Collab with [@BigPapaBelial] [@FourtyTwo] [center][h1][color=lightblue]Skye Rosalind Lyons[/color][/h1][/center] [center][h1][color=silver]Ban Kingo[/color][/h1][/center] [center][h1]Kiyose City, Tokyo, Japan[/h1][/center] [center][h2]0600 Local Time[/h2][/center] [center][h2]The Ready Reckoner[/h2][/center] The early dawn rose in the land of the rising sun, the streetlights fading in the dawn chorus of Tokyo’s many metropolitan areas, and the car was rolling around. Skye had fallen asleep on the journey, her body completely out of it after all that had happened, well, apart from the one trip to drop off her doppelganger, the chemical containment tubes sellotaped to her, and a trip to a black market to retrieve bootleg passports, documentation and everything else needed. It was the end of a hard mission, but one that would serve the team critically, even if right now, the pixie-like redhead was still in the crosshairs for many people. Looking across the seat as the car came in towards the parlour, Skye looked to the other ex-Raven operative, the hardened and dutiful Ban Kingo. A man she didn’t believe she would ever work with again, let alone accept, but he was grateful beyond words for what he had done. Put himself back out there for not a stranger, but an old friend, and what an adventure it was. “How are you holding up? Gonna say, this has been quite an adventure of ours. I have places to be. Up to you still, if you want to join me.” Skye said to him, the Scots redhead back to her usual accent, the sticker peeled off her voicebox, and back to her usual husky, seeded Highland accent, soft yet somehow, sharp like granite. [color=silver] Ban sat with his chin cradled in one hand, a slight smile on his lips as they drove along. For all that he’s still bandaged up from the round he took during the lab strike. He nods, “I’m doing okay all things considered. How can one really prepare for a ghost from the past returning. That ghost then pulling them back into old habits. And then marching into hell like they’d never left it?” He chuckles softly “I’m doing good.” He looks at her directly eyes narrowing some, “I’m more worried about you. I’ll march into hell and back out again if you asked it. But you’ve been hit by setback after setback, backhand after backhand. That can’t have left you in a good place. How are you holding up?” A tilt of his head, “As for continuing on. My little gambling den can run on it’s own for a little while, and I’m sure the Oyabun will allow me to take a leave of absence for a short bit. If you’ll still have me I’ll gladly follow on.” He slowly nods, “Just say the word my friend.” [/color] Skye smiled back, a bit of optimism back in her heart from hearing it, even in spite of the fact that indeed, he was right. Setbacks like this were never good, the core team could have taken a much worse loss and Kaitaki had lost a lot of good support staff, people Skye had got to know and appreciate in the last few months. Still, nothing could be done now, and what mattered was going forwards. Even if it meant stopping a woman that seemingly couldn’t die and wanted to kill millions, if not more. “That would be appreciated. I don’t know where it’ll lead. But I appreciate it nonetheless.” Skye smiled back, looking out of the window, traffic non-existent bar for traders and shop owners starting to set up for the day. “I’m still going. But it’s all insane. I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone. What you saw, what went down…..the memory is really, really hazy. Rose, that woman that looks like me, she had a lot of really scary stuff to say when I saw her in New Zealand. When she turned up. And I don’t know how to read any of it. Never met an enemy I couldn’t kill, or stop, no matter how big. But someone who knows me better than I do….that one scares me.” Skye replied, sitting up, looking across, hands on knees, shrugging. “Everything I understand about the world has turned to shit, and the only thing I can do is just keep killing people until there’s something left and there’s something. No team, just us and the hope we’re right. So yeah. Dandy.” Skye let a wry chuckle, the kind of dry humor a Scots would have, as she sighed, leaning back, knowing Ban would understand, well, at least read that even with the slight crack in Skye there, she wasn’t going to let it be filled with anything else but sarcasm. The car was starting to pull in close, and they would be getting out, and going back inside. [color=silver] Ban straightened up, seeing that crack, really though a small crack in Skye’s mental and emotional armor was more