Titans: The Resistance #42

Sylia Stingray: You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to wear the clothes that I recommend every once in a while.

Priss S. Asagiri: I wear your hard suits, isn’t that enough?
-from Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, written by Chiaki Konaka

“...the anima is bipolar and can therefore appear positive one moment and negative the next...”
-Carl Jung

-1-

Tokyo.

It was early morning in the isles, but Ishi Shourisha was not asleep. Since his transformation into a cyborg, he rarely did sleep. When he did, it was only for about two hours or so. For his new hybrid mechanical form, that seemed to be enough.

“Sapphire, are you the only one here?” he asked.

The woman who wore the blue dragon armor nodded sleepily, sipping her tea. “What is it, that high tech thief messing around again?”

“No,” he said, “though I do want to corner her eventually. She may be a threat, but she is also a potential ally. Perhaps even a member. But this problem is very different. The gaijin pirate ships are hanging around again.”

“Are they a threat?”

“Unlikely. The westerners have had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the chaos, but wisely have chosen not to incur the wrath of the supreme navy. But once again....they are observing; so obviously that it seems they must want us to know they are here. The Emperor has no time to waste on such trivialities, but perhaps we can look into it. I will contact Ruby, and the two of you can go and see what our guests want.”

“They might view it as an attack,” Sapphire said, carefully.

“Then defend yourselves as best you’re able, and continue to attempt negotiations.”

Sapphire sighed unhappily, but said no more; even that much was pushing it. She gulped her tea, bowed, and got moving.

-2-

Seattle.

Deriven led the others through the streets. It was late again in this seemingly perpetually rain-soaked city, and they had wandered from their original search area into a more run-down, occasionally neon-lit district full of derelict homes, disreputable businesses, and warehouses.

Several people had mocked Deriven’s robes and reacted to Argent as though she was some sort of prostitute. Argent had been annoyed but ignored it; Deriven genuinely seemed not to notice, until one knife-wielding thug got too close. Deriven turned that one into a yelping dog that fled.

It was Argent who discovered the bodies.

None of them were terribly surprised; all of them had seen plenty of death. And clearly these were nothing but lowly street scum. But of note was the way the thugs had been torn apart, as though by a huge wild animal.

“Shouldn’t the security militia have cleared these bodies by now?” Supergirl asked, frowning.

“Militia?” Argent echoed.

“Police,” Deriven said, studying the body, fingers twitching in a minor divination spell.

“Oh. Nobody from this neighborhood would have reported it in yet,” Argent explained.

“Clearly not a natural attack,” Deriven said. “The Animus is indeed present.”

“Great,” Argent sighed. “Does it give you any idea on how to track it?”

“Some,” Deriven said, standing back, holding his chin in thought. “As I suspected, it seems likely that the animus has found a human host. Otherwise it would not have managed to hide itself so easily.”

“Are you sure it’s a human host?” Supergirl sighed. “I mean, logically, if it is an animal spirit....”

Deriven smiled a little bit. Even now she applied logic to the utterly illogical. “We are talking about the animal subconsciousness manifesting as a gestalt entity. If it manifested in an animal, the creature’s mind would not have the capacity to hold the collective intelligence.”

“What, not even a dolphin?” Supergirl challenged, having already researched that the dolphin brain was potentially more complex than a human’s.

Deriven smiled wider. “The potential is there, but not the realization of it. Maybe in ten thousand years.”

“Please, no more debates between you two,” Argent pleaded.

Deriven actually laughed. “We should be so lucky.”

“So, if we accept that you’re right about it being in a human host,” Supergirl said, “how do we find them?”

Deriven’s smile faded. “The hard way. It may involve looking for more bodies. At the very least, someone behaving in an unusual fashion.”

Argent wanted to make a cutting remark at that point, but, this being Seattle, it chose that moment to start to rain hard.

-3-

The Sweet Lilli was anchored just outside Japan’s active defense perimeter.

