gun dreams [4/6]

[Marco De la Cruz]

She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she had to get some food
somehow. Along the streets dozens and dozens of vending machines were
lined up, almost one next to the other. They all offered a variety of
items: soft drinks, liquor, newspapers, cigarettes and transport passes,
among other things. Others sold snacks, which ranged from simple treats
to complete synthetic meals. It was in front of one of these where the
girl stopped. She began to press the scroll button which showed her a
small digitalized picture of the plate and its corresponding price. She
quickly grew discouraged as she scanned the menu. The cheapest meal, a
ramen soup, was 7 yen. As she went on with the smaller snacks she
frowned in frustration: 2.50 yen, 3 yen, 1 yen. Finally, she arrived to
the last item on the list, a chukamanju ball for 50 sen. The look of
hope that momentarily crossed her face quickly faded away when she saw
the small red dot besides the picture, indicating that the machine had
ran out of that particular supply.

Her expression was sombre as she stepped back and looked at the machine.
It was a large container of metal and plastic, about two-and-a-half
metres high, maybe a metre-and-a-half wide. Apart from the selection
panel, the money and card slots, and a trapdoor from where the food came
out, its front was a smooth, brightly coloured plastic plate. But the
cover actually curved, so that the whole machine was of a cylindrical
shape. She ran her hand over its surface. The dispenser was obviously
designed to withstand not only the usual inclemency of the outdoors,
but the more nasty type of vandalism that plagued the streets. Two
centimetres of graffiti-proof duraglax was generally enough to
discourage even the most tenacious of hooligans. Without even realizing
it, she slowly began to open and close one of her fists.

She peered down the avenue which was mostly lit by the soft glow of the
vending machines. She darted down the street, in search of another
container which might still have some chukamans left. Before long she
reached the entrance of a small alleyway. Even here, machines were
crammed on both sides of the narrow road. She decided that since these
were not located on the main sidewalk there would perhaps be a better
chance to find the cheap snack she was looking for. As she entered the
alley she noticed someone there.

"Fucking piece of shit!"

She could tell from the voice she heard it was a woman, albeit a strange
looking one. She had no time to waste, however, so she swiftly passed
behind her. As she studied the large cylinders and refrigerator-like
boxes she heard her violently kicking a machine.

"Fuck! One fucking smoke, dammit! Piece of GODDAMN FUCKING SHIT!!!"

The little girl finally found what she was looking for. She let out a
small squeal of delight when she found it still had some chukamans
inside. Shumira would be so happy! She quickly fed a 50 sen coin into
the slot and retrieved the small, neatly wrapped dough ball from the
tray.

"Give me your money, please."

The girl spun around and was suddenly taken aback. The woman was staring
at her with a stoned gaze, speaking in a toneless, husky voice. For a
moment the girl stood frozen, fascinated by the creature in front of
her.

The woman was about 30 centimetres taller than she, although her jet
black leather boots added about 5 cm to her height. She wore an equally
dark, tight, lustrous plastic dress which completely covered her body
save for her head and hands. By contrast her skin was almost white,
which conveniently provided a perfect canvas for the many tattoos
imprinted on it. The back of her hands, for example, had drawn upon them
a skeleton which perfectly mimicked the one within her body. Each bone
which formed her hand was rendered in great detail, tracing the real one
below the skin. All five knuckles and phalanxes were sketched with
amazing realism. She could also see part of the wrist, although the
sleeve of the suit hid whatever lay up her arm. She suspected, however,
that her whole skeleton must have been tattooed on her skin. All of it
except, of course, for her head. She had obviously saved her face for a
far more shocking design, one which the girl couldn't stop staring at.

The woman blankly looked back at her with her five eyes.

Two of them were exquisitely tattooed on the prominence of her cheeks,
just below the real ones. They were a bit larger than the latter, and
were colourfully painted in red and blue, surrounded by long, black
eyelashes. The fifth eye was on her forehead. This one, however, was
different. Although it too was coloured, she could tell the trace was
imprinted on the skin somehow, like a scar. She suddenly realized it had
been branded there, burnt upon her flesh and painted on afterwards. A
thin metallic chain hung from inside her mouth, attached to a ring which
pierced her tongue. It arched in front of her chin and ended in a little
skull-shaped earring which punctured her left ear. About half a dozen
smaller ornaments shaped like stars, rings and yet more skulls
perforated the thin cartilage. She had very short, black hair, which
made impossible to conceal the fact that her right ear was missing. That
she had intentionally cut it off was almost unbelievable, for in spite
of this freak transformation she had decided to inflict upon her being,
the little girl could tell that the young woman, who was in her late
twenties at most, had been truly beautiful, once.

Still looking at her, she began to stammer.

"But, I-I don't have any..."