like a massive breach. He nodded then reaches over and place a rough hand, run through with hidden augments, upon Skye’s nearest hand. Warm, gentle, but with restrained strength and violence, “You’re not alone. You’re current team, I’m sure they are ready to step up higher and forward further then they already are.” He chuckles softly, “And you’ve got men like me ready to move forward with you, in your shadow or at your side. So I’ll stay here at your side and as your shadow, ready to cut down the ones that need to be cut down my friend.” He looked forward then braced as the car came to a slow rolling stop. The driver stepped out to open his door, and Ban quickly jogged around and opened Skye’s for her, offering his hand to help her out, “So you’ll have a sword ready to cut out the curse that is threatening you. I’ll stick by you. Until you’re ready to get rid of me.” He chuckles a little, and motions for the driver to get the door into the back areas of the pachinko parlour. “We can plan the rest here, we’ll be safe. And secure.” [/color] Skye smiled back, chuckling and giving a nod, knowing he was right, but also, knowing the challenges they faced were going to not be insignificant. She’d brought him into the firing line, and internally, that swelled inside of her too. And the shadows they faced, well, they had plenty to do. “Thanks, Ban. I’ll hope that’s sooner rather than later. But I think we’ve made more than a dent.” Skye replied, a smile back, as she followed the driver, and with it, headed into the back door of the pachinko parlour, walking inside and heading through. All quiet and dead, with just the light of the machines available, and it felt like the strangest of places to be planning things. The driver led them through the parlour itself, and headed towards the office, around a corner, they had Ban’s office to get back to. They did, until as Skye turned the corner to go down the corridor that she’d barely been in two days earlier and there she was. With a shit eating grin. “Miss me?” Skye went to draw but instead was smashed in the back of the head, with another man charging into the back of Ban, tasing away with a cattle-prod like implement, until he stood no longer. —--------------------------------- Her vision was blurry, but then again, this was round two of getting knocked out, by that utter, utter despicable piece of shit. Fuck. She’d known. She had played her. Skye should have known better. The whole thing….the assistant recognised Ban, and had found him. With a groan, she limbered herself up against the post, hands tied to the frame of one of the machines, Ban across from the other. And with it, there stood Rose, rather casually dressed considering, with Ban’s sword in hand. A black t-shirt, jeans, and the hair that Skye had identical to her. “This is rather fine. Exquisite even. The details on it. And the sharpness. I bet you could cut up anything with this. And I think I’ll keep it.” Rose said to Ban with the wry sharpness of her English accent watching him come to, shaking her head, brushing the side of the blade, as she heard the other two men she was with drag someone else into the room, alive, sober, and kicking. Skye lurched, screaming, realizing, understanding. [color=silver] Ban woke slowly and quickly realized something had happened that really didn’t play well. The parlour had been quiet, too quiet, even at the time of day it was. Even late into the night and early into the morning there would be people at the pachinko stalls or in the back playing one of the illegal games. But that hadn’t hit him quite right away. Not until they’d turned the corner into the back area, then started towards his office. The doppelganger, the bakemono! The woman who looked like Skye! She was there that explained why no one was in the parlour! He’d braced then, about to leap, when someone caught him from behind. He’d rolled to his back and looked up at an Obu family footsoldier. She’d managed to get some help? From Obu!? He’d tried to lash his hand up, but it’s caught and he’s rolled over again. He’s just about getting his legs up under him when he feels something jab into his back. And then he knows nothing but electrical pain! He’d woken up on his knees, beside Skye, looking up, “What…h…ahhh the bakemono.” He snarls then his eyes go wide, “Ota-san!” he barked, and then pulled, the braces keeping him still straining but not giving, “What are you doing with my father!” He snarled out. [/color] “Fuck, you leave him out of it!” Skye yelled, as Hataro was dragged to Rose, the old man no match for tasers and the two mercenaries