldn’t seem to regard the girls who had been her family as family in more than name only, only now she knew that might not have been true at all, she felt herself wanting to just take Asagi’s burden on herself, now knowing what it was.
In fact, from what Marry could tell, Asagi had never really known the real meaning of family. Apparently, she had grown up (insofar as she was aware) apart from the other girls, never really bonding, and now it was clear why:
She never felt she had belonged. And, with the horrifying revelations she had heard today, it stood a good chance of being literally true. And that was another reason she hoped they’d find Asagi soon, for all she wanted to do was let her know that it didn’t matter to anyone who her family was by blood, that didn’t matter, because she still had people who cared about her.
In short, she was family to them, and that’s all that mattered.
Speaking of Asagi, she was currently trying to brush off the well meaning Dante with a terse,
“Leave me alone.”
He usually would have, but considering she said that in such a quiet, depressed tone, warning bells went off in his head as he remembered one girl in his sophomore class who apparently had a very poor home life, as her parents had started fighting all the time for reasons no one, least of all her, had figured out. He had tried to ask if she wanted to talk to someone, and she had told him to “leave me alone”. He honored that request, and two months later she hung herself from a door knob after her once happy parents announced their plans to divorce.
He heard the same voice that told him that from this girl, and he wasn’t walking away this time.
“Did something happen to you?” he asked, kindly but firmly.
Asagi looked up from the beer can she had nursed to near emptiness, which she tossed aside and snarled bitterly,
“Why do you care?”
“Because I’m a decent guy who sees a good looking girl like yourself clearly upset, so I was concerned and decided to give a damn and offer my shoulder to cry on”, he snapped, hating himself for being such a forward dick, but the terror of another girl killing herself because no one stuck around to listen to her problems froze in his mind, and what few plans he had of playing Casanova instantly disappeared as he stood his ground, waiting for her response.
She glared at him, then pointed next herself grumpily and muttered, “Fine. Sit already.”
He did, waiting for her to speak.
Meanwhile, a certain not so harmless beach bum had decided to finally go check out that weird signal it kept receiving, and ambled toward where it saw a lot of people further down the beach.
Despite have virtually no ambition in life, the ExCon was bound by its unspoken misogyny against the Witch Blade and women it suspected of being suitable bearers, and though the ExCon didn’t even know what was drawing it, it ambled forward anyway, vaguely remembering two other times it had given a shit. Once, it had found some woman and killed her, just because. It had felt a brief emotion at the time, enough to cause a feeling aside from listlessness, but that faded as soon as the pulse did. The other time was when some machine like himself attacked him, and he killed it, and while briefly shaking him from his lethargy and filling him with an inkling of the emotion known as interest, that had died a quick death as the machine blew up, and the listlessness returned.
However, just because whatever passed for its current existence was really boring didn’t mean it didn’t try to brighten its existence in other ways. In fact, it had occasionally wandered into dark alleys in the city, scaring the shit out of homeless people and common thugs, many of whom were drunk or high, so their ramblings to others about some freaky, honest to God monster usually went ignored, which occasionally brightened its boring life with some levity. In fact, it remembered just recently it had found some half dead, bleeding guy lying face down in a gutter, and in a rare moment of interest, decided to beat on the body, just to watch it bleed and scream. The fun lasted about 10 minutes, and soon after it had stomped on the human’s ribcage, shoving bone shards into its heart, the fun had stopped, and as the ExCon walked away, ambling back to the beaches it found oddly appealing, a vague feeling of disappointment settled over the monster, and now, a month later, it was following whatever was piquing it’s interest, hoping for some more entertainment.
Maybe this time, the ExCon disjointedly thought, it would find another reason to care about its own existence.
Meanwhile Dante was trying to reassure a very upset young woman her existence actually had some meaning.