“It’s weaker here on the Pacific side,” said Rose. “But weaker isn’t the same thing as nonexistent. I’m sure the Markovians have tried slipping around the sea side more than once.”

“I approve of caution,” said Terra, “but surely we can’t sit out here forever.”

“This isn’t Themyscira,” Rose said, not unkindly. “They aren’t looking for help.”

“But the armored women might be,” Robin said. “We’ll wait here a bit more; if things stay quiet long enough, we’ll send Anarky or Lantern to infiltrate.”

“Thanks for volunteering me,” Anarky said from behind them.

Robin turned and glared at him. “You’d rather wait on the ship?”

“I’d rather have an enemy to fight, or time to plan a proper infiltration. At this point, we have neither.”

“He has a point,” Rose said. “I’ll remind you I’m not risking myself or my ship for this one.”

“Yes, but you’ve pulled your weight already just by getting us here,” Robin said.

“I’ve done my part before, and I will again,” Anarky said. “I just prefer an obvious target, or time for a long range plan.”

“For your sabotage,” Robin said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be viable here. But if we need to go to the mainland--”

“I said ‘thanks for volunteering me’, I didn’t say ‘no’.” Anarky shook his masked face in an exaggerated motion. “I reserve the right to object.”

“And we reserve the right to be annoyed by you objecting,” Terra said.

Rose laughed.

“I thought I was supposed to be the temperamental one,” Green Lantern said.

“You are,” Robin said, “Anarky just gets ideological about it.”

Anarky snorted. “Okay, fearless leader, I’ll give you that one. Wasn’t half bad.”

Starfire, for her part, had remained silent through all of this, which she saw as a waste of time. She wanted battle, and was sure it wouldn’t be long before they got it.

Lantern’s ring brightened. “Company,” he said.

They turned back, and saw two armored figures leaping towards them.

-4-

Seattle.

Courtney was still limping, her ankle now further swollen. The rain pelted down on her head.

There were several medical clinics in the area, both privately-run and charitable ones. She could’ve gone to any of them. But she was frightened out of her wits, and didn’t trust anyone, didn’t want to be around anyone. All she wanted was to be left alone, most notably by the thing in her head.

But it wouldn’t leave her be. Ever since she had fought that....that thing...which could only have been an alien. It had tried to do something to her, but she had fought back...and the creature, the monster, had woken up inside her head. And unleashed itself against the alien.

The alien had screamed something in a shrill language she had no desire to understand, and then run away. But it would be back, she was sure. But as far as she was concerned, the thing in her head was worse.

Much worse.

“There,” a voice said behind her.

She looked around and saw Deriven. She had no idea who he was, but she clearly saw he was powerful , and automatically saw him as a threat. But she didn’t want to fight. She wanted to run.

I cannot heal your ankle, the thing inside her head said. Nor can I enable you to run away faster. What I can do is go to war.

But Courtney didn’t want to go to war. She just wanted out. “Leave me alone, all of you!” she shouted, hobbling as fast as her ankle would allow.

“Wait!” Deriven called. “I know what’s in your head! Let us help you!”

He dares to claim knowledge of me? The Animus was not amused. Let me kill him....No, wait....I can sense his power. The power of all three of them. You cannot escape, child....and even I would have some difficulty with them.

That made Courtney turn cold. The thing inside her saw them as a serious challenge? Her heart sank. She was tired, injured and had been on the run for too long. She stumbled to a halt and her head sagged; then she dropped to her knees. “Please leave me alone....please....I can’t take it anymore....”

Argent comforted the girl, while Deriven came around in front and stood before her.

“We are not your enemies. And we will do what we can to help you. Both of you.”

She looked up at him uncertainly, eyes wide and a bright shade of green that was no longer truly human. “Both of us?”

“Yes. I know about the Animus. It should not have animated inside your head.”

That much is certain, The Animus grudgingly agreed, though only Courtney could hear it.