that Rose had brought with her. How the fuck was she here? They’d taken down their facility, yet she was here, as if on demand? What, had she fallen out of the sky too? Also, how the fuck had she found out? Through the rival Yakuza clan, through a mistake Skye had made, or Ban had made, or in fact, anything? None of it mattered. Hataro was dragged in front of the two on Rose’s nod, and with it, Rose crouched down in front of Skye, not Ban, and looked dead in, a certain conviction behind her. She didn’t really care. It looked expressive in her body language, she was done. Completely so. “I have to admit, I’m disappointed we couldn’t agree earlier. But, I suppose it made me realize your true colors. See, I had to lose a very nice piece on the chessboard to you. One of my favorites. But sometimes you have to take risks…then that means we’re rather mutual in that fact. As if we weren’t already. I had to make a choice between you and your friends about the trip I made, and I could not resist coming here. Maybe you just don’t realize where the points on the tracks that I come from point to, do you?” She tutted, Skye wanting to scream a thousand fucks, if it wasn’t for the fact that Rose could kill all of them, here and now, no problem. “Listen. You want me dead, fine. But you’re gonna be wasting energy on them both and creating a trail. You know as well as I do we’re in the open now. That makes it harder for us to even fucking move anywhere. So a bloodtrail is the last thing you want. Think this through.” Skye replied, as Rose chuckled, shaking her head, with a single, soft, stroke. “It is the only thing I want, Skye. You kill who you killed, did what you did. And then you get collateral involved….make a scene. It really could only be you, couldn’t it. You really are desperate. You think you can still win. Yet just like this fine sword, it’s rather double edged how that works.” And with it, drawing the blade from the sheath, looking into Skye’s gaze, gently turning it over, then walking back to Hataro. [color=silver] Ban held his father’s eyes, “Ota-san? Father…” Hataro Kingo looked at his son with a smile, “It’s alright my son. It’s alright. Keep our honor.” Ban swallowed thickly, then bowed his head. When he raised it again his gaze bored into Rose, watching her, but speaking of violence and vengeance. [/color] “No team, no support, nothing. It’s like the fact you think your friends are a strength, yet I only see one problem with that. Isn’t that right, Ban?” Rose said, turning her head to face him, the sight of Skye Lyons, duplicated, in a certain turn. “It’s that this work never really leaves you behind.” And with that look, Rose cleanly raised and swiped the katana through Hataro’s neck, half severing his head in a messy pool of blood, kicking him down right in front of Ban, in a bloody, messy heap. He was half decapitated, and the bloodstain into the carpet swelled like an apricot. It was messy, and instant. Like a blur, and Rose appeared aside from it. She wasn’t looking at Ban. She was looking at Skye. As if to make it worse. [color=silver] Ban made no sound other than his breath getting heavier. Then in the low deep voice of his, but in that rumbly Japanese, “Watashi no meiyo to kazoku ni chikatte, omae o korosu. Omae no kubi o hane, meiyo o ubai, soshite omae no shitai o gomi no yō ni tsuba de haki kakeru!” He hissed then in english, “I swear, I’ll kill you. On my honor, on my family name, on my blood. And when I take your head, I’ll spit on your corpse like the trash you are! And the only way you can stop that, is by killing me!” He strains again the brace behind him creaking but not giving. [/color] “So….are we paying attention now?” Rose did not seem like some cartoonish, far away villain anymore. She seemed here, right now, and well, with her motive, her tone hardened, cold, and as if it was another day. Another time. She was angry. She couldn’t hide her emotions, but this was a means to an end. Even in response to Ban, who squirmed, she seemed almost removed. Skye looked on in horror. She had clearly hurt Rose, deeply, way, way more than she had ever anticipated by all that had happened, so this must have been the extreme- after all, the center was key to her, but well, this kind of response was beyond words. Yet she was the same flesh and blood as Skye, after all. Same capacity for violence. Same willingness to think, and get what she wanted. “You fucking monster! Fuck, what did he do to you?” Skye yelled, tugging at the rope and the machine, neither budging as Rose pushed back, the blade resting directly on Skye’s heart, a mere