Through a series of angry snarls, and a few booze addled pauses, she told him how she just found out the abusive bastard she had once had as a father may not have even been blood related to her, nor any of the girls she called her sisters, and she was wondering why the fuck she gave a shit about life, given she had no connection to it. For Dante’s part, he had not been expecting this. Hearing she had just recently escaped from some old creepy son of a bitch who abused her and some other girls who she thought she’d been related to was not exactly his idea of ideal. In fact, it sounded horrifying, kinda like something off an old rerun of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit he’d seen occasionally on satellite.
He could tell she was editing out a lot, but he decided not to pry, and merely said, “I’m Dante, Dante Long. What’s your name?”
A sigh.
“Asagi.”
A long silence, then Asagi spoke again, her voice a mixture of sadness and curiosity.
“I don’t get it. Why I did even tell you anything? Hell, why do you care?”
Despite a trace of anger in her voice, he could tell she was depressed, so he asked,
“Why is it important who your parents were?”
Another long pause and he could tell, despite her being a little tipsy, she was editing again,
“Because knowing I had a tie to something in this world was the one sane truth I could hold on to while being surrounded by craziness, and now I don’t even have that!”
She actually looked like she was about to cry, so he changed gears,
“Have any friends?”
A slightly shorter pause this time,
“I guess. We work together, and we live in a place run by some older lady that takes care of us, if that’s what you mean.”
Dante didn’t know what to say for a second, so he decided to take a chance as he told her,
“I may not be your family, but I’d like to let you know I care.”
Again, she was resigned, yet curious,
“And why’s that?”
“Well, I don’t know who this abusive bastard was, but he sounds like a goddamned bully, and I’ve spent the greater two thirds of my life beating the crap out of assholes like that, and if you’d like, I’ll gladly beat the shit out of him.”
“Too late. The bastard’s dead.”
A pause, this time from Dante, who was darkly wondering if she was responsible.
“How?”
“One of the other girls I lived with got sick of his bullshit and stabbed him to death.”
“Good for her. If this asshole was as half bad as you say, I’d do the same.”
Her expression didn’t change, so he changed gears again.
“So, aren’t your friends going to be worried about you?”
“Why? The cops just investigated the old pervert today and found his corpse, not to mention a shitload of records. The fucker was making goddamned videotapes of his treating us like his fucking dolls!”
As Asagi screamed this information at him, Dante found himself grateful the music in the background was just loud enough to keep this between them. At the same, a light bulb clicked on in his head, and he remembered his dad came home earlier in the day, looking really sick, and when he asked, all he get out of his father was something about a really bad investigation he just left because his stomach had given out, and Chief Nakata let him go home early, and it apparently involved some sick bastard who’d been behind that stuff on the news several days ago. As Asagi continued to sit there, he took as close a look at her downcast face as he could, and suddenly realized he’d seen her bef-
He had to fight to suppress a gasp as he just realized where, and next he knew, he found himself throwing an arm around her shoulder. She turned and looked at him confusedly, and he pulled her into a hug, which she didn’t resist, and as he embraced her, he got a good look at her wrist, and noticed she wore a weird bracelet that was glowing slightly, and as he continued to hug her, his mouth went dry and stomach did a few revolutions as he now knew exactly who she was, what she did, and what she had to go through.
She had been at the mercy of one really sick, deranged son of a bitch, and his blood boiled as he felt himself fighting tears as he told her in a teary voice,
“I’m sorry, Asagi. I’m sorry you had to go through that……!”
As the ExCon neared the oblivious people, it felt oddly animated, and whatever had drawn it here was really strong, and since it was feeling that feeling it did when he killed that woman, only really strong now, it gave in to its inner drive, and the ExCon transformed, and as it did, a cruel hunger and intelligence it had never felt in human form came over it, and it now sped up, running for the crowd.
As it did, cruel motivation had totally replaced apathy, and it had but one thought.
Maybe tonight it would get that same entertained feeling again.
It might even last long enough to be fun.