The woman's fist shot out, knuckles smashing against her cheek. No less
than four bones in her hand snapped like dry twigs, splintering through
the skin, exactly were the tattoos were drawn.

The girl's reaction was inhumanly quick. So quick that the pain that
shot through the woman's arm had not yet registered in her mind when
already the girl's left elbow had made contact with her face. At over
half the speed of sound the blow had devastating consequences. Her cheek
exploded as the impact instantly pulverized sixteen of her teeth, and
tore her jaw from its hinges, splitting it in two at the very tip of her
chin. The chain she wore ripped through both her tongue and earlobe, the
latter easily shredding so that the links now whipped from her mouth.
Her head spun so quickly that her body could not manage to twist fast
enough to prevent her neck from breaking in two. By the time she started
reeling backwards she was already dead. Brusquely staggering, she
crashed into a coin-machine, violently smashing the duraglax cover with
her body. Thick plastic splinters tore through suit and skin, slicing
and embedding themselves deep within her flesh. She somehow bounced
forward, her disjointed corpse contorting grotesquely until she finally
collapsed on the ground with a dull thud.

"Careless of me," thought the little girl, grudgingly, rubbing her
face.

She sadly frowned when she realized she had accidentally crushed the small
chukamanju in her fist.

-----

"Nee-san!"

Shumira's face lit up when she saw her friend with her arms full of
food trays and small bags made of colourful aluminum foils.

"But how...?"

The little girl lay the packages in front of her friend and offered her
one which supposedly contained "a deliciously fresh roast beef sandwich
accompanied with a healthy, vitamin-enriched vegetable salad!". Shumira
took the small aluminum tray but didn't take her eyes of the girl.

"But, how did Nee-san get all this?"

The little girl gave her an embarrassed smile and scratched the back of
her head.

"Etooo, the machine broke, ne, and the stuff fell out, see, and,
well, it would have spoiled anyway, ne?

Shumira looked at the dinner on her lap. She noticed a few crimson red
droplets on the top which the little girl quickly wiped away with her
forearm.

"Uh, the paint on the machine was, uh, wet. I guess it, uh..."

"Thank you *so* much, Nee-san!!!" interrupted Shumira, as she
quickly opened the package and began to hungrily take big bites out of
the sandwich.

Her friend smiled, relieved. She didn't like to lie to Shumira, and she
felt a tinge of remorse for having taken the food. But it *had* fallen
out of the vending machine, and it really hadn't been her fault. She sat
down next to Shumira who had almost finished the meal, and opened a
sandwich for herself.

"Shumira, I've got a little present for you."

"Mmm? Whmt 'sit?" the white-haired girl asked, politely covering her
mouth.

She handed her a small bag. Shumira swallowed hard as she took it and
slowly opened it. Her eyes turned moist as she looked up to her friend.

"Thank you" she whispered, as a tear ran down her cheek and fell on
the little chukamanju ball she held in her hands.

-----

As they silently walked back to Shumira's "home" carrying the food they
had not eaten, the little girl began to hum a soft tune. The night was
exceptionally quiet, only a few dogs barking in the distance and the dim
howl of far away sirens.

"Nee-san has such a pretty voice! What music is that, eh?"

She gave Shumira a somewhat puzzled look. She hadn't been aware that she
had been humming.

"Give me your packages and take out what's in my overcoat's left
pocket."

Shumira pulled out the little musical box, and studied it, confused.

"Go on, turn the handle."

As the melody formed in the cool night's air Shumira let out an
exclamation of surprise and astonishment. She was fascinated by the tiny
mechanism, and the sparkling sounds it produced. She played the brief
tune again and again, sometimes quickly, sometimes very, very slowly.

"You can keep it if you like it."

Shumira was delighted with her new toy, but she soon stopped playing and
turned towards her friend.

"Shumira also has a present for Nee-san!" she exclaimed, "Not as
good as Nee-san's gifts, but Nee-san likes music and Shumira knows some
cool songs!"

Very much to the little girl's amusement Shumira began to quaver an
upbeat tempo. She then started to sing, out of tune and hesitating at
first, but as she remembered the ballad and gained confidence she began
to harmonize and raise her voice. Much to the girl's amazement Shumira
began to sing in a language she didn't understand, as she vocalized the
song phonetically word by word. Shumira was becoming so excited that she
started to clap her hands and dance as they walked, her long white hair
lashing through the air as she shook her head. She motioned towards her
friend and encouraged her to sing along with her. By now the little girl
had begun to trill along to the melody, repeating some of the words she
heard. After a few minutes she had gotten into the music, and soon both
girls were heartily singing the unintelligible words in unison, jumping
and dancing around each other while she deftly juggled the trays with
one hand.

"You and me we're going nowhere slowly
and we gotta get away from the past
There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere baby
but we should be goin' nowhere fast!
Everybody's goin' nowhere slowly
They're only fighting for the chance to be last
There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere baby
but we should be goin' nowhere fast!"