“I need you to tell me how this happened,” Deriven said. “How did it begin?”

Supergirl looked on awkwardly as the girl curled up in Argent’s arms.

“It....was some kind of strange creature.....” Courtney sighed. “I gotta believe it’s alien...”

At this, Supergirl started. “What kind of alien?”

“It.....it had a ship, orange angular thing...but the creature itself was...was like a snake crossed with a dinosaur,” Courtney said. She slowly sat down on the dirty sidewalk, ignoring the rain, and began to tell her story.

-5-

“Do not fire,” Rose warned Wintergreen, who nodded grimly. “If they attack,” the pirate queen went on, “we’ll handle it.”

“And that’s probably not what they’re here for anyway,” Robin said.

“You hope,” Anarky muttered.

“Let them land on the deck,” Ravager said.

Robin noted with interest that the armored women—he was fairly sure they were women, and not robots that happened to be female-shaped—were able to continue using their jet boots over the water, albeit with some difficulty. They came in for a graceful landing on the deck.

Graceful yet lethal. That was the first thought that crossed Terra’s mind.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the red-and-blue-armored women bowed low, then the blue one spoke. “We are Sapphire Dragon and Ruby Dragon. State your business here.” The voice was modulated, enough to disguise individual voices , but not to blur meaning. She wasn’t surprised that they spoke English with only a light accent, though. She herself, of course, had learned that language young. Knowledge is what had led her to rebel against the Imperial Crown, after all.

Terra bowed back. “We are the Titans, and in conjunction with the pirate fleet, are resisting the Markovians. Worldwide.”

“So you’re here to help us?” the Ruby Dragon said. Her voice wasn’t hostile, but certainly doubtful.

“In exchange for your own help later,” Anarky put in. “That would also be a strike against the Markovians.”

The Dragons looked at each other. The Titans could not see their eyes, of course, but their helmets turned slightly towards each other. Then the Sapphire Dragon put a finger to her helmet. All of the Titans understood she was communicating with someone else.

Finally, she said, “We cannot promise to help you in future. We would accept assistance now, if you would still give it.”

The Titans shared a glance, but there was no need for discussion; even Anarky agreed to fight the Markovians given the chance.

But Rose said, “I won’t risk my ships or myself, this time. You kids have fun.”

“No problem,” Robin said. “Lantern, if you would?”

Green Lantern smiled, ignited his ring, and lifted all party members not capable of flight on their own.

Though the Shining Dragons did not say so, they were impressed.

-6-

Courtney had been relatively new to Seattle, but not to the Pacific Northwest. She had come from the small Oregon town of Rockaway Beach. A singer, she had traveled to Seattle in the hopes of joining a band. Nor was this idle hope; she had been emailing a male guitarist and female drummer for some time.

When she had gotten to the meeting place, they were both lying on the ground...and a horrible thing was standing over them.

She had described it as a cross between a snake and a dinosaur, but that didn’t do the sheer horror of it justice. It was like something out of H.P. Lovecraft. It had moved with a terrible knowledge, a terrible intensity in its three-eyed gaze.

She had only caught a horrified glimpse of its ship — day-glo orange, all odd angles — before it was on her, trying to sink its spined tongue into her neck.

She had screamed; and then the Animus had manifested inside her, lashing out. The alien had stumbled back, startled and certainly hurt....but Courtney did not wait around to find out how much. She just turned and ran.

It was at that point that the Animus had started speaking to her in her head.....and that had only made her run faster.

-7-

“A Zytherai,” said Supergirl with certainty, once Courtney had lapsed into silence. “Parasitic monsters from...well, we don’t really know where. Beyond the galaxy, most likely. One of the Magellanic Clouds, perhaps. In any case, she may have wounded it, and two victims will not have been enough to satisfy it. If a general alarm was not raised—and we can assume it wasn’t—then it will not have fled.