Meanwhile, Asagi was a little stunned. She had learned some really horrifying truths today, got really depressed, walked halfway across town, sat through a party, had her first beer, admitted shit she really didn’t want to talk about to guy named Dante, and now was being hugged by said guy, who apparently was upset for her.
She wasn’t sure what to do at this point. She had gone a little crazy from not only seeing graphic evidence of what she had been able to mostly ignore or censor in her own mind, and learned the one truth she thought was true was a lie, and the little wall of apathy she built so she wouldn’t get all fucked up by it had just gotten a hole blown in the dike, and said hole couldn’t fixed by plugging her thumb in it.
However, as she let herself stay in the embrace of this fairly handsome, dark haired foreign looking guy (who oddly understood fluent Japanese with no accent), she kinda got reminded of how Marry had been nice to her and actually gave a damn about her. Not that the other girls didn’t, she just hadn’t gotten close to them, nor the other guys, but for some reason, she just felt herself melt into this guy’s arms, and felt her worries fade as she realized that Dante actually seemed to give a shit………………
And that’s when the two of them heard some screams from the crowd.
As the ExCon heard the screams, that entertained feeling it sought came back, and the ExCon roared in pleasure, enjoying watching all the panicky humans, many of them half dressed and young, scatter in all directions, most of them running for their personal transportation. As the beach emptied, leaving only a few petrified souls who were too paralyzed with fear to move, the ExCon felt the pleasant feeling start to wane, so it decided to maul a few of the more terrified humans.
For some reason, it found it especially enjoyed watching their bodies turn red with blood.
Asagi and Dante immediately looked in the direction of the disturbance, and they both saw the ExCon, a vaguely black and grey turtle like entity that had a pentagon shaped back, ridiculously long, white claws and taloned feet, and a skull that looked like the Graveler Pokémon’s body, except it had metal teeth like Jaws, and it’s almost anime like eyes were glowing red as it made noises like it was utterly enjoying itself.
As that happened, Asagi’s Witch Blade started glowing so fiercely her attempts to hide it from Dante were dead on arrival, and as he stared at her now pulsing Witch Blade, which was begging her to transform, she told him
“Go!!!!”
Dante inborn male concern for women overrode his brain for a moment as he asked, “Are you gonna be okay?!”
“I kill these goddamned monsters for a living! I’ll distract the bastard, you get everyone else left on this beach to safety!” she screamed at him desperately, feeling her eyes glow like coals and her markings appear on her face and body.”
Dante wasn’t stupid, and knew that was good advice, and he immediately turned away to do just that as he yelled,
“Good luck kicking that bastard’s ass, Asagi!”
As he said this, she had already transformed.
The ExCon had approached some young lady who had been lying on a towel, who had finally remembered how to use her lower legs at the very least, and it made a noise like amused laughter as he watched as the young woman in the one piece tried to push away from his 3.5 meter tall form, and decided to jump forward and splash atop her, hoping to see her human blood fly up in all directions as he crushed her body into paste.
“OVER HERE, ROCK HEAD!”
The ExCon turned around, and the source of the energy that had drawn him here tried to drop a blade through his face.
It was a grazing blow that did no damage, but it oddly filled it with joy. As it examined the young lady in the dark hued armor, some mysterious feeling of bloodlust like it had never felt infused it and it charged its challenger, roaring to the heavens.
Now this was exciting!
Asagi hadn’t actually been planning on seriously damaging the ExCon with her opening attack, but it had told her a few things about the beast.
For one, her blade actually bounced off, and the ExCon didn’t even look fazed, and seeing as its black shell and gray body shone like polished metal in the now prominent moonlight, she correctly surmised this thing had some tough armor. As she jumped straight up, dodging a rather inelegant bull rush attack, she also noted that this ExCon apparently liked using its bulk as a weapon. Taking a page from Maria, she transformed her blade arm into an energy cannon as she descended, and as the turtle turned around for Round Two, she opened fire, firing a foot wide beam of explosive energy at the bastard’s upper torso.