The two little girls forgot their sorrow, and celebrated their
friendship. The future doesn't seem so bleak when you can share it with
someone who cares for you. Without realizing it, hope began to dawn in
their hearts.

Until, that is, the sound of gunshots exploded in their ears, and
Shumira's friend fell heavily to the ground.

-----

Shumira's world had exploded.

She stood frozen, unable to move, watching her friend lying immobile on
the ground, surrounded by the food trays and little packages she had
been carrying. She didn't even notice when the four figures emerged from
their hiding among the ruins that surrounded them. Two of them were
armed with heavy chains coiled around their wrists, another carried a
hammer.

A large, black hammer.

Terror began to flood Shumira's mind, an overpowering fear which froze
her soul.

And yet it could not even begin to match the raw panic she felt when she
heard the cruel and hoarse voice behind her.

"Well, well, if it isn't the bionic bitch and her retarded friend,
the cocksucking whore. I'd knew we'd find you around here, sooner or
later."

Shumira slowly turned around, trembling like a leaf, her eyes filled
with tears, and faced the man behind her. The pimp still held the
smoking Smith & Wesson 640 in his right hand, his left arm covered by a
thick cast from his hand to the elbow. He grinned at her, his rotten
teeth showing from between his twisted lips.

"So, this is how you pay your saviour, you little motherfucker?"

Shumira began to feel severely nauseous as the man's grin widened.

"I found you dying, rotting away in this shit-hole, you lousy whore.
I saved your worthless, good-for-nothing ass. You think you can leave me
and start selling those pieces of shit you make? You'll just starve to
death again, you little cocksucker, and as much as would like to see
that, I've got something to settle here first with you and this fucking
bitch."

He motioned towards the men that stood around the little girl on the
ground.

"Let 'er rip!"

They began to brutalize her, violently smashing the thick chains against
her small body. The clashing of metal filled the air.

Shumira began to feel dizzy, the world started to spin around her.

"Don't worry, bitch, I won't kill you just yet. No use in ruining the
merchandise now, is there?" he laughed.

As the men with the chains continued to maul the girl, who was
attempting to protect herself by curling her body in a foetal position,
the man with the hammer stood observing, patiently waiting for his turn.

"Hit her harder, man, harder!" yelled one of them.

"Fucking bitch! My arm's getting tired!" replied the other, who was
by now soaking in sweat.

After a few minutes the owner of the hammer took out a long, thick nail
from a holster which hung from is belt. The men stopped hitting the girl
as he knelt next to her, positioning the tip of the nail against her
eye, between her fingers.

"I've always wanted to see what happens to these robotic fuckers
when you drive one of these babies into their skull," he murmured,
carefully aiming the hammerhead, and lifting it high over his head.

Suddenly there came a noise, not unlike an egg cracking.

The two men looked at the Hammer-man's face, and noticed a small red dot
on his forehead. His stare was blank as a thin stream of blood snaked
between his eyes and down the side of his nose, until it reached his
chin and began to drip. As he fell forward they saw the head of the nail
sticking out from the back of his skull.

One of the men sensed a small tug on his chain, and then felt something
against his armpit. It was the girl's foot. Before he realized what was
happening, she yanked the chain.

Hard.

Flesh and cartilage ripped apart as she tore his arm from his torso. He
staggered backwards, screaming wildly, blood gushing from the wound.

The third man stood stupefied, unable to react, until he saw the girl
facing him.

Her fist smashed into the man's chest, just below his left nipple. It
destroyed five ribs as it plunged into his thorax and through his lung,
which collapsed like a paper bag. The trajectory of her arm curved
slightly downwards, destroying his spleen as her knuckles exploded
through his back, covered with blood, mucus, torn skin and some lung
tissue that had been caught between her fingers. The man looked down and
saw the girl's elbow pressed against his chest, but the fact that the
rest of her extremity was within his body simply hadn't registered in
his mind yet. She then grabbed his shoulder with her free hand and
proceeded to violently yank out her arm, but not before opening her fist
and extending her fingers. As a result the wound was now a large
star-shaped hole about fifteen centimetres in diameter.

All this had occurred in about two seconds. The man looked up to the
girl, her forearm covered with blood and small pieces of meat that had
once formed part of his internal organs, and opened his mouth,
apparently trying to say something. A wheezing sound came out of the
cavity in his chest, his windpipe having been severed in two places. A
thick phlegm of blood spurted from his mouth as he fell to his knees,
dying as he fell.

The pimp aimed the gun and fired twice. Even if his hand hadn't been
shaking, the girl's low leap presented a difficult, quickly moving
target. Both bullets zoomed past her. By the time his finger began to
tighten on the trigger for the third time, the girl was already upon
him.