centimeter away from hitting the organ as she stopped on the cold, sharpened metal already pulling the sinews of her shirt away. Ignoring Ban altogether, apart from a glance. “I know I can’t torture you. But him? He’s not us. And I can make you feel what it’s like as I strip him away, piece by piece, and the rest of him, his clan and family. They trained us well, Skye. I could go through all of your fingers, all of your toes, legs, arms. But I don’t need to. Just his, if I want you to talk.” She said, looking to Ban. [color=silver] Ban grins and chuckles, the show of his teeth like a caged animal, unbroken and still wild, “What more do you think you can do to me? What more can you take from me? My father is dead. And by now, the Amagi family will be gearing for war. You have nothing to make me fear you anymore!” He chuckled and looked down at his father, “He was all I had left in my blood family. And you can’t touch the Amagi.” He grinned, then looked at Skye and then it clicked, “No…” [/color] “I just need to take what else matters in his life away, and the face that does it is yours...like the clan. You’ve just given me an excuse to not care anymore about consequences, like you don’t. This isn’t a war. This is the end.” Rose finished, as if to put a cherry on top. Skye couldn’t think of the words. A team-mate was one thing to do this to. Silence, acceptance, just knowing she had to talk enough to get this through was one thing, but Rose was smart enough to know Skye knew that too. So she did the only thing Skye herself would ever end up with. You can’t hurt that which can’t be hurt. You just rip everything around them to cinders until they crack. The unbreakable cannot have a foundation to stand on. Hardened criminals, special forces soldiers, they collapsed when nothing was left. There were worse things, but even so, she was going to do it to her team-mate’s life, the one she’d pulled him away from, all to rip it apart in front. The silence was deafening, aside from Ban. “Fuck…..what do you want then?” Skye replied, hesitant. Anything would do. Anything to buy time. Rose was confident, maybe overly so due to her disposition, but not stupid. Rose indulged nonetheless. “See, Ban, look how she starts. All those bodies you left, all the security that went your way, and it takes just one dead Yakuza to open her up. Well.” Rose said openly, then walking back, crouching in front of Skye. “I want to know where you put a specific version of me. And what your hacker knows. If you do that, I don’t kill the rest of his clan. I spare them, keep them alive. Not sure about what I do with you, but he gets to go back out of this. Alive. To be honest with you, I don’t really see the point in keeping you awake anymore, but I suppose you may as well save the people you love while you’re at it.” Rose started, knowing well, Skye would probably die before she gave that up, but hey, she’d already fucked up enough things for now. May as well make this one last like Rose had felt herself. “Isn’t that what you do best? Or should you just die a bit pointlessly while you watch me rip everything he has left away? Is that how we should do this?” Rose said, as Skye looked to the rope, trying to look for spots, ways out, anything. She looked at Ban with a certain determination, a certain ire, hoping, praying he had some sort of plan. Rage was a hell of a tool in a situation like this. Skye could squirm, but the rope was tight as hell around her, every piece pinning her in despite what she was doing. [color=silver] Ban looked at Skye harder than at Rose. And screamed, “Jigoku ni ochiro! Go to Hell!” Then kicked the limiters off his augments. The smell of burning flesh and burning cloth filled the room and he pulled. Arms straining, legs clenching, and first his left arm came free with a cracking of the brace behind him, pulling harder, his legs came free, then again his other arm coming free. And he shot forward, over his fathers body and directly at Rose, “Face me now then you bakemono! You monster! I’ll take your head with my bare hands!” His hands held to his sides, classic samurai style Judo ready to use, even as he rocketed across the space between them, steps stamping into the floor as he rushed her. [/color] Rose turned in a certain shock, watching as he charged, diving out of the way as Skye lunged forwards in her own brace, yanking into her doppelganger and at least sheering the blade against her right arm and the tether holding her with a painful turn, one of the mercs running over towards Ban, weapon raised. “Fuck! Kill him!” Rose yelled, unprepared for his