The ExCon could be heard screaming as she saw the energy wave explode on contact, flinging it a full thirty feet from the kinetic energy alone, and as the ExCon hit the ground stunned, splayed like a contorted, rotund mannequin; she looked around to see if Dante and the other people were alright.
She needn’t have worried, because Dante hauled ass, helping the young woman who damn near got killed up first, telling her to run for the nearby other side of the street (as the beach front was basically a giant sand dune tacked next to the main thoroughfare leading to the one of Tokyo’s residential districts) and picking up two terrified kids and running with them across the beach, to the other side of the street, where most of the terrified beach goers had congregated, and were watching the battle between Asagi and the ExCon in shock. As he put the kids down, they ran in the direction of their extremely grateful mother, and Dante didn’t stick around for any accolades, instead running for his bike as he pulled out his cell phone.
Asagi had said nothing about being able to actually kill the thing, and that time he saw her kill one on live TV, she had help and though he didn’t know the number of her friends, but he did the next best thing, and called the police station.
The cop who answered asked who he was, and he had barely gasped out the words “ExCon attack”, before the cop told him he was being transferred to Chief Nakata.
“This is Chief Nak-
“There’s an ExCon attack going on here at the beach, and a Witch Blade’s fighting it, and-“, and his words were cut off as his lungs ran out of air, and as Nakata excitedly asked where, Dante got his wind back and told him. Nakata hurriedly told him thanks, and to get the hell out of there, and hung up.
At the police station, Nakata was remarkably calm as he dialed up Colonel Toijira’s cell phone number (which he had given him earlier that day after the raid).
“Colonel Daisuke Toijira speaking.”
“This is Nakata. There’s an ExCon attack in progress.”
“Where?”
He told him, and the Colonel hung up, presumably to do something about it, or so Nakata hoped. He had been given a bit of a briefing on what the JSDF’s SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) was for this sort of thing, and Nakata had already worked it out with him to instantly place situations like this in Toijira’s lap.
At any rate, with that settled, he placed two more calls. First, he called the precinct captain for that side of town and told him the situation, then he called the father of the voice he recognized, as it was his son, and besides, he knew Togusa lived a couple of blocks away from the scene of the incident and could possibly assist, off day be damned.
Besides, he knew Officer Long would break legs and cut telephone wires for that boy.
Sure enough, Togusa Long, who had been trying to get some sleep, answered the call and told his boss he’d be right there, and as he hurried into his uniform, he prayed his son hadn’t already joined his wife.
Meanwhile, Yuusuke was trying to dodge a horde of cars that had suddenly deluged the streets, as well as some panicky people on foot, less than two blocks from the beach, and before he heard the crowd’s yell of “ExCon!” the Witch Blades were glowing like flashlights, and Masane told Yuusuke to stop the car.
He complied, and her, Reina, and Shiori transformed as they stepped out, deciding it’d be quicker to fly over the crowd instead of drive.
Meanwhile, Colonel Toijira was already on top of things. He had troops sortie out to assist law enforcement in cordoning off the area, and was going to call the Witch Blades, but realized they were already enroute, so that was pointless.
Aside from that, all he could was pray.
So, after clapping his hands to get the attention of the spirits, he did exactly that.
Asagi didn’t know reinforcements were on the way, but it was becoming obvious she’d really need them. Her foe was seemingly invincible, having not only gotten back up from the energy blast, but every bladed attack she launched bounced harmlessly off its hide, and as she leapt forward, blade held high, she decided to channel as much energy as she could into it, bringing it down on her foe like a guillotine in the hopes of splitting its skull.
As she was landing, she saw the ExCon’s mouth open, and before she knew it, Bowser’s fiery breath shot at her with the force of a small hurricane, and though she managed to parry the breath attack with her blade, it disoriented her enough for it to swipe her out of the air with one of claws, and as she felt herself fall, it grabbed her with both claws, and it held her slightly dizzied form up, then flung her straight to the ground in a near perfect power bomb, which completely stunned her, robbing her of most of her energy and almost knocking her out.