Deriven nodded. “We can trace its location and finish it off....and then we can destroy it. The Animus can help with that, I believe.”

The magus is right, the Animus said inside Courtney’s head. This one is wise, child; he can help us.

Courtney looked at Deriven. “Can you....fix my head?”

Deriven sighed. “I cannot remove it, if that is what you mean. But I believe I can make it easier for you to live with it. And I am sure you would want your friends avenged?”

Courtney hung her head and sighed. “Yeah.”

“Good. Then tell us where this alien was, and we can begin.” He gestured, and Courtney’s ankle snapped back into place. She yelped, then blinked, as the pain was immediately gone.

Gingerly she got up, testing her foot. Then she nodded and said, “I’ll show you.”

-8-

Most of the Markovian Naval Forces assigned to the attempted invasion and continual harassment of Japan were based in what was called the Chosin Peninsula by some, and Korea by others. There were twenty six ships harbored there, mostly at the town of Busan, taking on troops to invade the islands on a semi-regular basis.

Twenty years ago, the Markovians had taken the island of Tsushima, after many Japanese fought and died there. Now they were hammering away at the isle of Iki, as well as the archipelago proper. The Japanese had, thus far, saved Iki.

Ishi Shourisha figured that, with the help of these ‘Titans’ they might be able to secure Iki, make a strike on Tsushima, and scatter the Markovian naval forces at Busan.

As was often the case, they were unable to have all five Dragons active at one time. Emerald had been able to get away from mundane family concerns—though not without cost—and was even now suiting up in their secret base. Sapphire and Ruby had explained to the Titans that they would help repulse Markovian harassment of Iki,and then with their help and reinforcements of their own, move on to Tshushima and Busan.

Sapphire looked over her shoulder at the westerners. She was most especially interested in the Green Lantern, or Jade Lantern as she thought of him; there were stories of such ring wielders in the legends of her people. The vigilantes were of no concern, but the one they called after the Earth itself....she wondered about that one.

Then there was the woman with hair so like fire that streaked behind her as she flew; skin of golden bronze and eyes like bright green burning stars. Her warrior spirit was obvious, but she seemed to Sapphire to be even more foreign than the gaijin. She wisely did not ask, though Ishi Shourisha had already murmured a theory or two.

It was difficult, but not impossible, for the Dragons to operate their jet boots over water. It was distance that was the consideration; for while the Dragon’s fuel efficiency was vastly superior to anything else currently available, and based on ethanol rather than gasoline, it was not infinite.

So for the moment they politely turned down the Jade Lantern’s offer of assistance, with the proviso they might need his help later, and almost certainly for the return trip.

The combined Dragon/Titan force came in over Iki, and in good time; Markovian NG-17 jet fighters were doing strafing runs, with bombers not far behind. No Rocket-Men were present, thankfully, though Shourisha theorized some might scramble in response. Most important, the Markovians didn’t have any metahumans involved. There were four fighter jets, zipping towards them at terrific speed. None of the Titans, not even Lantern, could match that speed.

But the Dragons could. Jets were more maneuverable than missiles, but that slowed them down enough for the Dragons to catch them, unless they went too high into the air. And if they ran, they couldn’t attack their targets below.

Ruby didn’t bother to use any of her weapons, she simply charged the first jet fighter and smashed right through it. It exploded, and its pilot did not get out in time.

Sapphire and a jet looped around each other in a lethal dance. The jet fired a missile, which Sapphire dodged, and then she fired bolts of electricity. The pilot was good; he saw what was coming, and reacted fast enough to yank his plane out of her line of fire.

But she just fired again.

His plane was abruptly depowered, and one engine blew out. He ejected safely, but Terra was there to greet him with a rockstorm. They couldn’t afford to take prisoners, however sad it might make her. She followed that up by smashing the falling plane to pieces with a boulder.

Lantern, meanwhile, had caught the missile with a green energy field, and crushed it, containing the resultant explosion.

