Legend: "(...)" English dialogue. ------ "Malso-san, what are you doing?" Yomiko asked in alarm. ""You said you wanted the Knight Sabers." Jeena said, looking at the scared young lady in front of her. "You didn't say how." "We wanted to make contact with them, not kill them!" Nancy said. Michiru closed her eyes as she began to tremble, the cold steel of the gun still against her head. Jeena sighed. "Look, we saw you come out of the back." she began, "So stop playing miss innocent and just tell us where the others are. Now!" Michiru's lower lip began to quiver as tears began to fill her eyes. "What others? I don't understand, I..." "What in the hell's going on in here?" a woman's voice asked. All four women looked to the gaping opening at the front of the Silky Doll. There, standing outside in the falling snow, were two women and a pair of police officers. Yomiko recognized one of them as the crazy woman who'd fallen off one of the flying machines. ------ Priss stepped out in front of her companions to get a better look at what was happening. She saw four strange women standing inside a partially demolished Silky Doll. As she got closer, she could see one of them had a gun pointed at another's head. "Someone want to explain to me what's happening?" she asked, looking around the room. Haruka and Daley, seeing what they perceived to be a hostage situation, both pulled out their own guns. "Alright, freeze!" Haruka yelled, "Nobody moves or I'll..." "Take one step closer." The woman with the gun threatened, "And you'll be cleaning her brains off the walls." "Please," the young woman wearing the glasses pleaded, "Let her go. She obviously doesn't know anything about the Knight Sabers, or where any of them are." "I said drop your gun!" Haruka growled. Daley looked over to Nene, his gun pointed at the woman in the Western wear, and sighed. "Why does this crap always seem to happen when I'm around you lot?" he asked exasperatedly. Priss put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. "For the last time, will someone tell me what's going on?" she asked. "L... Look, I tried to explain already." The young lady with the gun to her head sobbed, "I came here to visit my cousin Linna. She's my only relative, and..." SHIKKT! Everyone looked over to see Priss, her sword unsheathed, suddenly looking very different once she'd learned the young lady was a relative of Linna's. The woman with the gun looked back at her, and smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere." She said. "You look like the type Stingray would pick for her private little war." "Let Linna's cousin go," Priss hissed, "Or I'll take your other arm." "What did she tell you to get you to join?" the woman asked, "What promises? Did she appeal to your sense of duty or was it the money she paid that attracted you?" The woman with the glasses looked quickly around the tension filled room, her eyes coming to rest on a wall calendar about ten feet away. She slowly started inching toward it. ------ Nancy rolled her eyes. After searching for the stolen material for months, she and Yomiko had come to the conclusion that they needed some outside help. They had hoped to possibly hire the Knight Sabers' services to assist in the recovery. Of course, after the recent events of today, it looked like they were already too late. The secret missing pages of Leonardo DaVinci's sketchbooks, particularly those connected with flight and flying machines, would appear to have already been used for nefarious purposes. And now, when it looked like they'd found someone who might be able to make contact with the Knight Sabers, their contact turned out to be a nut. "Let her go, damn it!" Nancy shouted, "This isn't what we wanted!" Yomiko continued to slowly make her way to the wall calendar. Since it was the first month of the new year, all the sheets were still on it. She'd run out of paper earlier saving the woman with the sword, and she wasn't about to let the scared young lady with the violin get killed. As she took another step, she and the others heard a stir from the back. "Where is she?" a worried voice asked. "Relax, Linna. She probably came to while we were gone and..." Two women came out of the back. One was a European in a corset, her bustle swinging back and forth as she walked. The other was a young Japanese woman with short hair wearing a kimono. They both stopped when they saw the group gathered in the store. The one in the kimono allowed a gasp to escape when she saw Jeena's gun against Michiru's head. She was about to rush forward, when the other woman held her back with her arm, her eyes narrowing as she stared at Jeena. "Malso." She growled. Jeena smiled. "Stingray. Been a while. These your newest recruits?" The young blond on the other side of the room finally spoke up. "Newest recruits? What are you talking about?" Jeena started to chuckle. "You mean, she never told you about the first Knight Sabers?" Yomiko continued to slowly move forward as the woman with the sword crouched down, her left knee bent down in front of her and her right sticking back straight. She held her sword with both hands, the blade pointing back toward her right foot. Nancy slowly began to move her hand toward her petticoat. "Why don't you tell them, Sylia?" Jeena asked, never taking her eyes off the scared young girl in front of her. "Tell them about the first Knight Sabers. You remember, the Japanese martial arts expert and the American weapons specialist. Or better yet, tell them about the last mission of the