As the ExCon saw what it had done, it roared to the heavens, intense feelings of excitement fueling its inhuman form better than the world’s best heroin rush. It had never felt so excited in its existence, and as it regained its composure, it decided it was going to truly enjoy killing this one, and it would do so slowly, savoring this harbinger of the epitome of its reason to exist.
That’s when it heard a rumbling in the distance.
Dante knew what he was doing was stupid, but he didn’t care. This bastard decided to attack innocent people, and now it was planning to beat up the downed body of Asagi. He knew that girl had just risked her ass to save his life and keep others from harm, so now he was going to return the favor.
As he saw the monster rare back, preparing to plunge a taloned claw through Asagi’s body, his motorcycle engine, already warmed and ready, gunned to life as he sped across the road. He saw a small rise in the sand, and grateful he had recently put some sand tires on his bike for just this occasion, he angled up on his bike, milking his engine for all of its horsepower, hoping to God Almighty the crazy stunt he was about to pull would work.
He had no idea a third party that had been watching was already ensuring it would.
As Masane, Reina, and Shiori caught sight of the beach on the ExCon from their elevated position, a roaring engine noise could be heard, and as they looked down, they saw some guy on motorcycle clear the now abandoned roadway between Tokyo and its beach front, and said bike had just jumped off a sand dune, flying like a down angled arrow at the monster they saw had been about to kill Asagi.
The ExCon had heard something in the wind, but foolishly decided mere noise would not distract it from the greatest time of its life, so it had been totally unprepared to deal with the impact of nearly a ton and a half of motorized steel as it struck his left flank. Worse, it had been raring back with its claws, meaning at least one foot was unbalanced, which merely aided the force known as inertia as the nearly twelve foot behemoth felt itself fall backwards on its own shelled ass.
As Masane and the other prepared to descend, wondering who the crazy yet extremely lucky bastard was who just committed Evel Knievel style vehicular assault that had just sent an ExCon reeling backwards, they heard motorcycle guy yell,
“STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ASAGI!!!!!!!!”
As he said this, the Witch Blades landed a good distance behind Asagi, watching as what looked like a teenager in racing leathers decided to one up his crazy awesome, and actually started driving over the still fallen ExCon’s body, screaming incoherent yet extremely vulgar profanities, and as he finished making the goddamned monster roar in pain by running over its face, Masane and the other’s unsheathed their blades and ran over to Asagi’s fallen body, hoping to drag off to safety before they fought the ExCon, wondering who the hell her bad assed (and totally crazy) savior was.
It was by this time Marry and Yuusuke had shown up amongst the crowd, who was currently wondering just how insane their night was gonna get. First, an ExCon showed up raising hell. Then, a Witch Blade showed up, kicking ass. Then, some crazy bastard on a motorcycle joined the party and used the fallen monster’s body to test the traction on his tires, and now three more Witch Blades had shown up.
It was anyone’s guess what was going to happen next.
Togusa Long already was charging over to the beach in his squad car, gumball light flashing, letting people know he was a cop, so clear the path. He knew that he was off duty job wise, but Chief Nakata told him to get back on duty, and upon hearing his son was at ground zero of an ExCon attack, he needed no further convincing to haul ass to make sure his boy was alright.
By this time, Dante had broken off the attack, now that Asagi’s friends were on the scene, and had burned rubber getting back over to the side of the road, where he parked and watched the continuing battle, oblivious to the fact half the crowd thought he was fucking awesome, while the other half thought he was totally nuts.
Meanwhile, Shiori and Reina pulled the stunned but still alive Asagi out of harm’s way, while Masane charged forward blade readied as the ExCon finally got back up, wondering what the hell happened, and seeing another human female in dark armor charging him. He breathed fire again, but Masane was too quick as she corkscrew flipped over the attack and the ExCon landing behind, where she swung her blade like an axe at its back, preparing to render this abomination to Order and Chaos deader than dead.