Starfire was closing in on the slower bombers, and her starbolts destroyed two of them instantly. The others responded with machine gun fire, and she spiraled away.

Before she could close in again, Green Lantern caught up and dropped Anarky and Robin on separate bombers. Anarky simply attached a bomb to his, then leapt off into Lantern’s grasp before it exploded. Robin actually cut his way inside, took out the crew with five fast quarterstaff strikes and a concussion grenade, and jumped clear as the plane began to nosedive into the ocean. Lantern was there to catch him also.

Starfire and the Ruby Dragon closed in on the last bomber and destroyed it.

They waited a few minutes, basking in the cheers of the citizens of Iki below. The Dragons finally took the opportunity to rest on Lantern’s field, waiting for Emerald to catch them up.

When she did, they moved on.

-9-

It was no great difficulty for Courtney to lead them to the site of the Zytherai’s ship.

“I don’t see anything,” Argent frowned, looking around the parking lot.

“Stealth technology,” Supergirl said with calm assurance.

“You’ve faced them before?” Deriven asked her.

“No, but my people studied them. They study everything, and do nothing.”

Courtney frowned at her, but didn’t say anything. None of them felt like explaining that Supergirl was an alien just yet. Though the Animus inside her head suspected, even he wisely kept it to himself.

“Technology is not my strong point,” Deriven admitted. “Can you find it?”

“I lack the necessary scanning equipment, but my abilities can compensate.” She widened her eyes and stared, using super-senses to see every detail of the parking lot. The rusting cars, a creaking RV, the odd new imports from Brazil......

….there. A ghostly outline beyond the ken of human sight.

“When you saw it before,” Supergirl said to Courtney, “was it in the back left hand corner?”

Courtney nodded, eyes widening. “Yes!”

“It’s still there. We’ll see it when we get close enough.”

Neither of the others had to be told to be ready.

They were within ten feet when they stepped within the range of the stealth field. The ship was there, just as Courtney had described it; an orange so bright it hurt the eyes to look at, and while the ship did have a roundish central core, it was surrounded by sharp angles that did seem to be out of the works of Lovecraft or Giger.

Courtney gasped as a ramp lowered and her two erstwhile bandmates came shuffling out, clearly no longer themselves, zombified.

“The Zytherai transforms its feeding victims into its slaves,” Supergirl said. “I’m sorry.”

Courtney surprised them all by answering with a shriek of rage. The Animus erupted from her head and all three of them saw it; the face of a lion, the claws of a bear, leaving behind a streak of orange darker and ruddier than the painfully bright color of the ship.

The Animus tore one of the enemy apart, Deriven almost casually disintegrated the other.

Courtney saw them staring at her; she shrugged unhappily. “The Animus told me to take revenge,” she said. “I did.”

“Properly controlled, that is a good thing,” Deriven said, cautiously.

They entered the ship.

The Zytherai was sitting, or more accurately reclining, in an awkward, angular padded thing. Around it was a technological womb of controls.

It snarled something. Supergirl snarled back, not bothering to translate for the others. It reached for a control with its Tyrannosaurus-Rex-like claws.

“Shield us now!” Supergirl shouted to Deriven, and he did, snapping a mystical globe around the party.

The Zytherai’s attack consisted of orange laser beams and crackling yellow energy that danced around the edges of Deriven’s field, sizzling with fury. Deriven winced and muttered an incantation; with some difficulty, the field held.

When his attack dissipated, Supergirl and Argent attacked with their powers. The Zytherai responded by snapping up a defensive wall of its own; the energy wall stopped Supergirl’s heat vision, but not Argent’s silver sharp-edged energy constructs. The Zytherai howled in pain and fell off his reclining pad, and into his instrumentation.

There was a sizzle and a snap, and all the lights went out.

“Is it dead?” Courtney asked into the silence.

“Yes,” Supergirl said, who could see even in this darkness.

“What did it say to you, and you to it?” Deriven asked.