She tightly grabbed his hand, forcing his grip around the gun's butt,
placing her index finger under his so that he was unable to fire.

"Fucking BI... AAAAAARRRGGHHHH!!!"

Brusquely twisting his arm, she drove him to his knees, and then pushed
him backwards, until he lay flat on the floor.

"I'LL KILL YOU BOTH, WHORE! DO YOU HEAR ME!?!

He grimaced in pain as her knee struck his chest, pinning him down. He
began to wheeze as she increased the pressure on his torso. Soon he was
completely immobilized, his left arm in a cast under her body, the right
one held in place by the steel grip, her left leg grinding his back
against the ground. She kept glaring at him, staring into his eyes, an
ice cold expression carved on her face. With her free arm she began to
fumble his pockets. She grinned when she felt the shape of a small case
in his breastpocket. Slowly, she took it out and carefully opened it.
Stored inside were a needle and five small vials, each filled with a
white, semi-transparent liquid. Her delicate metallic fingers nimbly
cracked open one of the containers and held it with her little finger as
she used the other four to manipulate the syringe, filling it halfway.
She quickly grabbed a second bottle and filled up the plastic tube. The
pimp's eyes opened wide, as she placed her thumb on the head of the
piston.

"FUCK!!! NO!!!"

Without hesitating, she quickly stabbed him in the neck, injecting the
fluid into his jugular. She yanked out the needle, a stream of blood
spurting from the small hole it had made.

"FUCK YOU!!! FUCK YOU, BITCH!!!"

Without pausing she repeated the operation twice again, until she had
emptied the cases' content into his body, all five doses. His eyes were
bloodshot, a red stream trickling from his nostrils and the corners of
his mouth due to the massive vasodilatation effect which had already
began to damage his mucous tissue. A wave of nausea made him gag, and
his legs started to twitch, a prelude to the convulsions resulting from
the tremendous overdose. The nightmarish delirium would soon ensue.

"YOU FUCKING WHORE!!! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!!! MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

The girl placed her hand in front of her face, her index finger a couple
of centimetres away from her mouth, making a gesture for him to remain
silent.

"Shhhhhhh"

For an instant he thought the hallucinations had already begun when the
girl's finger suddenly lit up, glowing with a brilliance which made his
sensitive eyes hurt. He could hear a cracking sound, and a sweet,
sickening smell which he could not recognize. The girl placed the tip of
her finger on his forearm. Her finger burrowed into the cast, melting it
away.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

His body went into spasms with such force that the he almost budged the
girl on top of him.

Almost.

His flesh sizzled as her finger penetrated into his skin, burning a hole
the size of a quarter. It went in about a centimetre, and then she
pulled it out, leaving a plume of smoke behind, and the sour, nauseating
stench of charred meat.

"GOD!!! AAAHHHHHH!!! NOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Again, she dug her finger into the cast, this time slightly higher along
his arm, just below where the cast ended.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! FUUUUUCK!!! STOP!!!! GOD!!! STOP!!!"

He thrashed his head wildly sideways, his legs kicking blindly into the
air. She placed her finger on his elbow. This time there was no plaster
to diffuse the intensity of the plasma jet. His wails of pain and terror
swelled in a panic stricken crescendo.

"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

The stench of excrement and urine combined with that of burnt meat, as
his sphincter and bladder gave away. She drove her finger into his
shoulder.

"GOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!! PLEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEE!!! STOOOOOOOOP!!!!
PLEEEEEAAASSSSEEEE!!! GOOOOOODDD!!! STOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"

His screams were now inhuman shrieks of agony. He kept lashing his head,
this time smashing it against the ground in a desperate attempt to knock
himself unconscious. His skull cracked, and blood began to tinge the
concrete, but he did not faint. The drug, the girl well knew, would take
care of that. She placed her finger on his face and drilled into his
cheek.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

Her finger pierced the thin wall of flesh, incinerating half his tongue.
She quickly yanked it out. Smoke came out of his mouth, which remained
open in spite of the fact that his howls had ceased. For by now he was
beyond pleading, beyond screaming. His face was a deformed grimace of
intense agony, hardly human, so ridiculously gruesome it was almost
comical. His whole body was tense, almost rigid, trembling. His eyes,
however, were still alert, darting from side to side, expressing
unspeakable fear and pain. The girl looked at him, and for an instant,
their eyes locked. A dark red tear began to flow down his scorched
cheek. The massive trauma, combined with the effect of the drug, had
caused his lacrimal glands to burst, flooding his tearducts with blood.

Her lovely, unforgiving, features were the last thing he saw before
blindness struck.

Slowly, almost gently, she guided his right hand so that the gun's
barrel entered his mouth. She carefully pressed the nozzle against the
roof of his mouth, and unfastened her grip.

"Dies irae"

He pulled the trigger, and small pieces of skull and brains splattered
on her face.