Her blade actually made a slight indention in its armor, and as the ExCon whirled around in pain, the wound actually starting to regenerate instead of bleed, Masane decided she needed to apply a little more pressure, so she leveled up.
The ExCon, sensing the even greater power emanating from her, was poisoned by its own battle lust and charged forward
before Masane could regain the offensive, but found itself flung backwards as pure orange-red energy flew off her body like the flames from an acetylene torch and hit with the force of a speeding bullet train, knocking the ExCon loopy, and Masane lost no time leaping forward, moaning erotically as her own battle lust overcame her, and her dual blades turned into blurs that continued slicing the ExCon anywhere and everywhere, causing bits and pieces of its armored flesh to fly off as she continued tearing into it like a deranged butcher, its screams of pain manifest in the night air, and as Masane jumped off the beast to survey her handiwork, anyone close would’ve heard her gasp ecstatically, crying lustily to the night sky as she did,
“Ohhhhh yesss……that was the best I’ve had in long while!!!!”
Meanwhile, Togusa Long was on foot, his car unable to make it past the chaos that snarled the main access road to the beach, and he was determined to find his son, and make sure he was alright.
Reina and Shiori had flown over to help Masane work the bastard over some more, and that’s when irony decided to be an asshole, as a massive bolt of red light shot up from the ExCon’s body, and it suddenly stood bolt upright, laughing like it was have the best day ever, and to further make matters worse, every single wound it bore was gone, and as the Witch Blades scattered in all directions as it breathed fire once more, they all were wondering, even as they prepared to counterattack,
“How the hell do we stop this thing?!”
By this time, the cops had started showing up, and formed a barricade keeping people from crossing the street, where they immediately started watching the battle, wondering why the hell the monster wasn’t dead yet.
As Asagi watched the other Witch Blades attacks bounce harmlessly off the ExCon, barely making it flinch, she wanted to help, but knew she wouldn’t do much better.
“You really want to help them, don’t you?”
“Who are you?!”
“I’m the Witch Blade. I control all the clones of myself, and I was the one who gave Reina the power to defeat her foe not too long ago.”
“I want the same. Not only for them, but that guy Dante risked his ass for me, and I have a debt to repay.”
“By all means, Asagi.”
“Hold on, child. I shall join thee in this battle as well.”
“…………Lady Angelus?!?!”
“That purveyor of evil is a particular stench in my nostrils, Asagi, and it would a great honor to help you send his damned soul off to face judgment. The victory shall be yours, and I shall merely be the power ensures thy aim strikes true.”
“Fine. Let’s kick some ass then!”
As the voices faded, she felt her Witch Blade glow with even more power, and energy surrounded her as she felt herself change, and she decided now was as good a time as any to turn the tables.
As the Witch Blades were about try another head on assault, a massive flash of light suddenly blinded them as it passed in front of their vision.
Two of them, which now streaked like lasers at the ExCon, who was knocked back on his ass once more. As everyone wondered what the hell that was, the two streaks of light, one glowing dark purple, one glowing white, both struck the same spot of ground barely ten feet from the ExCon. As they coalesced, they all heard Asagi’s voice cry out like screams of an angry demon,
“NOW IS THE TIME YOU DIE!”
As the lights solidified into a human form, Reina and Masane realized that Asagi had just literally taken a level in badass. Her once dark blue armor was now obsidian black, as was her hair, while her flesh was shock white, with violet streaks where her forest green markings had once been. Her armor now had spikes on the knees, shoulders, and elbows, and wings so black they nearly had their own mirror sheen flowed from her back, making her look like the Angel of Death.
Her now dual blades were now shock white, crackling with black energy that popped so loudly one would think it was hatred made manifest, but the most shocking change was the fact her face was now obscured by an obsidian visor that hid everything but her mouth, topped just above the eye line with a glowing white spike.