“Nothing worth repeating. It only knows the language of hate.”

“Well,” said Argent into the dark, “all that’s left is to dismantle this thing.”

“And me,” Courtney said, her voice small.

“Supergirl can handle the former,” said Deriven, “and as for the latter, let’s leave this place and talk....”

-10-

The Dragons and Titans descended on Tsushima with power and fury. The Markovians stationed there never had a chance.

There were two Rocket-Men stationed to the island, and as Shourisha had predicted they were already scrambling; but they were no match for the Dragons, let alone the Titans and Dragons together.

Starfire destroyed one instantly, and the Emerald Dragon sliced the other in half with a plasma blade.

This left the other two Titans and Dragons to rampage amongst the enemy. Ruby wielded her railgun and flamethrower. Sapphire her electricity and kinetic shiruken. Robin and Anarky lashed out amongst the ground troops, and Lantern mopped up. Terra wreaked havoc as usual, but was careful not to do too much property damage; they were liberating this island, not attacking it.

There was a significant airbase here, and troop detachments; but for the Markovians this was a place to launch offensive strikes from, not a place to defend. What entrenchments they had were old.

The Markovian forces were more numerous here, and this was a larger island than Iki, but the result was certain. Only one moment brought any doubt; when a soldier fired a missile that glanced off Ruby’s shoulder armor. But aside from a bone bruise, she was not seriously harmed.

But as the island was liberated, Sapphire and Ruby finally ran out of fuel. They stayed behind amongst the cheering townsfolk. Emerald went on with the Titans to hit Busan.

Alerts had clearly reached the mainland; fully twelve Rocket-Men rose to greet them, and two metahumans. One was a pyrokinetic; the other a teleporter who was skilled with knives.

Emerald took on the pyrokinetic, lightning against fire. Starfire backed her up. The pyrokinetic could fly as well; perhaps she could have faced either one of them alone and had a chance. But against both she had no hope. It was one of Starfire’s starbolts that finished her, and she fell into the sea, her flame extinguished.

The teleporting blade-wielder was a bit more trouble. He went for Terra, and inflicted two minor wounds on her before Green Lantern managed to trap him in a bubble, from which his powers could not escape. Lantern crushed the globe mercilessly, and then let him too drop into the ocean.

Dodging fire from the ships, Starfire took on three Rocket-Men, while Lantern and Emerald both took on two. It was strange for Emerald to be working without any of her ‘sisters’, and only gaijin to aid her. But they fought well enough.

Terra’s rocks pummeled four of the Rocket-Men into oblivion, while Robin leapt from her floating rock onto the back of the last of the Rocket-Men, and pulled his staff hard against the armored neck. He could not kill the Rocket Man that way, but he did a fine job of yanking him off course, until the enemy was aimed straight at one of his own ships. Robin leapt free just before impact. Lantern was not there to catch him that time, and he fell into the water, gasping and spluttering.

Lantern came into his own here, his shields keeping enemy fire at bay even as he relentlessly attacked their vessels. Terra rescued Robin, then started throwing her rocks through Lantern’s one-way field. Starfire’s starbolts joined the attacks. Emerald held back until there was sufficient chaos amongst the enemy, then flew through the field and joined the fray directly, hurling lightning bolts and wielding her plasma blade. Eventually, Terra followed her, dropping Robin and Anarky not on the deck, but rather at the port, where they could sabotage and destroy things while the enemy was distracted.

During that part of the chaos, Robin was knocked unconscious by an explosion, and a grumbling Anarky had to drag him to safety after planting several bombs.

The damage they did to the port itself was therefore limited, but, by the time they were done, the Markovian fleet itself was completely destroyed.

“Excellent,” Shourisha’s voice resonated inside Emerald’s headset. “The Imperial Navy can take it from here. With luck, they might even be able to invade Karafuto.”