-----

The girl slowly rose from the corpse under her, and stepped back, wiping
the gore off her face with her sleeve. Suddenly two arms surrounded her
from behind.

"Nee-san!! Is Nee-san O.K.!? Shumira was *so* scared!"

She turned around and returned sweet little Shumira's hug.

"I'm okay, Shumira," she responded, breaking the embrace and holding
her friend's hands, "just a bit shaken, that's all."

"But Nee-san, you're hurt!!" Shumira's eyes opened wide, a look of
despair on her face.

The little girl looked down at her body. Her coat and shirt had been
thoroughly shredded by the chains, but the body underneath had only
suffered scratches and some dents. The bullets, however, had struck her
on the side, one at the base of her neck, the other on the back, and
were still incrusted into her metallic skin. She grabbed one of them
with the tip of her fingers and pulled it out. Fortunately, the S&W had
been a relatively small calibre weapon. She pulled out the second bullet
and casually threw it away.

"Don't worry, Shumira, I'm O.K.," she told the girl, smiling.

She looked around, at the carnage which surrounded them. Only the man
whose arm she had torn off was still moving, feebly squirming on the
ground, too debilitated to do anything but weakly moan.

The little girl turned towards her friend, who was looking at her with
admiration and relief.

"Listen to me, Shumira," she said, "all this violence, all this pain
and sorrow... you don't deserve this. There must be a way... a way for
you to live with dignity... to be happy..."

"But Shumira is happy now that Nee-san is with her!"

"I know, I know, but this place, this horrible, monstrous city...
is no place for you. Or me."

Shumira gave her a quizzical look.

"Maybe... maybe the Outlands," the girl looked over Shumira's
shoulder, into the distance, dreamily, "yes, far away..."

"The ocean!" Shumira exclaimed, exultantly.

"The ocean?"

"You know! Beaches and loooots and looooooots of water," she said,
extending her arms, "Shumira has seen it in pictures. It's pretty!"

"And where is this 'ocean'?"

"All around us, Nee-san! We just walk and walk and we find ocean!"

The girl thought for a moment, looking into the distance, and the at
Shumira.

"Shumira, would you like to go to and see the real ocean with me?"

"Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!" the girl responded exuberantly.

"Let's get your stuff, then, we leave in the morning!" she said,
giving her a wink.

Shumira clapped her hands and gave her friend a hug. They picked up the
food that had fallen on the ground, and continued their journey. As they
headed towards Shumira's place the white-haired girl happily hummed
along, and the little girl smiled when she recognized the song.

"You and me we're going nowhere slowly
and we gotta get away from the past
There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere baby
but we should be goin' nowhere fast..."

-----

After arriving to the maintenance tunnel where Shumira lived, both girls
began to go through the stuff strewn all over the small cave. Although
they had found a large nylon bag in a corner, there was actually
precious little which had any value for them to take. The food, of
course, some clothes, Shumira's sewing kit, bits and pieces of junk, and
a couple of small toys. Only two things seemed to actually matter to
Shumira, her brother's picture and the musical box she had given her,
both of which she carefully placed in her pockets.

When they finished rummaging through the rubbish they sat in the middle
of the cave, the semi-empty bag between them.

"This *so* exciting, Nee-san!" Shumira marveled.

The little girl gave her a sad smile. All that Shumira valued couldn't
fill a bag, and even then, most of it was worthless by any other
standard but her own. She looked at herself, torn clothes falling apart,
smudged with blood and dirt, unable to clean herself up. Shumira wasn't
much better off, smelling like sweat, the filth on her body turning her
once shiny white hair into a dull grey.

Shumira, she knew, would not survive in this place. This was their only
hope.

"Shumira never go on trip before! When do we leave?"

"As soon as we wake up, I guess," answered the girl, shrugging.

"Sugoi!" replied Shumira, letting out a big yawn.

Using the bag as a pillow both girls laid on the floor, covering
themselves with the best they could with what pieces of cloth and
blanket they didn't pack.

Both fell quickly asleep. Shumira finally managed to have a quiet rest,
as the nightmares that usually terrorized her did come to haunt her that
night. Instead, she dreamt herself building a sand castle on a beach,
next to a wide, intensely blue ocean. She smiled in her sleep.

The little girl's slumber was, as always, dreamless.

-----

"Infrared indicates one person inside."

"That must be the whore. It's unlikely we'll be able to get a
reading on the girl, but she's in there all right. I can feel it."

"How shall we proceed? Raid the cave?"

"No, that hole is a deathtrap. We get them out first."

"We still have the two canisters we bought for Wagner's."

"Surround the perimeter. Fire on my order, but don't kill them. If
the girl attacks you aim to incapacitate."

"What about 'her'?"