As the monster got back up, it tried to charge her, but everyone for a solid mile could hear Asagi’s bitterly humorous laughter as thousands of black orbs of energy flew from her body and at the ExCon. The ExCon tried to use its turtle body to wait out the blows, but suddenly found that the orbs stuck to his body like glue, and thousands of them clustered around it’s body, and inexplicably, the ExCon not only could not move, but also felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on it as its body was suddenly lifted off the ground. As it hovered, paralyzed and powerless, Asagi’s voice, as well as that of another woman, one older and full of righteous wrath, said as one,
“BETRAYER OF THE BALANCE BETWEEN CHAOS AND LIGHT! YOUR TREACHEROUS FORM SHALL PAY FOR YOUR TRESPASS!”
As this was said, the ExCon’s body shot into the sky until its body hung against the back drop of the moon, and as it screamed and raged powerlessly, all attending saw Asagi turn into energy again, and the energy cloud she became split in two and reformed, there were two of her, both of which let out a battle cry as they flew forward, then up, each bearing a readied blade crackling with the power of Chaos, hewn into the perfect essence of destruction by Order herself.
From where Dante was standing, he had a great view of this, and in his eyes, Asagi was Badass Incarnate as he watched her dual forms take turns slashing the every living shit out of the monster, each hit striking true, with metallic flesh and gouts of its crystalline essence raining from its body with every slice. However, just as he thought she was literally going to butcher the damn thing to death, the two Asagi’s became energy clouds again, that merged into one being. As they reformed, the dual voices from Asagi rang out again,
“CAINA!”
As Asagi cried out the name of the first traitor to his own blood, the first murderer of his own brother, black waves flowed from the back of her armor, flowing into the gigantic, grotesque form of a scorpion tail, which then plunged forward, stabbing the ExCon, and he and everyone else had to cringe as the ExCon’s shrieks of terror pierced the night sky, and it felt the pain Abel felt as Cain made the ground drink his blood.
But Asagi wasn’t finished, crying out the name of the second traitor, who had betrayed his countrymen by opening the city gates of Troy for the invading Greeks,
“ANTENORA!”
The scorpion tail faded, and from what seemed holes from another dimension, gigantic shards of ice appeared out of thin air, and impaled the ExCon from all directions, making it feel the pain the warriors of Troy felt as one of their own condemned them to death, and yet, as the beast was ready to give up the ghost, Asagi cried out the name of the third traitor, who had been the first to betray his friend,
“PTOLOMEA!”
At those words, the ice shards vanished, and became a swarming cloud, the sound unmistakably that of the foulest and cruelest of the venomous insects, and the desiccated ExCon screamed once more as giant shadowy beings with horned tusks and sharp stingers lanced and pierced its body, making it pay for its role in the betrayal of Man’s compact with Angelus and Darkness, and making it feel the pain Ptolemy’s friend felt when he was brutally slain by a man he considered closer than his own kin.
Immediately after, as the ExCon’s body resembled more corpse than being, she uttered the final traitor’s name, the Son of Perdition who had sold the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver,
“JUDECCA!”
As this was said, a massive black pool formed directly below the ExCon on the sands, and the Witch Blades backed the hell away as the pool grew, resembling both liquid and vapor as it roiled and boiled like the darkest pit of castigated sinners, and as the final traitor’s name faded, Asagi swung her arms downward, and the ExCon was freed from her control, and allowed to fall into the viscous pool, where upon contact the pool itself became as if alive, and freakish tentacle like appendages and the visages of hideous beings popped out of the muck, and simply tore the ExCon apart, making it pay for its sins, making it feel the agony of the Son of Iscariot felt while writhing for eternity, impaled on a bleeding tree, gasping his never ending tortured regrets, forever experiencing eternal damnation for his betrayal of his Lord.
And then, suddenly as it appeared, the pool faded, leaving the twisted and destroyed shards of the ExCon, which disappeared in a flash of light, and as Asagi descended gracefully to Earth, her dominance over evil unquestioned, all Dante could think was that Asagi was totally awesome, and not someone he ever wanted to piss off.
