A Prickly Ally

Sky says, "Who here speaks Jap? Ask this jasper for what reasons we should withhold from putting him six feet under the farm he's buying right now. And hey -- if someone were to mar or efface the magic letter mark whatis doing him healing, would the healing stop?"

Sky cuts the cards in his hand with a onehanded cut

With his other hand, he grabs one of his guns out of his dropped coat without burning himself on the hot metal. Good thing Daddy Masterson always taught his son to wear gloves.

Sky cuts the Ace of Spades.Luck is smiling his way again!

He grabs a gun by the handle, which by great good luck was in a small puddle and isn't steaming hot like the rest of the gat.

Kaze says, gently:

"Ah, Saburo...
"Ani, Watashi wa anata o minogashite iru"
"Youkoso, Ani.."

Saburo, perhaps out of a wish to be polite to the Grimnoir, replies in English.

"I thank you, Kaze, but I need the pain. It is how I know the kanji has been purged from my essence."

He gasps, and drops the burnt-out torch.

"It ... is done," he says. "You are now safe."

Kaze says, "You are joining us, Saburo?"

To the others, "His powers are at odds with his personality, but he does fight well."

"Do you know where they would have retreated?"

Saburo says, "Joining ... you? No. The Grimnoir seek and destroy magic they consider evil. They cull the very Power we need to make us strong. I could never help you in that quest."

"No, I removed my Bottomless Well kanji so that Hitomi can no longer track me. It gave me great reserves of Power -- I could make a spear as long as a pine tree, or armor a meter thick -- but it taps from the same reserve Hitomi uses, so he can sense when I use it, and where I am."

"Hitomi left me to die. He broke my neck, in fact, but I had the foresight to grow a second spine on the left side, so I did not die. Thus I saw him explode a company of Special Air Landing Force commandoes, to prevent the war between Japan and America which would eventuate from such a blatant invasion of American soil."

"I cannot serve a master who would sacrifice me so. I am a ronin, a samurai without a master. I would not be even a samurai, but the Power chose me and I cannot be other than what I am now."

"Hitomi will start a war. It is not his intention, but he goes about everything with the impetuous fury of a drunken bull. So many kanji have given him the unshakeable belief that he is all-powerful, and that all difficulties will be overcome by the force of his destiny. And if he is even partially correct, his crusade will bring all the Earth incomparable ruin. So I will help you kill him, and those who have taken fire from his crusade and must be killed as well."

Kaze says, "Your help is welcome, but Saburo, when evil magicians are culled, the magic doesn't go away. It goes back to the Source, does it not? To be distributed again."

Saburo replies, "The magic, yes. But not the skill. That is lost forever, when all humanity may have need of it at any moment."

Kaze: "True .. although it does appear Hitomi has discovered a way to intercept the magic as it returns. Is that itself a magical gift or is it a manipulation of forces that others might learn?"

She muses.

"Though more to this moment's problem, where have the Iron Guard gone now... and what will they do with Richter, the dying man they took with them?"

Saburo says, "Hitomi has teleported them to his American headquarters, where they will recover their strength. He has American Actives, many of them, on his side, and likely will start bringing them up to combat readiness. This may take weeks or months; they are young, and do not seem serious."

"Richter will not die. Hitomi will not allow it. And if he does, why, Hitomi is a Lazarus. So he will talk."

"Hitomi wishes to know how to gather more Powers into himself. Richter seems to have done this with the kanji on Hitomi's severed leg. This is a talent Hitomi himself does not possess. When he takes a kanji, he takes the soul as well. It is, I think, one reason for his insanity."

"So Richter will suffer until he tells. And once he does tell, he will teach Hitomi how to transfer Powers. And then, Hitomi will indeed transfer Powers, all he can reach. He has students at this American school with virtually every one of the Thirty-Six Talents. He has not stolen their Powers before, because killing them would dishearten the others, perhaps weaken their connection to the Source. They have not yet been branded with the Bottomless Well, so their Powers are yet weak. But once he does not need to do so, they will be copied. Hitomi has a variation of the Well, called Great Disorder Under Heaven, on himself, so large it wraps around from front to back. Once he copies a Power, it will operate at a great intensity."

"But I have not answered your question. This thing Hitomi does is not his own Power. It is something he learned, from the Chairman and others. What he can learn, others can learn. Richter appears to have learned a variation, in which he moves Powers from one person to another without killing them."

Voinovich has been looking back and forth from the two Japanese. Now he interrupts.

"Where exactly is his American headquarters?"

Saburo nods. "Of course. It is in St. Louis, Missouri. The Carpenter School for Talented Children."

Voinovich: "He'd have Richter there?"

Saburo: "Of course."

Voinovich: "And what else? You said he had students."

Saburo: "Students, yes. American Actives, mostly children, whose Power he is developing with training, though not so rigorous as we undergo in Japan."

Saburo nods to Kaze, as though they had something in common.

Saburo: "We had exactly one Shadow Guard and one Iron Guard squad covertly present in the United States. Hitomi has expended both. There is no more to draw upon, without summoning reinforcements from the Home Islands. And this he cannot do, for the others on the Advisory Council do not know of his plan to gain supreme Power, nor, I think, would they approve if they did know."