"Backups"

-----

The cave was silent save for the light snoring on the two girls. Neither
of them had heard the car approaching, or the quiet footsteps which drew
nearer to the entrance of the cave.

"PSHHHFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!"

The little girl immediately woke up, even before the can bounced against
the wall inside the hole. The dark green smoke immediately began to fill
the narrow tunnel, but by then she had already stopped breathing. The
gas stung her eyes, but she could still see. Shumira, on the other hand,
did not possess such resilience, and began to desperately scream and
cry in terror. The girl's arm shot out and wrapped around Shumira's
waist, easily lifting her off her feet as she jumped out the cave.

The little girl quickly laid Shumira on the ground, and immediately
stood up, facing her opponents. Almost instinctively, she instantly
analyzed the situation. Six figures stood forming a semicircle around
them. Four of them where clearly robots or cyborgs, two on each side,
red eyes fixed on her. The other two stood directly in front of her,
although further back. A man and a woman, or at least disguised as such.

"Neeeee-san! Shumira blind!" cried the small girl at her side,
desperately rubbing her teary eyes.

"Don't worry Shumira," she whispered to her in a calm voice, never
taking her eyes off the figures around her, "everything will be all
right. I promise."

"You better come quietly if you want to keep that promise," the man
said, "or we'll have to resort to something more drastic than tear gas."

He was at least fifteen metres away. Nobody could have heard her
whispers from that distance.

No human, that is.

"I don't know who you are, or what you want from us, mister," she
shouted, with barely controlled rage, "but you hurt my friend, and I
swear, if you don't leave now, I'll bury you and your goons right here!"

"My, aren't you an insolent little girl" he calmly replied, lips
forming a twisted smile. "I don't give a damn about the tart, but if you
care at all for her you'd better shut your mouth and do as I tell you."

"I'm warning you, I..."

"You're warning *me*?!?" He furiously yelled back, suddenly loosing
his temper, "I only need what's in your head, girl, the rest of you,
including your friend, is disposable, do you understand?"

The girl responded by slightly lowering her gaze, glaring back Largo.
She could actually feel the articulations in her body tensing, slightly
flexing the small metal plates which formed her exoskeleton, actuators
ready to spring into action, the energy furiously generating within her
about to explode. Her opponents were as yet unaware of this, however, as
she stood facing them with apparent calm save for her hostile stare.

They all remained silent. Everything was quiet save for Shumira's gentle
sobbing. The girl's cold honey eyes seemed almost as lifeless as the red
ones observing her. Each boomer was almost twice her stature, and
weighed at least three times as much as she did. Protected by a 1.5
centimetre thick duralumin/supertitanium armour and armed with a 3MW
pulse laser they were once part of an elite attack force created by
Genom. Largo had simply modified their AI somewhat, further improving
the original combat programming and boosting their performance by
another 20%. As Largo's personal guard they formed a small unit, but one
of unprecedented, deadly efficiency.

She was not going to budge. This standoff couldn't last much longer.

Largo clinched his right fist.

One of the boomers' mouth began to glow. An instant later, a bright blue
energy bubble formed, discharging a powerful laser blast against the
girl's body.

It was an instant too late.

She spun in the air, heading directly towards the boomer *besides* the
one which had fired. A split second later her legs locked around its
neck in a scissors hold. She twisted backwards, using the mecha's body
as a shield. Its neck ripped wide open, a powerful gush of hydraulic
liquid sprouting from the severed joint.

As the robot staggered forwards, she threw the mecha's head at the
boomer who had fired, and used the decapitated boomer's back as a
springboard, violently pushing it against the other two mecha. She
hurled herself against the boomer who had first attacked, which had
stupidly smashed away the incoming projectile with a swing of its arm,
leaving its guard wide open. Suddenly, a brutal barrage of Chi-enhanced
blows send it reeling backwards. The little girl's arms became a blur as
they violently smashed against its body, machine-gunning her fists onto
the metallic skin which began to dent and crack under the savage,
unrelenting assault. The boomer tried to fight back, but the girl easily
diverted or evaded its blows, retaliating with an overwhelming flurry of
punches and kicks. The mecha soon discovered that its primitive combat
tactics were of little value against someone who could counter its
simple fighting style.

The girl suddenly noticed a blue glow reflecting off the boomer's body.

She jumped up and backwards as the two laser beams blasted through the
dazed mecha. The two boomers behind her had ripped apart their headless
teammate in order to clear their line of fire, shooting while she had
her back to them.

She spun in the air, increasing her velocity of rotation by tightly
holding her arms together. It had taken her almost five seconds to
destroy the first two boomers.

She had to hurry.