original Knight Sabers..." The police officer with the sandy blond hair crept over a bit to the left, hoping to get a clear shot. Sylia continued to stare at Jeena through narrowed eyes as she held Linna back with her left arm. "Come on Sylia; you were there, you should remember. Tell them about the red Knight Saber, the one who was disemboweled by that yakuza member trying to save your sorry ass. Or, better yet, tell them about the original green Knight Saber." "Jeena." Sylia said, trying to interrupt, "Don't..." "You remember the green one, don't you?" Jeena asked, her voice suddenly cracking, "The one who lost her fucking arm on the mission?" Turning to look around the room, she started shaking. "I don't know what she's told you, any of you, but it's all lies! She doesn't care about any of you, only herself. Your all nothing to her but a means to an end." Sylia now began to walk over to her, much to the blond officer's annoyance as it meant she would now be in the way of a clear shot. "Put the gun down, Jeena." Sylia said in a low voice. Jeena responded by pulling the hammer back on the colt. "Stay back, you bitch!" "You're not going to shoot her, and you know it." Sylia said. Jeena's face grew red with anger. "And why's that? Because I was once one of you? Because I used to believe in that idealistic bullshit you used to spew all the time?" "No." Sylia said, a slight smile teasing her lips, "Because you have no bullets. I can see your chamber's empty from here." Before Jeena had a chance to respond, a rapidly moving object flew over and surrounded her. She fell to the floor with a thud, bound up in an 1881 wall calendar. Linna rushed over to her cousin, taking Michiru in her arms. The blond officer rushed forward as well. "Miss, are you alright?" she asked. Michiru wiped the tears from her eyes with her hand as she turned away from Linna to face the officer. "Y... Yes, thank you, I..." Michiru stopped as she met the officer's gaze. Blue eyes met the teal green eyes of the officer's, and she felt her heart skip a beat. "Thank you, officer..." "Ten'ou." Haruka offered. "Haruka Ten'ou." She was at a loss for words after that. She'd never seen anyone so attractive in her life. From her full lips to her slender neck, she was perfection itself. She could feel a warmth rising up within her, a longing to hold the young woman herself. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She was a police officer. She was on duty. She had to remain professional. "Miss, exactly how did all this come about?" she asked as Daley came up behind her. "I'm afraid that would be our fault." A sweet sounding voice sadly said from the side of the room. Haruka and Daley turned to Yomiko Readaman and her companion. "You see," she offered apologetically, "Nancy and I were trying to make contact with the Knight Sabers." "Well, you've certainly succeeded at that." Sylia said, striding forward with her arms crossed, "What do you want of us?" ---Meanwhile--- Major McNichol and his men were looking around in a daze at the devastation. As smoke continued to billow up into the air, one of his men called him over. The remains of one of the machines had been found near a demolished clock tower. Making his way through the dead and debris, he reached the officer. "What do you make of it, sir?" he asked. Leon shook his head. "I don't know, sergeant. It looks to be about twenty feet long maybe, and the pilot appears to have been killed from a gunshot wound, but other than that, I couldn't begin to venture a guess at what's happened." As he finished, the sounds of a large group of horses came from behind him. Turning around, he saw dozens of men, all wearing the same black suits and stove pipe hats, riding up silently, followed by a carriage with the image of a globe on the door. Coming to a stop, the coachman got out and opened the door. A young blond woman wearing a winter cloak emerged, followed by a tall man leaning heavily on a cane, also blond. The woman looked on silently as the man walked over to Leon, brushing his hair back with his hand as he did so. "Thank you, Major, for quarantining off the area." he said, "We'll take over now." Leon looked angrily at the man. "Oh, you will, will you? And just who the bloody hell might you be?" The man smiled. "I might be several people, Major. But it just so happens I'm Head Librarian of British Library Special Operations, Section A. You may call me Mr. Joker." "Mr. Joker, huh?" The Major smirked. "Unless he died with an overdue book in his possession, I don't see what this would have to do with you." The gentleman's smile never left his face as he motioned to the young lady to come over. As she did so, she opened a case, producing two legal documents. She handed them to him, and he in turn passed them to Leon. A sudden intake of air on the Major's part notified the Head Librarian that he recognized the Royal Seal of the House of Windsor on the one document, as well as the signature of Prime Minister William Gladstone on the other. "You... You know some pretty powerful people, don't you?" Leon managed to get out. Mr. Joker stepped closer, lowering his voice as he did so. "You have no idea. Now I would suggest you order your men back now, before things get ugly." Leon looked indignant. "Was that a threat?" he asked. The gentleman's smile only grew wider. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, or how powerful we are. You could very easily find yourself on the front lines in the Boer War in South Africa if you're not careful, Major. Now leave." Major McNichol stared angrily at the smiling man in front of him before finally turning around and ordering his men back. Mr. Joker handed the documents back to the woman, who placed them back in the case. They then both returned to the carriage, and left the rest to the men in the black suits. ------ "We only wished to ask for your help Stingray-san." Yomiko said, nervously playing with her fingers. "Six months ago we were dealing with a simple museum heist. And now, it seems they've used some of DaVinci's secret papers to create those flying things. We asked for help contacting your organization at the British Military compound, but they were less than helpful." "(And let me guess,)" Sylia said, addressing Jeena in English, "(That's when they ran into you on your way here to carry out that threat of yours from two years ago.)" "(I told you I'd come back to Japan one day to kill you. Hey, if I can make a profit while doing it...)" Sylia turned away from her and walked over to Priss. She grabbed Priss' dotanuki from her hands, and strode back to Jeena. Swinging the sword faster than most of the group gathered at the Silky Doll could see, she cut the calendar, allowing Jeena to escape. "(You can't have me yet.)" Sylia began. "(In case you haven't noticed, some nut's managed to invent flying machines capable of dropping explosives down from the sky. Once I and the others defeat them, we can settle this.)" Switching back to Japanese, "You can either join us until this is over, or you can wait it out." Nene, who understood English, was incredulous. "Sylia, you can't be serious. You're actually going to let her..." Jeena got to her feet and smiled, ignoring Nene's outburst. "I think I'll join you for now. After all, I wouldn't want you to die before I can kill you. By the way," she said as Sylia passed the sword back to Priss, "What ever happened to that young bar singer you were screwing?" Priss sheathed her sword, giving Jeena a dirty look as she did so. She then walked over to Linna and Michiru. "So, you're related to Linna, huh?" she asked Michiru. The girl, intimidated a bit by the woman looking down at her, looked back to Linna for reassurance. Linna smiled. "Yes, she's my cousin. Her name's Michiru, and she's a violinist looking for work. You wouldn't happen to know any tavern singers who could possibly use a violin player in their band, would you?" Priss smiled. "The three of us can talk about it on the way to the house. Unless you have any further need of us, Sylia." Sylia shook her head. "Not at all. Michiru's had a hard first day here. I'll update you and Linna later. In the meantime, take that poor girl home and get her some rest." As the three of them walked toward the gaping opening of the Silky Doll, Michiru turned to look again at Haruka. Their eyes met, and Haruka could feel an aching as she watched the violinist leave. Daley smiled a bit as he leaned over to Haruka's ear. "She's pretty, isn't she?" he asked. "Hai." Haruka said in a low voice thick with longing, "I..." she suddenly reddened, realizing what she'd just admitted. Daley put a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, I'm not going to ride you kid. If you're planning on pursuing her though, you'd better figure out how you plan to explain the fact that you're a girl." "Oh shit." Haruka groaned. Daley laughed a bit as he led the way out, leaving Sylia, Nene, and their visitors behind. Nene was still trying to digest all that had had happened that day, and all that she'd learned from Jeena's angry rantings. "Do we know who's behind this?" Sylia asked, already having a pretty good idea who it was. Nancy spoke up. "We can't prove anything yet, but we suspect Genom Munitions and Trading International. We also have a pretty good idea of who the original thief might have been." she said, passing a French wanted poster over to Sylia. On it, the image of a man with a thin mustache wearing a monocle and top hat stared out, and underneath, a name was printed. "Arsene Lupin." she read. Looking back at the two agents of the British Library, she continued their discussion, as Nene made her way over to Jeena. "H... How did you loose your arm?" she asked. Jeena looked her over, and grinned. "There's a bar nearby, kid." she said with a gleam in her eyes. "We can discuss it over a beer." Looking back over to Sylia, she saw her still talking intensely with Nancy and Yomiko. Nene turned back to Jeena, and sized her up. She was crazy as a loon, but she only had one arm. If necessary, Nene felt fairly confident she could take her in a fight. The two walked out under the darkening sky and quickly disappeared from view. ---The Next Day, Early Morning--- A small crowd had gathered at the landing docks, eager to see the young Opera singer make her arrival in Japan. Looking out from the bridge of the ship, Reika Chang could see the people cheering for her, as well as several demolished buildings. She went over again in the back of her mind the events surrounding her sister's death. She was murdered in a Buddhist temple, by yakuza. And somehow, a group of female ronin were involved. As she pulled her mink coat closed with one hand, she waved to the crowd with the other. They would all pay, she vowed to herself. Both the gangsters and the ronin, she would see to that. ---To Be Continued--- Note- Arsene Lupin would of course be the grandfather of Lupin III. His description is based on a picture in a Lupin III manga.
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