speed, but sword ready, unaware of what Skye had done in the heat of the moment, as she knew Ban would have to take on the guard, before well, bullets happened.It was a split second, barely anything else happening, as Skye used it to get herself out, the anarchy in front at least creating a mask. [color=silver] Ban barely slowed, the guard who jumped in his way swung his tanto. And amazingly he caught it. Between his hands, and almost in slow motion flicked the blade out of his hand, caught it and slammed it into the very center of the guard's forehead, and well maybe over judged just how strong his unlimited augments are. As he catches the body, and performs a perfectly beautiful shoulder throw, that bounced the man off the ground twice before he hit a wall. And then he’s after Rose again, “You won’t kill me with my own family sword!” And then seemed to vanish, going from upright one moment, to seemingly gone. It’s from Skye’s POV that he ducked so fast that he seemed to blur out of existence. And he slams his right shoulder into Rose… At the knees! A snarled out “YA!” As he shoved his whole body into her knees trying to bowl her over with the sheer speed and his body weight, “Down here Bakemono!” [/color] Rose could barely react, smashed into a machine as she felt the weight of his augments and his strength, kicking him off and slashing, catching his metal arm with a turn, but barely able to put weight behind it, as she kept the blade front and centre, looking at him dead in view, not falling for that one again, on her knees, using his weight to throw him back and away. “Right here! And I’ll gut you with it!” Rose yelled back, snarling with anger herself, as Skye fumbled across, watching the fight unfold, blood pouring from her arm as she yelled. Rose was in a decent position considering, unless Ban wanted to skewer himself. “Not so cocky now, are you!” Skye yelled back, Rose turning for a moment to see Skye come across, her gaze split for a second. She hoped it would be enough to distract, at the very least for him to make another run. [color=silver] Ban doesn’t seem to be shaken any. He looks at his arm, where the flesh over it is still sizzling away. The smell of burned skin was still clear in the air, “Not bad. But do you think you can keep up bakemono? Do you hear that by the way? You aren’t a person. You’re a demon! A ghost! Something not real! You are nothing!” He moved then. And even as Rose lashed with the sword there’s a crack. Rose looked in awe. Ban looked pleased. He caught the blade between his palms. He then smiled, “I don’t need to be cocky when I know what I need to do. So tell me…” He moved his right hand forward while bracing the blunt edge of the blade on the palm of his left hand, then pushed and flicked at the same time, the blade coming free and sticking up into the ceiling almost half way up the blade! “..Do you bleed?” He hissed, “Now then.” And moved again. And only due to the speed granted by his amped up augments, the blow is near invisible. The impact is a harsh crack as his first impacts on the nerve bundle half way up Rose’s left arm. The next one is a snap in the same place, on her right arm. The last of the three though he takes his time, he measures up, placing his right index finger on her sternum, “Have you ever heard of the One Inch Punch? How they say it’s a myth?” He grins then surges forward, and indeed slams his fist into her chest dead center, mythological One Inch Punch indeed as he forced his entire body weight into that point, driving her back nearly three feet. Then he stops, having to finally breathe, “Don’t need to be cocky. Now who is really cocky here? Huh? Bakemono?” [/color] Rose spat blood, coughing up as she looked up, thrown back yet still breathing, blood pouring, yet seemingly, not even caring. Most people would, but then again, without consequences, she wanted to keep squaring. Keep facing. “Oh, you are good.” She replied, and with it, let him draw in, responding in turn with a perfected counter, her krav-maga taught method not as fast as Ban, but effective enough to draw him in, countering his kick and responding with her own, going for his manhood and swinging him in, punching hard as Skye kicked her off him, running across the room to one of the Tantos on the floor and bringing it to bear. “Two versus one, fine!” Rose yelled back, as she diverted herself onto Skye, the Scot facing her down and yanking the knife back into hand, staring her down. It was a quick set of moves as Skye came in close, but Rose couldn’t keep her balance, not with Ban looming. She tried to dodge, but it