Voinovich: "And what does he intend to do with this power once he has it?"

Saburo: "That ... I do not know. I was never told. Yurasu and Rock were his confidants in the Iron Guard. We were informed that anyone who has seen the Power, the Source as we call it, with his own eyes was to be gathered and thoroughly interrogated. Ben Bernardi, Jake Sullivan and Faye Vieira are the only three surviving persons who fit that description. Other units are working on them. Or were ... we do not as a rule assign Blanks to covert operations on American soil, because their loyalty cannot be assumed."

Voinovich: "What's a Blank?"

Saburo: "Persons without Power."

Voinovich: "Mr. Masterson, it seems to me we need to interrupt Hitomi's interrogation of Richter before he learns too much. Should we proceed there at once, calling in any other Grimnoir who may be able to meet us there?"

Out of the Ashes

Someone staggers through the ash-caked pines.

"On the RIGHT!" Voinovich raps out, and takes cover behind a log. He pats his chest and legs for a gun he doesn't have.

The man approaching has bone spurs sticking out all over his arms and back. He wears the tatters of an ivory tunic, and the loose black trousers of an Iron Guard. He is, in fact, that same Shard whom Sonny-boy exploded and Belle sent blowing into the woods. Oh, and Michael shot him, too.

He doesn't look all that dead, but he's hurt. A trail of steam in the drizzling air shows a healing kanji doing its work on his shoulder.

He sees the Grimnoir, meets their eyes, but does not say anything. Instead, he limps over to a tree trunk which is still burning brightly.

With a kiai, he strikes a thick limb and snaps it free. He grabs it by the needled end, so he holds a sputtering pine torch in one hand.

Pulling his tunic open at the neck, he applies the torch to his own side, just over the lower ribs. He holds it there, straining to control the pain, as his skin sizzles and crisps.

In Richter's Absence, an Emphasis on Dice

Wind at Twilight (Kaze) bows to Sky Masterson. And waits expectantly.

Sky bends over to see what is on the ground that is so interesting that Kaze is looking at it.

It could almost pass for a bow.

"I believe Mr. Richter designated you as his lieutenant. How shall we proceed?"

Sky looks at her, dumbfounded. "Mister Richter did WHAT?! I had been unfortunatively uninformated during the recent meeting and jaw sessions, wherein I did sleep very slumberly, so I have not the least inkling of a scintilla of an idea what is going on, or who these Jap goons are, or what the tattooed man has gots him too many extra type powers, if you asks me. So the uh firs things we does is -- uh -- helps the wounded and, uh, buy more guns, and, lemme see, organize a crap game with some yoiks I know, in case we needs the cash to buy guns."

Kaze says: "The 'goons' are the Iron Guard. My former classmates at the Academy. They did what they are trained to do. Their objectives are to capture Christine Taine and, incidentally, myself. They will work to complete that mission, but you have given them unacceptable casualties among their prime operatives so they are regrouping. 

"I do not recognize 'the tattooed man' but he must be very strong-spirited to have gained so many kanji."

She is beginning to tend the wounded while she says this. "Mr. Richter's Grimnoir contacts will have guns and money. They were due to meet up with us, I believe, and should be arriving presently."

When he hears Kaze say the Grimnoir will be here soon, Voinovich stops grinning and looks around for a weapon.

Belle finishes her work:

SONNY-BOY's leg hurts, but he can walk with a crutch. There isn't anything broken.

VOINOVICH has a wound through his lower leg. He froze it, but his leg is stiff.

JANET is scorched all over her front. She can move, but it's stiff and painful.

SKY is burned on his back and shoulders. Swinging his arms is difficult.

MICHAEL, BELLE, KAZE and CHRISTINE are fine.

Kaze: "I can relieve pain, as I did for Mr. Voinovich, if someone wishes it."

Sky says, "Miss Tane is first in line, cause woman and children first, and then Voinovich, Sonnyboy and me can cut cards for who gets healed next, best two cuts out of three with an unopened deck, aces high and jokers wild." He pulls an unopened pack of cards out of his pocket, grinning, and notices that it is now a wetted lump of paper that was partly burned. 

Sky frowns.

"Coin toss it is... And, uh, then we can shoot craps to see who should be in charge while I am drunk and inebriated, on account of I do not have such a good memory for where we was planning to go next. Were we going to rob a bank, or is we the good guys at the moment? When can we mug more japs?" 

He raises his voice, "Hey! Did any of youse mugs or dames hear Mr Richter saying I was in charge when he was outta the picture? I am kinda hoping Miss Case, or Miss Cassy, or Miss Craze -- how do you say your name again, doll? I got too many teeth in the way to enunciate distinguishedly -- Miss Kazz says he said it was my gig, but I am thinking that I should doublecheck a second time around, because of maybe she was nooked on the noggin and is rememberating the comment sidewards or something, right?"

Kaze: A small smile at the lingo.

"Surprisingly, I do not believe Miss Taine was injured in that last fight. As to when you received your promotion, it was back in our first hide-out."

She looks at him curiously. "You were a little tired, but you did acknowledge it."