She landed between the robots, momentarily disconcerting them both. With
her remaining angular momentum she swiftly twisted around, her arm
exploding in flames as it made contact with the boomer on her right. The
plasma jet instantly cut through its armour, almost splitting its body
in two at the waist. Her hand then shot upwards towards the other
boomer's face. The heel of her palm instantly smashed the laser in its
mouth, sending the small steel-reinforced beryllium tube into its skull,
her index and middle fingers clawing its red eyes out of their sockets.
Firmly clinching the mecha's face, she pulled herself up and gave the
other boomer a powerful kick in the head, its body splitting in two. She
fiercely clung to the mecha's skull as it tried to entrap her in a bear
hug. Before it could wrap its powerful arms around her delicate frame,
however, she placed her feet against its wrists, preventing it from
closing the embrace. Using her whole body as a pivot, she pulled
backwards.

The manoeuvre broke both the boomer's arms, ripped off its face, and
violently send it hurling forwards, spinning in the air. Its body
smashed against the black limousine behind them, wrecking the armoured
vehicle. A moment later the girl suddenly opened her eyes wide when she
realized her mistake. The robot's exposed cables had made contact with
the chassis, the spark instantly travelling through the frame and into
the fuel tank. The powerful explosion shook the ground, a brilliant ball
of fire which illuminated the night skies.

The shock wave immediately hit her with full force, sending her
staggering backwards, blinded by the intense flame and heat. Still dazed
by the blast, she sensed someone closing up from behind. She spun
around, trying to regain her balance. A figure stood in front of her. A
female figure.

"Shumira?"

The brutal blow caught her directly on the temple, shattering her skull.
The metallic cavity which formed the orbit of her left eye collapsed,
squashing the eyeball, which bursted under the intense pressure.

The girl was, for an instant, literally blinded with pain, until a
fraction of a second later the cyberneural interface blocked all stimuli
transmission above a certain threshold.

A kick to her side almost smashed her ribcage inwards, but the girl's
body had already gone limp, so that it rolled with the blow, sending her
flying through the air. She fell heavily to the ground, vomiting a gush
of a dark brown, slightly oily substance.

Her attacker was relentless, as she quickly approached her, readying a
potent kick to the little girl's body. This time, however, the girl was
prepared, and grabbed her opponent's foot before it managed to make
contact. Using the woman's momentum she thrusted her leg upwards,
sending her spinning backwards. She performed a somersault and fell
upright, but not before the girl stood up and regained her footing.

The woman swiftly advanced again, her gaze a blank stare which made her
look all the more menacing. The girl immediately counterattacked, her
fist lashing out against her face. With inhuman reflexes the woman
evaded the punch, getting down on all fours. Her leg suddenly whipped
towards the little girl's face, but she managed to divert the kick with
a quick blow to the shin. The girl jumped as the woman then tried to
buckle her knees with a sweep of her other leg. She landed and gave her
a kick on the neck with more than enough force to decapitate any normal
human being.

The woman rolled on the ground, holding her head with both her hands. To
the little girl's amazement, she quickly got up again. A thin slab of
bloodied flesh hung loosely from the side of her neck. Underneath, the
unmistakable glitter of metal could be seen.

The m-66 once again advanced towards her, determined to finish off its
enemy. The girl prepared her defense.

The fight suddenly became a furious exchange of lightning-fast blows and
kicks, attacks and counter-attacks. The girl's technique was obviously
superior, landing most of her punches while avoiding the mecha's vicious
onslaught. The m-66 was by now covered with blood and torn flesh. In
spite of this, the girl found herself retreating from the mecha's
assault, pushed back by her enemy's apparent immunity to even her most
powerful battering. A short jab to the girl's blind side caught her by
surprise, smashing four of her teeth.

The girl growled in fury.

Enough.

She caught the m-66's ankle in mid-air as it attempted a roundhouse kick
to her side, her hand a small star enveloped in a white-hot cloud of
superheated plasma, instantly severing the foot. The m-66 suddenly found
itself unable to maintain its balance.

She commenced her brutal, systematic attack, repeatedly pounding her
fists against the robot's body, melting the armour with the intense heat
emanating from her right hand, destroying the weakened armour with her
left, she hit it again.

And again.

And again.

The m-66 staggered backwards, out of control, small chunks of flesh and
twisted pieces of torn, half-melted metal flying through the air.

Suddenly, their eyes met, and the girl stopped.

A bloody tear slowly fell down one of the woman's torn and broken
cheeks.

For a fleeting instant, she saw the fear and pain behind those eyes, she
saw the tremendous sadness and desperation, the desolation and heartache
of a life destroyed.

She saw herself.

The girl swiftly smashed the heel of her hand against the woman's
forehead, sending a powerful shockwave through her skull, completely
destroying the last remnants of her fractured mind.

-----

"I must say, I'm impressed."

The girl slowly turned around.

A few metres away stood Largo, looking intently at the girl, ready to
act at the slightest provocation. Between his arms Shumira's small body
squirmed under the pressure of the powerful grip with which he held her
by the arm and throat. She painfully sobbed and choked as he tightened
his hold.