came fast enough, Skye finding a crack in her punches and with it, bringing the knife into hand, shanking into her stomach twice, as Rose took the knife and with it, pushed back, pulling the knife out of her with a primal scream and pushing back. Screaming, Skye realized as suddenly, the knife fell into her side, Skye limping away as Rose did the same, a shared pool of blood between them into the floor. There’s a moment where Skye clutched her side, the wound driven hard, but right below her lungs. It hurts her to breathe though, the blade sticking in as she looked across at Rose, gargling blood out of her mouth, a bloody smile on her face. “I’ll keep coming…..and you can’t stop this. Can’t stop any of it. You, your stupid team….” Rose uttered, the pooling continuing as Skye felt the same, crawling across, pulling her up, getting weaker, and weaker from her own. “This isn’t what he wanted. I know it isn’t. Please…..please, Rose. You have to stop.” Skye begged, even in her weakness, feeling Rose’s depleting life cackle back. “We’re on the brink…no going back now. It’s not him that wants this. Never was...” With it, Rose took the knife in Skye’s side, and weakly, tried to push. Skye screamed, falling on top of her doppelganger’s arms, trying to stop it as best as she could, feeling Rose’s efforts weaken with her weight. [color=silver] Ban grinned right back at her, “The fine arts of Karate, Jujutsu and Judo play well with me bakemono.” He slipped in, ducking in with the paired women. His hands lashing out, vying off the lashes of that tanto, trying to create an opening for Skye to get in. The crack of metal on metal, flesh on flesh. He’s leaning back out of the way of a dangerous cut when Skye gets in. And he slides back and out of the way as the pair meet. He can see and hear the slice of flesh. And for a moment he’s paralyzed. They’d both drawn blood. He looks at Skye the tanto at her side, buried well. The opening in Rose though is mortal, it’s clear. And he watches as they bleed. And then come together in this moment. He caught his breath then stepped in, reaching down, to try and pry them apart, without pulling the knife clear of Skye’s innards, “Skye, stop…enough. The Bakemono is dying. You can’t help that. But you can help yourself.” He pulls again trying to get them apart, “Do not give you life for the dead. Do not give your soul for hers.” [/color] Skye exhaled hard, wrapping herself onto Ban, holding tight, as she felt feint, fuzzy, weird. She felt exposed, but then again, gently throbbing blood from her gut was not a way she planned for this morning to go. “She’s got me fucking good, Ban. Really good. You know me well…..” She uttered, dragging herself against the wall, exhaling hard and painfully, looking into him. “I’m sorry, Ban. I’m so fucking sorry…..she…..I don’t even know.” Skye mumbled, putting her hand against his, exhaling deeply, her heart panicking, her body in overload, looking over at one of the men that Ban had brutally managed to kill. And the first aid kit on his tactical rig. “The bleed. Listen. It’s going to need a ton of clotting agent. It’ll piss a lot of blood. And we need to get out. Fast.” Skye garbled, her panicked embrace looking down at the wound. [color=silver] Ban caught her and carefully leaned back looking at Rose, “The Bakemono is gone…for now it seems.” He helped her away then let her out of his grasp and followed her to the wall, he looked up and around, then went to the door, with a heave he gets it open and then comes back, with a medical pack, “Take it easy Skye-chan, you’re going to be okay. You’re in my hands. I won’t let you go without a fight.” He opened the pack and left it open beside her, “This is likely going to hurt. We’re going to have to get it out and get you fixed up. There’s no cauterizing pen in here. But it looks like there’s some clotting powder in here. Just hang on.” And then Ban applied pressure, pulled the knife and quickly stuffed the open package of clotting gel into the wound after ripping it open with his teeth. He shut his eyes, trying to drown out his friend's scream of pain from the knife then from the rough insertion of the gel into the wound. He holds his hand against the wound as the gel works to slow and hopefully stop the bleeding, “Just hang tight my friend. Just hang on. You’ll still have time. Everyone gets that moment of downfall. Now comes your climb back up. I think this is it. You can start coming back up out of the murk.” He continued to work on her wound. During which his limiters kicked back in, and stopped burning his flesh and clothing. Leaving him near