"By the by, my name may be pronounced Kah-zay."

She turns to Voinovich. "Would you like assistance?"

"I've got it frozen," he says. "So no pain and no bleeding. Of course, I'll need stitches, and there may be an artery that needs mending -- I've never been hit in an artery before, but it feels as though I imagine it would. I do not need help at present"

 

"You are actually much more badly hurt," Kaze says to Janet. "If you wish, I can try to lessen your pain."

Gone in a Flash

Belle moves toward the wounded, to see if she can help them. She immediately recognizes Richter as terminally burned, but Sonny-boy's leg wound is bleeding badly. (He hasn't noticed). Michael is also trying to help, but he hasn't written Richter off as a lost cause yet. Richter is clutching the severed leg in both badly burned hands, and won't let go.

Belle kneels to apply a tourniquet. She also begins summoning rain to put out the fire. Getting clouds to rain is not an instant action, especially with the updraft from the burning airship.

Voinovich runs through the flames unharmed. Steam bursts from his footsteps as he freezes the burning brush. He slips on the ash, scrambles on all fours, and makes it to the other side.

Then a bullet hits Michael's gun. Fortunately, no one ever aims a Thompson like a rifle; they sweep them from the hip. The bullet rings off the weapon's receiver and flicks past his eyes, less than an inch away. He feels like he's been punched hard in the gut, but doesn't lose his wind.

Voinovich makes fists of absolute zero and swings them through the air. They leave tracks of ice in their wake. Quickly he builds up a wall of ice thirty-three inches thick between Christine, Belle, Sonny-boy and Michael and the shooters on the cliff.

A bullet hits the ice and stops. Another hits it and cracks the ice. A dozen more hit it and splinter the surface.

Voinovich keeps freezing more onto the back while the gunners chip away the front …

… and a one-legged man covered in tattoos Travels in, grabs Richter around the belt, and disappears.

+++

Kaze replies to Rock:

"I might be willing to do that, but these Westerners have honor..."

Out of her peripheral vision she can see several preparing attacks.

"And it seems they do not run." A ghost of a smile.

She attacks Yurasu with karate, fading in and out as she does so, like the shutter on a moving picture.

Yurasu lands a killing blow on Kaze’s neck, but it goes through her. Kaze counters with a spear-hand punch to the kidney, which doubles Yurasu up in pain.

The Heavy gestures at Kaze, applying his power and waiting for her to solidify again. However…

Sky asks Belle if she can pick up his coat (where his two pistols are) with an updraft and blow it over to him. Belle, however, is dealing with the wounded, and does not hear him. All right, time for Plan B ...

Sky peers carefully through the flames. As the Heavy turns his back to Sky to confront Kaze, he takes a switchblade knife in either hand, kissing his St. Cajetan medal (he is not Catholic, but why take chances?) says his Viddui prayer (the traditional prayer before death), using as much stealth as he has and all his brawling experience ...

.... and leaps across the fire onto the back of the Heavy, and tries to leave one knife in the Heavy's liver, the other in his trachea. He holds the blade and strikes just like Pappy Masterson taught him.

The Heavy is focused on Kaze and really didn’t expect anyone to leap through the flames. Sky Masterson, his hat, shirt and trousers on fire, stabs the Heavy in the neck and chest.

The Heavy cries out. Everything near him loses all weight. Sky hangs four feet off the ground, burning, unable to reach the dirt. The Heavy hangs in his grip, slowly relaxing his arms, then drops. Sky drops too.

Rock goes for Kaze. Janet passes a Faded hand through his head, leaving some rocks and sticks behind. Rock spasms and collapses, repeatedly kicking the ground. Janet doesn’t manage to get Yurasu the Brute, because she is already on the ground, out of the fight.

The Torch sets her on fire, as everyone expected him to. Janet grits her teeth and shoots the Torch, dropping him to one knee. She could Fade, and perhaps the fire would go out, but then the Torch could just kill Sky with a gesture. So she shoots him again, and watches him fall, before Fading out.

Turns out, Fading does indeed put out fires! So Janet is merely hurt bad, rather than dying.

The flames on Sky's clothes expire in a hiss of steam. Voinovich limps to a halt. He's run from the fire to the other fire, picking up a leg wound from the gunners on the cliff, and put out Sky's flames. He touches his bloody pant leg and freezes the wound shut.

The blue Mover is the last Iron Guard on his feet. He snatches his hand backwards, yanking Yurasu and Rock to the top of the cliff along with him. The Torch, he leaves; he’s seen dead men before.

For a moment, all is still save the crackling of the flames.

Then a blue flash and a thundering CRACK echo from the top of the cliff! Blasted splinters shower down. An effect like a Boomer, but much louder, has blown up all the soldiers and Iron Guardsmen.

When the Grimnoir reach the top to investigate, there are unidentifiable bodies scattered here and there, but wearing canvas and leather only. No silk, no brocade, and no trace of the Iron Guard …

Except at the point to which all the fallen trees point, the center of the Boomer blast. There in the ashy earth are three sets of footprints, one quite large, and two silhouettes of people curled on their sides, one small, one tall.