"I will not waste any more time with these games. You are one deadly
little viper, aren't you?" he gave the girl a twisted smile, although it
quickly faded as he flinched in pain, the pressure inside his head
increasing under the stress.

"Well, it really doesn't matter," he continued, trying to ignore the
intense neuralgia. "That little explosion of yours is bound to attract
unwanted company, sooner or later, so I'll make this quick. You and your
friend here are coming with me. You give me any problems and she dies,
understood?"

The girl's gaze slowly shifted towards Shumira. She looked back at her,
an expression of terror carved on her face. The girl gave her a small,
reassuring smile.

Her features hardened as she faced Largo and silently nodded.

"How touching. I'm afraid, however, that for some reason I just
don't believe you. I think that you'll take the first opportunity you
get to ram that nasty blowtorch you have there down my throat. So, do me
and your friend a little favour."

"Break your right arm."

The girl glared back at him, her mutilated stare piercing through his
eyes. Shumira began to sob uncontrollably.

"Nooooo!!! Nee-saaaaan!!! Pleeeeease nooooo!!!"

She squealed in pain as Largo began to twist her delicate arm, his
fingers digging deep into her flesh.

"Your arm or hers. Your choice."

Slowly the girl placed her right arm behind her back, tightly holding
the wrist with her left hand. With one powerful jerk both her elbow and
shoulder cracked, the exquisite articulations twisting and yielding
under the strain.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Shumira screamed, a long, painful howl of utter despair which startled
Largo, who, for an instant, look took his eyes off the little girl.

In one blinding move her left hand grabbed the knife behind her, still
hidden under her right sleeve, and hurled it towards Largo's forehead.

Before he could react the blade struck.

And missed.

The knife embedded itself deep into his shoulder, mere centimetres from
Shumira's head. The white-haired girl, however, didn't notice, as she
furiously struggled to break free. A gush of black, oily fluid erupted
from the wound, and Largo could feel the hydraulic pressure quickly
dropping in the arm surrounding the girl's neck.

The slippery liquid sprayed both Shumira and Largo, and with one last
powerful tug the girl was finally able to release herself from his grip.
She staggered, reeling away from her captor, free at last. Suddenly, the
back of her foot hit a rock, and she tripped backwards, directly on top
of the twisted remains of one of the boomers.

As she fell her head struck a deformed, chisel-like piece of metal which
protruded from the torn carcass. A dull, sickening crack shot through
the air as the back of her head smashed against the jagged edge.

Shumira died instantly.

Everything became silent. The girl's gaze remained fixed on Shumira's
inert body. Largo too remained immobile, his stare intent on the girl.
He could hear the faint noise of a faraway helicopter approaching,
either the ADP, or, worse, Genom. His mind was racing. For an instant he
thought he might yet be able to defeat the girl. The injury to his arm
was minor, his offensive systems remained intact.

He prepared to advance. The girl stood still. He froze. Something in the
back of his mind had made him stop. He looked at the mechanical corpses
around him. It was a trap. This monstrous thing was waiting for him,
sensing his intentions, ready to kill him at the slightest provocation.

He slowly began to back up. She had sustained very heavy damage, perhaps
irreparable. Her condition would only worsen. He could still return to
his hideout and prepare a new hunt. If Genom found her, however...

Suddenly he felt himself falter as the numbing pain which continuously
assaulted his mind suddenly exploded within his head. Tightly holding
his skull between his hands he staggered backwards. The girl simply
stood in silence, never taking her eye of the corpse in front of her.

He gave the girl one last glance, silently cursing her, overwhelmed with
hatred and pain. He then turned around and swiftly disappeared into the
night.

The girl ignored him completely.

-----

The little girl calmly approached her friend and slowly knelt next to
her. She tenderly stroked her head and cheeks, clearing the long white
hairs from her face and closing her large, beautiful blue eyes. She
looked at her hand and noticed it was tinged with the girl's blood. Very
gently, she lifted her finger to her face and with great delicacy traced
a bright red streak under each eye. Tear-like drops of blood trickled
down her cheeks as she bent over and gave Shumira one last kiss on the
forehead.

She could hear a helicopter a couple of kilometres away, closing in.

She stood up, her tattered clothes stained with blood, gore and oil, the
stench of death emanating from her body, right arm destroyed, dripping a
dark brown fluid not unlike the liquid flowing from her crushed eye and
mouth. She faced towards where Largo had fled. Slowly, she began to
walk, gradually increasing her pace, legs soon moving swiftly, faster
and faster, until they became a blur, her sleek body cutting through the
air like a knife, relentless, always accelerating, always faster.

--
_________________________________
ma...@chinook.physics.utoronto.ca
Gunnm: Broken Angel
http://128.100.80.13/marco/alita.html