As the Witch Blade who just literally inflicted Hell upon the damned touched down on the Earth, Togusa Long was in total shock. Just as he had seen his son in the crowd next to his motorcycle, he had seen part of his wife’s favorite poetic work become literal truth, and as he walked over to his son on somewhat tottery legs, he was barely able to speak as he saw the Witch Blade descend in their direction.
Masane and her team were in awe, and it hadn’t faded, even after the reason faded, and as she and the other Witch Blades walked over to where Asagi was landing, she almost had to hold her jaw to keep it from hitting the ground.
As Yuusuke and Marry looked on, they saw Asagi, still armored; walk over to the guy who had been on the motorcycle, and Yuusuke’s journalistic sixth senses allowed him realize that a TV crew or three had materialized (probably had awhile ago, he was just to awed to think about it), and as he bemoaned the fact he hadn’t had a camera on him at the moment to record the awesome he’d just witnessed, he saw Marry with a look of confusion on her face, and he realized why.
What was she doing now, anyway?
As Dante stood stock still, he was vaguely aware his father was around, but his eyes were now on Asagi, who was walking towards him, her visible mouth bearing a smile, and people nearby parting like the Red Sea as she approached him.
As she stood in front of him, he said the first thing he could think of,
“Feeling better now, Asagi?”
The obsidian death mask disintegrated into nothingness, and he saw the smile on Asagi’s mouth was reflected in her eyes, and as she looked at him with relief, he felt like his knees would give out as she closed the distance between them, and said in a voice only he could hear,
“Dante, you barely knew me, yet you cared for me, and risked your own life for mine. For that, I thank you.”
He barely had time to reply as she grabbed him by the lapels of his coat, and gave him an extremely intense kiss, prompting a massive gasp from everyone present as time seemed to freeze. After what seemed eternity passed, she let him come up for air, and in almost a whisper, told him,
“Thank you……………”
As she said this, her knees collapsed, and she fell against him, and as she did, her armor faded, leaving a very tired young woman in his arms.
As this happened, the other Witch Blades ran up, and by some unspoken command, he gently gave the now comatose Asagi to a still overawed Masane, and promptly felt the shock overwhelm him, and as he passed out, the last thing he remembered was the angelic face of the first woman he could say he ever fallen in love with sleeping peacefully in the older Witch Blade’s arms.
(A short while later)
The beach had long since been clear of people, and the only person left was surveying what had been the scene of one hell of a battle. He had been here by mere chance, oddly enough, not expecting his brief moment of relaxation would become quite relevant. In fact, unbeknownst to the participants of the melee that had taken place; he had had a small hand in helping the fight tip towards the good guys favor. Namely, he remembered using his powers to give a certain motorcycle enough of a power boost via his ability to manipulate energy to briefly go beyond the impossible for its rather ambitious and daring rider, who had used his unknowing gift to topple a colossus, though he was absolutely certain no one present thought the boy on said conveyance had help. If anything, they probably thought he was damn lucky his balls-to-the-wall insanity had paid off as well as it did.
He also remembered how the aforementioned young man had been determined to perform a foolhardy yet brave attack on said malevolent colossus in defense of a badass in distress. He remembered finding the fact that the young man wanted to save a life a point in his favor on the list of his recent needs and considerations, and he also remembered briefly attending the young man after he passed out from the shock of Asagi Watanabe thanking him in a rather touching way, and informing the young man’s father he was a doctor, and telling the gentleman in police regalia his son would need some bed rest, as he had merely fainted from shock, but that he would otherwise be fine. In closing, it was good he had a good memory, because that meant he’d have to make sure the parties he was returning to heard all the particulars.
Now, he was about report back to his colleagues, and as he took one last look at where Dante Long dared to be badass, the former practicing physician (albeit he had mainly trained as a geneticist) smiled to himself as he thought,
“Perfect. You’re just the man the Thirteen has been looking for.”
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