How Love Blunders All...

[Jeremy Hunter]

Rei rolled her eyes at David. She had been scared before, but the shock had worn off and was replaced by defiance. Rei took a few deep breatha, pacing her breathing as she collected her thoughts. She had to calm down, collect herself. He got the drop on her, but damn it, she was part of the Oathkeeper, and she was not giving up.

"Baka gaijin... you think I would sell out my friends so easily?!" she shook her head. "For all you know, there are hundreds of us. As for firepower, more then enough to take you on. And what do we want? Simple. Justice for the atrocity committed to a girl for no reason other than sick pleasure." She spit some red-tinged saliva from her mouth. "And how did we find this place? Very carefully asshat."

Before David could respond, the alarm sounded.

The two ships had come for another pass. Both came in independantly, never coming from the same way or passing to close to the other. Neither stopped moving. They were like ghosts; there one moment, gone the next. There was no discernable pattern, no spot they always passed. Their altitude always changed. They were not amateurs.

Out of nowhere, laser blasts and missile rained down from the sky, never from the same place. Whatever help for Rei that had arrived was not holding back.

---------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Strix sprinted through the forest, her eyes focused on the mansion before her. She had to find Rei now. All contact had been lost, and the two could not keep up thier invisible dance. Strix kicked off a tree trunk to vault over some rocks, slid under a fallen tree, and leaped to swing over a gap. She stopped and threw herself back, avoiding the bullets of her adversary. A snapping twig betrayed her opponent. Strix had just managed to dodge, but felt the blossom of pain that signified one met thier mark. Glancing down, she saw that one skimmed the top of her chest. Wasn't too deep, but still painful.

"So. I was not alone it seems." Strix replied coolly. She drew her katana. "Care to dance?" She said, adopting afighting stance. Her katana reflected the woods around her. Her eyes focused solely on the woman before her. She grinned a bit. Now that was a fine speciman of the female gender. Too bad they met in battle and not a bar. But hey, one could pick up a date anywhere...as long as Violet didn't find out of course.

Strix glared at the woman before her in challenge as the laserfire and missile barrage rained down before them.

---

May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.