naked in the moment, not that he seemed to notice any as he tended to Skye. [/color] Skye screamed, yelping and roaring, feeling the heat and pain start to burn as she felt all fuzzy and weird. The words didn’t make sense, as the smell of burning could be audibly heard, from the limbs of Ban’s arms and legs, fizzling away. She felt very vague, all manner of strangeness happening from the amount of blood she was losing out here. After a lucid moment where it started to fuzz in, Skye found the energy where she could, resting a bloody hand against his boiling arm. “Thank you…..shit, thought I was a goner.” Skye mumbled, and with it, released her arms, exhaling hard, looking back at Rose, then back to Ban. What would normally have killed someone here, had somewhat kept Skye alive, yes, through a poor decision but it was clear that if she hadn't gotten involved, the odds were still questionable for Ban. If Rose was anything like what Skye could do, she wouldn’t have done down easy. Looking into his eyes, Skye mustered the energy she had for now, wheezing a little. “We need to go. We really need to go. Wash any blood you have off you, it…it tracks. Hers. Sorry. It’s all a bit dizzy.” Skye kept mumbling, knowing it didn’t make much sense, as she felt the burn of his skin against hers, amplified by her sensory overload. [color=silver] Ban used the medical stapler in the kit to close up the wound for now, “Right we’ll tend to that here shortly. Just want to make sure you’re good to go. Don’t want it to come loose in the moment.” And taping some medical gauze over the wound he finishes up. By this point he’s slowing a little the adrenaline rush, and the sadness of losing his last blood family clearly is starting to get to him. Only when he’s sure she’s taken care of does he get her to her feet to make sure she can walk, “Let’s go find somewhere I can wash off then try and get out of here. We can go to the Amagi Estate, they’ll take us in. But I think we’re going to need to get out of Japan for a while. Think Raven will take you back in? Think they’ll take me back in?” He levers her up onto his hip and helps to get her out of their holding cell, “I…can grieve later. We need to get out of here.” He took a moment to reach up and pull his sword out of the ceiling, tucking it to his side. And he limps out with her on his side. Her blood and flesh and bone and pain. His meat, and metal and pain and loss. A fine pair in the end perhaps. [/color] Skye looked up, barely able to hold onto him, her vision blurred like she was drunk, considering the litre of blood or so she’d lost. “No chance. We can’t go there. Tell them to get ready for war, Rose is just using anything as a means to an end. Including them. We cannae stay for that..fuck he was a good man.” Skye continued to blear her words, looking back at Hataro, then back to Ban, her arms around him in an embrace, tears pouring out, as she sighed hard. “Enri. Enri can help us. There’s one more place we have to go. One more thing we have to do. It’ll put us back where we need to be. In Los Angeles, there’s another friend that can help.” Skye added, hearing the sound of another vehicle rolling. “Ah, fuck…..yeah, let’s get out.” Skye added, knowing they had to get to a vehicle, or something. [color=silver] Ban winces, getting them outside looking around, “Come on.” And pulls her over to a small Kei truck, tucked along the side of the street a short distance away, “Come on, in here.” He pops the door after a little jiggling and manual lock picking. “Try and pop the other side open so I don’t have to break the window.” And then once he’s inside, hot wires the truck, getting it started, “:ets get out of here, I’ll make a call to the Family once we’re in a safe house. This likely means the Amagi and the Obu are going to go to the Mattresses. There will be deaths. Not since the Yamaguchi War have the Yakuza fought in the streets.” [/color] Skye did as she could, fumbling across, taking the shard of metal and jabbing it in, using the good old picking technique of just shoving the lock until it went, and that it did, pulling nicely and falling in. She immediately fell onto Ban’s lap, before righting herself. “Fuck….” [color=silver] He caught her then pulled out into the streets, “We’ll make for the airport. I know a guy. He has a plane, it should get us to Hawaii, then we can try and get to Los Angeles from there. Stay with me here Skye-chan. We only got out of one problem. We’ve got far far too many ahead of us. Let’s get out of here.” He pressed the gas, and headed into the growing fog of a Tokyo morning. [/color]