Emerald nodded. Karafuto was the Japanese name for the large island north of the archipelago. The Russians had called it Sakhalin, and there had been much dispute over its rightful ownership in the days before the Markovians came. Certainly those usurpers had no right to it at all, and the one true Empire might be able to wrest control of it, and keep the Markovians on the mainland.

Not that Shourisha was certain of that, of course. They had won a great victory today, with the help of the Titans, but dreams of conquest were premature, to say the least.

But if nothing else, for a time, the archipelago itself would be safe.

Lantern picked up Sapphire and Ruby on the way; Terra carried Robin back to the Sweet Lilli and fussed over him below decks. So it was left to Lantern and Ravager to conduct negotiations.

“You have done much for us,” Emerald said. “And perhaps we will be able to assist you in future against the Markovians as well. The Shining Dragons thank you. Only one thing more we would ask; that Ruby and Sapphire be allowed to rest upon your deck until I can bring them fresh fuel cells.”

“Certainly,” Rose said, and bowed in response.

-Epilogue 1-

Seattle.

There was some discussion of Courtney joining the Titans proper, but the girl herself wasn’t ready for that. So after a long talk, in which Courtney allowed Deriven to psychically connect with the Animus, it was decided that she would remain in Seattle, with Deriven visiting her regularly and helping to hone her powers.

One of the first things he did was teach her how to disguise her changed eyes. Then, with the help of the Animus, he taught her how to tap into its power to create shining silver spiky armor for herself. Courtney still wanted a normal life, or at least an attempt at one. So she settled into a small apartment. Once the other Titans returned from Japan, Anarky used his computer hacking skills to give her a bank account she could live off of until she found a job. And she started looking for another band. Music was still her dream.

Not quite three weeks afterward, things had settled down somewhat. Courtney shifted into her silver armor and let her true eyes shine through, and went on the prowl in the Seattle night.

It wasn’t long until she found a pair of thugs breaking into a jewelry shop. She stepped through the broken doorframe.

“Hey boys,” she said.

They turned their guns on her. “What are you supposed to be?!” one of them demanded, wide eyes in a pale face, sporting a backwards baseball cap.

“Call me Anima,” she said, and unleashed the Animus upon them, as their bullets bounced uselessly off her armor.


-Epilogue 2-

Tokyo

The woman was a figure clad in black leather and shadow. A high-tech piece of equipment was strapped to her left arm.

She dropped soundlessly into the room, avoiding the laser nets she could see with her goggles. According to her contacts, there was some crazy high tech stuff in here that was worth millions to the right bidder.

“Well done, Miss Goto,” Ishi Shourisha’s voice said from the gloom.

The woman flinched. “What?!”

A spotlight snapped on over Shourisha, wired up to his computers as he always was. “You are Yone Goto. One of the finest thieves in all of Nippon, and never once have you sold anything to the Markovians.”

“This was a trap?” Goto demanded, drawing a sub-machine gun.

“An audition,” Shourisha corrected, as Emerald and Gold came out of the shadows. “And you passed with flying colors.”

“What kind of audition?” Goto asked suspiciously.

“I set up this job for you, to test your skills, You had been sniffing around our operations before. I wanted to see how good you were. I am pleased with the results. You will be compensated for your task here tonight. Not as much as a proper haul would’ve gained you, but profit nonetheless. And I would offer you a new job. A long-term contract.”

Goto stood up slowly, holstering her weapon and exhaling softly. This crazy cyborg clearly knew all about her, and she had a fairly good idea what would happen if she refused. “What’s the offer?” she asked, as calmly as she could.

“I am having a new set of armor made for my team. You could wear it. Join us; join the Shining Dragons.”

Goto blinked, then bowed. “Truly, I am honored; but my skills are of a thieving nature, not combat.”

“You know how to fight, and I am in need of an infiltration specialist.”

“Then I thank you for this opportunity,” Goto said.

Shourisha smiled, a rare thing. “Welcome, Obsidian.”

END


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